Why won't it stop bubbling?

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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Radler
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:47 pm

Why won't it stop bubbling?

Post by Radler »

I brewed a very straightforward Wit beer recipe about two weeks ago. I left it in the primary for about 1.5 weeks which is quite a bit longer than I have ever in the past but I was away and had no choice. When I got back it was still bubbling away, slower of course but pretty conssitent once every 30 seconds. Now I've put it in secondary and it has slowed but I can still see bubbles rising to the top where the thing has a head. It was a WYeast Wit yeast and I did really nothing very special, should this still be going like this, will I have the driest Wit ever? How can I stop it? Now I did not use a hydrometer, I just sort of phased it out. Any help, please.

Radler
kabbo
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2006 12:46 pm

WYeast Wit and still bubbling too

Post by kabbo »

Hello, same problem here,

I had a pretty low OG (1.034) because of bad crushing for the wheat malt I used for that Witbier recipe.

Fermented at 73-74 for 7 days then I racked to secondary, and it looks like a new primary has started, big head and bubbles every 4-5 seconds...

Never seen that kind of activity...

At least, there will be some alcohol in the end :)

it's been 24 hours in the secondary and it didn't strat to settle back.

Will let you know in the following days.
cleone
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 45
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:43 pm
Location: New Jersey

I would let it take its time and finish

Post by cleone »

I have brewed a number of batches of weizen using the WYeast Weihenstephan yeast. The wheat yeasts generally have a high attenuation (72-76% for WYeast Wit, source www.wyeastlab.com) and produce very aggressive fermentations, that in my experience takes longer to complete.

Every batch of wheat that I have brewed has restarted fermentation in the secondary with above average results. I would attribute this to two factors: 1) disturbing of the yeast cake during racking to secondary wakes up the dormant yeast and remixes to some degree with the beer. 2) This yeast will start attenuating the harder to convert sugars once the primary sugars are converted.

I would just let it go until finished--you should be fine. I personally have never had any problems with the batch due to secondary fermentation. :D

Enjoy!
Last edited by cleone on Sun May 14, 2006 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
kabbo
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2006 12:46 pm

Post by kabbo »

Thanks for the reply,

I will now be able to sleep undisturbed nights without dreaming of agressive live yeast attacking me to death ! :D
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