Long Imperial Juice Fermentation Or...

[Bearcat Brewmeister]

I have a fermentation with Imperial Juice that is still producing a bubble in the blowoff every 35 seconds and dropping a point of gravity every two to three days. SG was 1.061 with no sugars added and mashed at 154F so with the rated attenuation of Juice, I was expecting to finish around 1.015. Well, it was at 1.018 after 5 days, 1.017 after 6, 1.016 after 7, 1.015 after 8.5, 1.014 after 11, and now 1.013 at day 14. Getting slower for sure and the time between bubbles is getting longer, but still going and fairly steady. I added dry hops early on day 2 for a day, then again at day 4. So the question is, does everyone else experience this slow finish on Juice (my first time using it so I don't know), or is this hop creep and I am getting a small but steady trickle of fermentables from hop enzymes? I know the hop creep research is still on going with regards to which hops contain enough enzymes to break down dextrins in a fermentation so I can't say for sure this is the cause. Either way, with all the hops in there, I am trying to avoid opening the fermenter to sample the wort to check for the diacetyl that can be caused during hop creep or an unfinshed fermentation because I am trying to minimize oxygen ingress.

Thoughts?

 

[Jimmy_Hops]

So, what did you end up doing? Any diacetyl?

 

[Bearcat Brewmeister]

It got to 1.011 eventually and I waited for a day and a half of no change before I kegged. No diacetyl, but I think this has to be a case of hop creep. Given the mash temp of 154F, getting attenuation over 82% for Imperial Juice seems to be higher than I have seen reported anywhere.

 

[Jimmy_Hops]

Yeah, that sounds like it. My last NEIPA I wrecked with not letting the yeast finish it’s job after adding the dry hops. It was a straight up diacetyl bomb. Which is a shame since the first week on tap it was the best one I had brewed. Oh well, lesson learned. Now I will only dry hop cold. Glad yours turned out alright!