Knowing when to bottle

[dgwyn]

Although I've made five batches of beer so far, this is the first time I've run into this problem. I made a batch of Northern Brewer's Smashing Pumpkin Ale. I used an 8 LB pumpkin and the three pounds of extra grain in addition to the extract.

My issues is that it's been sitting in a carboy for secondary fermentation for 6 weeks and it's still producing bubbles. When I shine a flashlight into the carboy I can see fine bubbles coming up and it still bubbles in the trap every so often.

What do I do? Do I let it sit in secondary until it completely stops bubbling or are the bubbles I'm seeing now possibly something else?

 

[biochemedic]

You can bottle when your FG is stable several days in a row...bubbles just mean CO2 is coming out of solution, it doesn't necessarily mean ongoing fermentation.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Airlock activity is not an indication of fermentation. You need to take a gravity reading with a hydrometer and then another in a few days. If they are the same your fermentation is complete. If they differ take another reading in a few more days. If that matches your second reading then your done.

Airlocks will bubble for any multitude of reasons. Change in pressure, temperature, disturbed carboy, etc etc.

 

[RM-MN]

Do you just like to watch bubbles or do you really want to know if it is time to bottles. All the bubbles tell you is that there is some kind of gas escaping. A hydrometer will tell you when the beer is finished. I'd suspect your beer has been ready for bottling for a month but without the hydrometer reading that is just a guess.

 

[dgwyn]

Thank you all for clearing up my ignorance. I will remove the hydrometer from my Southern orifice and will never watch bubbles again.