Still fermenting after 4 weeks?

[dfborn]

I know that a non-bubbling airlock isn't an indication that fermentation has stopped. But is the opposite true? If the airlock is bubbling, does that mean fermentation is still going?

I know the only true way to tell is by testing with a hydrometer or refractometer. I tested last night and was a 1.010 from a SG of 1.062. I'll test again tonight or tomorrow. It's been in the primary a month as of yesterday. The taste was definitely off and had a strong hot alcohol taste but i hear those can mellow with time.

Just curious if I should be concerned about the bubbling airlock after 4 weeks - it bubbles about once every 3-5 minutes.

The recipe was AHS Imperial Agave Wit, I used WLP400 and it fermented on the warmer end of about 68-70f ambient.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Ignore the airlock. They bubble for several reasons, only one of those is fermentation. If you have stable gravity readings, which I'm guessing you do at 4+ weeks, then you'll know it's done.

As far as warm alcohol taste, what temp did you ferment it at?

 

[Revvy]

I know that a non-bubbling airlock isn't an indication that fermentation has stopped. But is the opposite true? If the airlock is bubbling, does that mean fermentation is still going?

Yes the opposite is true as well. Airlock bubbling means nothing.

A beer may ferment perfectly fine without a single blip in the airlock. Or airlocks can start or stop or start and stop again, for a ton of other reasons, like temp changes, getting nudged by the cat or the vacuum cleaner, changes in barometric pressure, but your beer could still be fermenting fine.

Or the co2 is coming out the lid, or the grommet or the stopper. Nothing wrong with that, if co2 is getting out, nothing nasty is getting in.

Airlock activity is irrevelent. Just gravity points on a hydrometer.

The rate or lack of or whether or not it bubbles at all, or if it starts and stops has more relation to the environment the fermenter is in, rather than fermentation itself. All it is is a vent, a valve to let our excess gas, especially co2, nothing else. It's not a fermentation gauge whatsoever.

 

[Bensiff]

Before you get a long Revvy response, which is probably already in the works...you are correct, hydrometer is what tells you when you are done, nothing else. Bubbles are nothing more than CO2 off gassing and ambient temperature pressure changes on your beer.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Before you get a long Revvy response, which is probably already in the works...you are correct, hydrometer is what tells you when you are done, nothing else. Bubbles are nothing more than CO2 off gassing and ambient temperature pressure changes on your beer.

He'll get ya every time!!!

 

[dfborn]

Everyone - thanks for the responses. There must be some sort of automated web function that generates quick responses to the posts that have the words - fermentation, finished, and bubbling airlock!

NordeastBrewer77 - the ambient temps were 68-70F. So I'm guessing the internal temp was around 73-80. Yes, I realize that is too warm.

From now on, my batches will be fermenting inside my recently acquired chest freezer!

 

[beernaked]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was wondering if someone could explain this situation:

Two fermenters, pitched the same day. Both sitting next to each other sharing same ambient conditions.

• Fermenter 1 is a belgian style wit bier with Danstar Munich wheat yeast. Blow off tube fitted due to very active krausen in the first week.
• Fermenter 2 is an export pilsner extract but using Safale US-05 yeast. Normal airlock fitted.

No. 2 stopped bubbling after 5-6 days, with gravity readings almost settled after nearly 2 weeks now. Nothing unexpected. However, No. 1 is still bubbling regularly 90 seconds apart with gravity readings also having almost settled (1.075 yesterday, 1.010 3 days earlier). I will not be using secondary fermentors for either.

Is this then just a function of the wheat beer yeast?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Before you get a long Revvy response, which is probably already in the works...you are correct, hydrometer is what tells you when you are done, nothing else. Bubbles are nothing more than CO2 off gassing and ambient temperature pressure changes on your beer.

The hilarity of you posting this seconds after Revvy posted makes it even funnier.

 

[Revvy]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I was wondering if someone could explain this situation:

Two fermenters, pitched the same day. Both sitting next to each other sharing same ambient conditions.

• Fermenter 1 is a belgian style wit bier with Danstar Munich wheat yeast. Blow off tube fitted due to very active krausen in the first week.
• Fermenter 2 is an export pilsner extract but using Safale US-05 yeast. Normal airlock fitted.

No. 2 stopped bubbling after 5-6 days, with gravity readings almost settled after nearly 2 weeks now. Nothing unexpected. However, No. 1 is still bubbling regularly 90 seconds apart with gravity readings also having almost settled (1.075 yesterday, 1.010 3 days earlier). I will not be using secondary fermentors for either.

Is this then just a function of the wheat beer yeast?

Two different yeasts, two different reactions. That's the point of saying the "activity" means nothing, only changes in gravity.

We're dealing with living micro-organisms, and tons of affecting variables in each fermenter. Slight changes in temp from where sunlight might hit one fermenter differently over another by even a degree; proteins in solution, phases of the moon, yadda yadda yadda.....there's a lot going on.

There is nothing "typical" in brewing...No two fermentations are ever exactly the same. Even with the same recipe/yeast, etc. Too many variables at play in any given day.

When we are dealing with living creatures, there is a wild card factor in play..Just like with other animals, including humans...No two behave the same.

You can split a batch in half put them in 2 identical carboys, and pitch equal amounts of yeast from the same starter...and have them act completely differently...for some reason on a subatomic level...think about it...yeasties are small...1 degree difference in temp to us, could be a 50 degree difference to them...one fermenter can be a couple degrees warmer because it's closer to a vent all the way across the room and the yeasties take off...

Someone, Grinder I think posted a pic once of 2 carboys touching each other, and one one of the carboys the krausen had formed only on the side that touched the other carboy...probably reacting to the heat of the first fermentation....but it was like symbiotic or something...

Yeasts are like teenagers, swmbos, and humans in general, they have their own individual way of doing things. So it's never a good idea to compare one fermentation to another.

That's why I tell people not to read meaning into any so-called "signs of activity" other than gravity changes. Because they are for various reasons never usually a direct association with what the yeast is actually doing in the beer. They can just as easily be affected by environmental conditions as anything else.

All that matters is that the yeast is eating the sugars, (which 99.99999% of the time they are) not how the airlock bubble or doesn't bubble or even what the krausen does or doesn't do, or looks like for that matter.

 

[PineappleWine]

I have two batches that have been in the secondary fermenters for 3 weeks now and I sort of get the thing about only going by hydrometer readings for when the beer is done BUT should I worry about ending up with bottle bombs if the bubbles are still coming regularly through the airlock? I'm still getting approximately 3 bubbles a minute from one batch and about once every 90 seconds from the other. Is it safe to bottle or should I wait for it to degas a little more?

 

[twmessmer]

I have the same situation as Pineapplewine.

 

[balrog]

If you've checked the SG, and again 3 days later, and you are near your expected FG, and they've been in secondary 3 weeks (and primary for ?? before then?) then you are seeing what I see when I let mine sit for 3-4 weeks until I have time to bottle---temp changes in basement of only a degree or two, and lately with Fall coming on, much change in temp and barometric pressure which REALLY makes the airlock go crazy. The beer is fine. It's your PV=nRT for the most part, plus solutbility (sp?) of CO2 in the solution which changes with pressure and temperature.