Gravity still falling after 19 days

[texasflood99]

Hi all,

I’m looking for a little advice. I’ve got a wit in the fermenter at the moment going on 3 weeks. The initial fermentation went well and got down to my estimated FG within a few days. I left it for the yeast to clean up with a plan to bottle after 2 weeks (my usual period) but as I started talking reading to confirm that fermentation had finished it kicked in again and started falling. It’s going on 3 weeks now and it’s still falling.

After the first few days the gravity fell to about 1.010 and settled for about 8 days. I started taking readings to confirm that fermenatation had finished prior to bottling and noticed that my 3rd reading dropped by a point. I’ve kept checking each day since and it’s still faling down to 1.006 today.

I’ve never experienced this before and am wondering if anyone else has? I’ve had bottle bombs once in the past and it was with a wit which is why I want to make sure that it’s safe to bottle this one.

I really don’t want to leave it in the fermenter for much longer but I also don’t want to bottle if there’s a chance of bombs. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul7189]

Might be worth putting some in a plastic bottle and feel it to see if it gets firmer. Is there still airlock activity?

have you tasted it to make sure it’s not got some sort of infection?

 

[Sandimas]

What yeast are you using?

I seem to remember my Wheat's taking longer than ales, 3 even 4 weeks sometimes. I usually use MJ M21 Belgian Wit yeast, I've found some of the MJ yeasts can be a bit slow to tail off.

I'd leave it, it should finish off soon.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I have a wit fermenting at the moment (M21 yeast) that's been going for 4 weeks and it's still slowly bubbling away. This is apparently common for wits. Don't rush to bottle it. Wait until it's fermented out, then bottle it. I wouldn't be too afraid of bottle bombs, but of it's over carbed you'll lose half the contents when you open it as it gushes out.

 

[texasflood99]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

I’m using M21 yeast as well. It’s reassuring to hear that this can be common with this strain. I’m still seeing some bubbles coming through the airlock but they’re very small and irregular.

I’ve been tasting it as I’ve been taking measurements and its tasting good so I’m confident that there’s no infection but I think I’ll just let the yeast do it’s work and wait for it settle down.

Cheers.