Prolonged Fermentation Advice

[Iniquity]

Hello All,

This might be a bit of a rookie question but I'll give it a shot.

I pitched a Belgian Ardennes on a 5 1/2 gallon batch of Wort. I let this sit in primary for about 5 days where is was violently fermenting. When this subsided I racked to secondary and dry hopped for 2 weeks.

What I am noticing in the carboy is that tiny bubbles are still flowing to the top and the airlock it popping about every 2 min. This is still fermenting?

Typically after this 3 week cycle I would be ready to keg my brew which I REALLY want to do at this point. Is this hog still fermenting? If it is, should I wait until I see no activity to keg or can I go ahead and keg this anyway?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[rsmith179]

Check your gravity readings. As long as your batch's gravity stays stable for 3-5 days, your beer is done fermenting. The bubbles you are seeing are either coming from extended fermentation or possibly CO2 being released out of your batch. Either way, the only way to tell if your batch is done is by checking the gravity.

 

[Iniquity]

Ok thanks for the advice. I checked the gravity out of primary and it was down to 10 from a 51. I'll check it again before kegging.

 

[Mongo64]

Some of those Belgian yeasts take a long time to finish fermenting. I have a Saison (OG 1.072) using Wyeast 3726 which I thought was done after 2 weeks (1.010 gravity). I racked to a corny and noticed it was still building pressure. I now have 1.005 gravity at week 3 and it may not be done yet even.