Hop Creep or Stunted Fermentation?

[philm63]

Looking at the heavily dry-hopped NEIPA sample in my graduated cylinder that I pulled a few days ago for gravity checks, I can clearly see in the sediment at the bottom what appears to be yeast activity. I’ve seen this before and was always fascinated by watching the yeast shoot up from the sediment, swim to the top and then drop back down to the bottom.

The pouch of A38 was pitched last Saturday into 6.5 gallons at 1.064 SG, sample was taken the following Thursday where it measured 1.021 SG. It’s Day 8 and this yeast should’ve done its job by day 6. I’m just now approaching 70% attenuation – a bit low for this yeast from my research.

Does Hop Creep look similar to regular fermentation when looking at a sample in a graduated cylinder? Have my hops freed up some extra sugars that are now fermenting? Or did the massive amount of dry-hops (8 oz) pitched on day 2 of active fermentation stunt the tail-end of my fermentation with this yeast? I’m at 1.018 SG as of this morning, down a point from yesterday. Target FG is 1.014.

 

[Dgallo]

Looking at the heavily dry-hopped NEIPA sample in my graduated cylinder that I pulled a few days ago for gravity checks, I can clearly see in the sediment at the bottom what appears to be yeast activity. I’ve seen this before and was always fascinated by watching the yeast shoot up from the sediment, swim to the top and then drop back down to the bottom.

The pouch of A38 was pitched last Saturday into 6.5 gallons at 1.064 SG, sample was taken the following Thursday where it measured 1.021 SG. It’s Day 8 and this yeast should’ve done its job by day 6. I’m just now approaching 70% attenuation – a bit low for this yeast from my research.

Does Hop Creep look similar to regular fermentation when looking at a sample in a graduated cylinder? Have my hops freed up some extra sugars that are now fermenting? Or did the massive amount of dry-hops (8 oz) pitched on day 2 of active fermentation stunt the tail-end of my fermentation with this yeast? I’m at 1.018 SG as of this morning, down a point from yesterday. Target FG is 1.014.

Hop creep causes additional fermentation. What is actually occuring is the enzymes in the hops are breaking down complex sugars into simple sugars that they yeast can consume. The result of hop creep is over attenuation and a lower FG than expected. Your beer is definitely still fermenting if you’re dropping points. Since it’s still on the higher side, I’d let it go 5 more days and check it again.