Co2 Till The Cows Come Home

[voytekl]

Hi all... looking for a bit of advice.

So I made an IPA. Malt was:

Pale LME 3kg
Pale DME .75kg
Wheat DME .25Kg
.375Kg Joe White Crystal (steeped)

Into 23l. (hops: 40g target@60min, 28g EK Goldings@15min, 28g EK Goldings@5min, 28g EK Goldings@dryhop - if anybody's interested). OG was 1.054. Yeast was Wy1028. Primary looked about done after a week. It was 1.018 but I figured I'll secondary and dryhop and i'll get the next few points there if they're gonna go. So that was a week in. It really seemed stopped for a couple of days then it got warm and off it went so I was venting and squeezing the cube a few times a day. It's been like that the whole time, although seemingly slowing down. The gravity's now 1.013ish and it's only come down a couple of points if that in the last fortnight, but its consistently going and I'm still having to vent at least every day before the cube starts turning into more of a sphere. All up a week in primary, nearly 3 in secondary. It just seems weird to be producing this much CO2 still and the gravity not really changing. Ambient temp has been pretty consistently in the low twenties for a good while.

Tastes sensational (i just drank a hydro sample :chug: ), and I want to bottle it this weekend but it really doesn't seem to want to stop. Am I gonna have problems with overcarbonation? Should I wait till it really finishes? It's a bit bigger than anything I've done before so am just not sure if this is just how things are.

Thanks brewin folks. :super:

 

[Adamt]

How long does the "whoosh" last each day you open it?

Can't taste anything different/weird at all? How about smell?

It should really have finished after 3 weeks in the secondary, and at temperatures in the 20s. 1.013 sounds about right for a FG.

 

[voytekl]

It doesn't produce that much every day. Maybe about 3 litres worth of CO2? I thought at first the cap was leaking so that after I squeezed it it was sucking air in slowly, but there's definitely positive pressure when I release the cap and it would just keep expanding if I didn't. so I do :lol: It's just consistently doing this every day. Hardly slowing at all.

No funny tastes or smells.

By the way - The fermentation was pretty healthy. Although I didn't make a starter, just pitched the wyeast wetpack which wasn't hugely active, but it had swelled a bit. Temps were a bit all over, but not anywhere too crazy.

It's just kinda odd. It seems to be finishing, but just so friggin slowly... :huh:

Although that said, I would've never conditioned for 3 weeks plus and probably would be well into having drunk it by now so I'll probably get a better beer as a result. It is tasting pretty damn fine. :beerbang:

 

[Voosher]

Basically if the SG is stable and has been for a couple of days and it taste's fine then it should be good to bottle.
I suppose it could still fermenting slowly. 3 litres of CO2 is roughly equivalent to a quarter of an SG point. At that rate if it is still going you would notice a hydro drop of 2 points over the couse of a week or so.
That's not dangerous from a bottle bomb perspective when the SG is already at a perfectly acceptable final gravity.
Bottle it :super:

 

[voytekl]

awesome! :super: That's the answer I wanted to hear.

Thanks guys :beer: