It Just Wont Stop!!

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I brewed up a beautiful looking Stout three weeks ago tomorrow. It went off with a bang using Wyeast London Ale. You know, blow off tube. big show, the works. That was all fine and good but here we are three weeks later and she will calm down a bit and then just go off again. As I sit typing I am getting a bubble in the air lock about 5 times a minute. There is Krauzen on top. It will go away and then come back. Any idea? My wife is ready for me to bottle, the carboy sits on the kitchen counter during the winter.

OG 1.090
now 1.021

Greg
 
You need to wait until the yeast finish doing theirr business - simple as that. 1.090 is a huge beer and it's not surprising it's still going after 3 weeks.

If you bottle too soon your beer will be too sweet. Plus you will have bottle bombs.
 
I'd take a gravity reading again the next day and see if its changed.

I know some english yeasts will leave a krausen on top, even when they are done fermenting (this can protect the wort during open fermentation). I'm not sure if this London Ale yeast normally does that though.

Either way, it looks like you're at 76% attenuation now. It just might be done, in spite of the krausen/airlock!
 
I have had bottle bombs. Makes a mess of the beer room. Hefe's are not ready to bottle in a week, in March.
No problem waiting, this is next years Christmas beer. I have just never had one go so far.
 
With slight temp. changes, CO2 can enter and exit solution, causing the airlock to bubble every now and then. Gary is right, the only way to know for sure whether anything is happening is by checking the gravity.
 
With slight temp. changes, CO2 can enter and exit solution, causing the airlock to bubble every now and then. Gary is right, the only way to know for sure whether anything is happening is by checking the gravity.

No change in three days.
Interesting thought on the temperature. Temperature changes are us. It has been very cold here (-20 ish) and my system is very DIY.
I have been everywhere from 68 to 72 degrees.
I can still see bubbles popping in the krauzen.

Greg
 
No change in the amount the airlock is bubbling or in your gravity readings? If your gravity readings haven't changed, you're ready to bottle.
 
No change in the amount the airlock is bubbling or in your gravity readings? If your gravity readings haven't changed, you're ready to bottle.
Sorry. no change in gravity reading. The airlock will stop for a while and then be fairly active.
 
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