Still bubbling away after 10 days..is this normal?

[skippy]

Hi all,

This may seem a really numb question but i'm still pretty new to this.
I made up a 'Festival' Father Hook 10 days ago.It started bubbling away within hours.10 days down the line its still bubbling away like crazy.

I'm not overly concerned I suppose but my last(and first) brew..A Wherry...stopped fermenting after about 5 days and came out perfect.

Also, this Festival kit came with dry hops to be added after 5 days which i have added...I just hope it wont be 'over hopped'.

The temp is around the 19 degrees mark which I think is OK.....so will the fermenting just stop..or does it tail off?

Any info as always will be greatly appreciated.

 

[PD]

At this time of the year it sounds perfectly normal.
But you have just discovered why home brewers use a hydrometer. Its an invaluable piece of equipment and costs around £3.
When you make up a brew and before yeast is added..take a reading. this is your SG or starting Gravity and with kits it will be around 1.044 ish
Towards the end of fermentation you take further readings once a day until they level out at say 1.012 you know then when the readings remain at this figure that your fermentation has stopped and you can move on to bottling kegging or whatever.
With these 2 figures you can work out the % abv of your brew ( how much alcohol you have made.)

 

[skippy]

Cheers...I was going to take a hydrometer reading tonight...

So, dumb question #2....if the hydrometer reading is stable for a couple of days but its still bubbling does this mean its still fermenting...or is it safe to keg?

 

[LeedsBrewer]

It depends on the reading. If it is above 1.014 then you might have a stuck fermentation in which case you would need to read this thread viewtopic.php?f=30&t=15082

If the reading is around 1.012 or lower and is consistant for 3 days then you should be fine to bottle or keg. :thumb: