Help with long fermentations

[Alan59]

Howdy all - I have made about 4 all grain batches and all seem to have long (3 to 4 weeks) fermentations. I have read that 10 to 14 days is more typical for standard ales. I understand that certain beers like high gravity will go longer and that it is temperature sensitive and so forth.

The beer currently in the carboy is Jamil's American Pale Ale. 1056 OG, Wyeast 1056, fermented at 68 degrees. I used a 1 liter starter prepared on a stir plate. Oxgenated the wort with O2 at l liter/min for 1 minute. I don't think there is a contamination issue as the beers have all tasted fine and stored well. It just takes sooooo long! Should i be concerned, or just relax and have a homebrew?

Thanks!

[alan_marks]

What is your fermentation temperature?

[Bugeater]

Your procedure and fermentation temp sound fine. Are you sure fermentation is really taking that long? Have you been checking your gravities or are you just going by bubbles in the airlock? If you are going by the airlock, you need to remember that there are many things that will cause bubbles to continue that have nothing to do with fermentation. These include change in barometric pressure, increase in temperature of the wort and release of CO2 that became dissolved in the beer during fermentation.

After 10 days to 2 weeks in the fermenter you need to check the gravity to see if it is in the expected range. (For this recipe I would expect somewhere in the 70% attenuation range.) I would then check it again 2 or 3 days later to see if there is any change. If no change, fermentation is done even if there is minor airlock activity. If there is change, try again every 3 days or so until there is no change in gravity.

Wayne

[TheDarkSide]

Conditions are prefect. I bet this sucker fermented out when you weren't looking. Like Bug said, check your gravity and see where you are. I always bump up the temps of my fermentations when the hit 80% to help the yeast clean stuff up.

[brewinhard]

Your procedure and fermentation temp sound fine. Are you sure fermentation is really taking that long? Have you been checking your gravities or are you just going by bubbles in the airlock? If you are going by the airlock, you need to remember that there are many things that will cause bubbles to continue that have nothing to do with fermentation. These include change in barometric pressure, increase in temperature of the wort and release of CO2 that became dissolved in the beer during fermentation.

After 10 days to 2 weeks in the fermenter you need to check the gravity to see if it is in the expected range. (For this recipe I would expect somewhere in the 70% attenuation range.) I would then check it again 2 or 3 days later to see if there is any change. If no change, fermentation is done even if there is minor airlock activity. If there is change, try again every 3 days or so until there is no change in gravity.

Wayne

+1. Your beer is most definitely done fermenting. 14 days is more than enough time for a proper fermentation and conditioning to occur. Take a gravity reading and then package the beer if you are satisfied with the results.

[Smelletor]

I agree with Bugeater and everyone else. Depending on your temp control setup, it can fool you if you're opening a door (chest freezer, fridge, closet) to check on the fermentation and a bubble pops up b/c of the pressure change.

One thing you should be seriously concerned about is the 1-2 weeks of valuable drinking time you're missing. Once it's gone...

[Alan59]

Thanks all for the input. The lock sticks out of the top of my fermentation box so I can watch it without moving anything. It clicks slow and steady at once per 45 seconds or so. I confess to being a bubble watcher and see I need to switch to checking the actual gravity. Good advice.

Cheers!

[TheDarkSide]

I confess to being a bubble watcher..
Cheers!

Bubble watching is fun however.