is fermentation complete even though still bubbling?

[steady10101]

Hey guys and girls quick question.

Ive had a coopers european lager bubbling away in the bucket for 15 days now and taken a hydrometer reading the last 3 days and has been the same reading each time (1.008)..... but...... when looking into the bucket I can see very tiny bubbles still rising to the surface still. It has been constantly bubbling since day 3ish and I'm scared of exploding bottles and dont want to rush things.

What would you guys say? Do I leave it even longer or will bottling it now be OK as the reading has been the same.

This has also been fermenting at higher than recommended temp 24 degrees) if that changes anything? and yes I know higher temps are bad and going to give me a killer hangover but I had no way of keeping cooler :sulk:

Thanks, Steady :)

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome. : Your FG sounds about right. You should be fine to bottle.

 

[froidy]

Isn't FG only meant to be 1.00 when in water? Sounds like a stuffed hydrometer? Please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[PD]

looks ok to me...move it to somewhere cool for a few days then rack and bottle/barrel whatever

 

[bobsbeer]

Isn't FG only meant to be 1.00 when in water? Sounds like a stuffed hydrometer? Please correct me if I'm wrong

A hydrometer should read 1.000 in plain water. But in a brew the reading is affected by the other ingredients in the brew. Beer generally finishes above 1.000, while wine on the other hand generally finishes below 1.000 at about .990. Most hydrometers, even the cheap ones are fairly accurate, or at least enough for our purposes. The OP's reading of 1.008 is about right for a kit beer of that style. It's not likely to go much lower, no matter how long it's left, due to the other ingredients in the liquid. Some of which will be unfermentable.

 

[ericmark]

I was about to post the same question. The Ginger Beer kit has been very slow been running for around 4 weeks now and was one week behind another Ginger Beer kit which I bottled last week in plastic pop bottles and the plastic became rather turgid so I released the pressure in the bottles.

With the standard beer kit they seem much faster just over the week and my method has been once nearly settled to move beer from one fermenter to another which seems to remove most of the sediment leaving a couple of days in new fermenter then bottling means I can drain the bottle when I come to drink it.

I wanted to bottle the Ginger Beer to free up the fermenter for the standard beer to transfer into but since the last lot seemed to have continued after bottling I am a little uncertain as to if to bottle or not specially as run out of pop bottles so will need to use glass.

What I have noticed is when I transfer beer to clean fermenter although there were still bubbles in old one there seems to be no bubbles in new one so removing the sediment seems to have stopped it fermenting any more. However with the Ginger beer it never goes clear and where I have lost siphon I will transfer into demijohns to settle and have noticed with the Ginger beer it still bubbles when transferred but not with standard beer.

I have read about yeasts which are both top and bottom feeders and I do wonder if since with standard beer it is a bottom feeder removing the sediment has also removed most the active yeast so little left to continue fermenting. However clearly there will be a little and although bottled for 2 to 3 weeks is not a problem building up a stock for Christmas means it has enough time for the yeast to multiply again.

Ginger beer reading around 1.010 but standard beer reading around 1.000 so it would seem standard beer is ready for bottling but ginger beer is not, even though the latter has be in the fermenter since 28th July only started at 1.020 where standard beer started at 1.030 on 9th August.

With wine the kits I have has something to stop the fermentation but this does not seem to be the case with beer. Dropping 1.020 to 1.010 in 20 days I am unlikely through the bubbles to note any change in 3 days even if it is still dropping.

Any advice please. Sorry if I should not have tagged this to this post but seemed near enough same question.

 

[Sandimas]

Ive had a coopers european lager bubbling away in the bucket for 15 days

This has also been fermenting at higher than recommended temp 24 degrees) if that changes anything? and yes I know higher temps are bad and going to give me a killer hangover but I had no way of keeping cooler :sulk:

Crikey :shock: Coopers European uses a low-temp lager yeast not an ale yeast, I'd be a bit worried about 24C with an ale yeast, wonder what that would do to a lager? Could that be the reason it's still bubbling? Usually ferment my lagers in winter at 12-15C, don't brew them in summer 'cos it's too hot.

Having said that, 1.008 sounds good, I'd bottle - have found some beers just keep going a little.

Now you need to find somewhere to store the lager around 1C for 3 months before it's ready Was well impressed when I did mine.

 

[froidy]

Oh I'm using Tapatalk on Samsung Galaxy and for me all it showed was 1.00 not 1.008 my bad, yeah that sounds just fine to bottle but I agree with darrellm temp sounds high

 

[steady10101]

yea I defiantly need somewhere cooler! I will update to let you know what they taste like when ready.

I bottled them the day after and now the bottles are solid so carbonated up it seems.

They have been sat bottled at around the same temp as when in the bucket but im trying to buy a second fridge and going to put them in there and leave them as long as poss.

Apparently summer lager brewing isnt advisable without a fridge to do it in.... plenty of hangovers to come with some unwanted alcohols haha.