Fermenting time

[beergoggles]

Hey fellow brewers , was just wondering if anyone else has experienced an unusually long ferment time ? . Have 2 stouts going at the moment that have been bubbling away for almost 3 weeks ??(Down to about one bubble every hour) .The recipes are as follows
Brew 1
1 tin Coopers stout
1 tin Coopers dark ale
150g choc malt steeped for 30 mins
250g dry wheat malt
25g golding hops
safale yeast
Brew 2
1 tin Coopers stout
1 tin Liquid dark malt
150g choc malt steeped for 30 mins
250g dry wheat malt
25g golding hops
100g dextrose
safale yeast
Has me baffled unless the yeast is damn hungry?

[KEG]

have you taken SG readings? could well be CO2 coming out of solution by now...

[bobbioli]

sounds like its done. I don't woorry to much and after three weeks I would bottle. But to be on the safe side take an hydrometer reading today and tomorrow. If the same bottle

[beergoggles]

I took an SG reading lastnight , both sitting around 1016 from about 1060 from memory , so i'de say that they are ready . Will check again 2night and if the same into the bottle they will go . Had a taste last night when checking SG , very tastey.......Looking forward to tasting these after been in the bottle for 3 or 4 months .

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I made a similar stout which took nearly four weeks to finish fermenting. A search will find several threads discussing this escapade.

Something like this has to age for a long time before drinking (IMHO), so why waste all that waiting time by bottling too early? My vote goes for leaving it longer...

[BierMeister]

On the flip side you don't want to leave it too long and get off flavours from the yeast cake. One bubble an hour is nothing and if thats the case and your Gravity is at 1016 from 1060, sure take another hydro reading, but if its not finished yet then I'd be very surprised. Even one bubble every few minutes usually means it's just releasing CO2 so don't leave it too much longer. Conveniently the weekend has arrived so that should give you bottling time.

[fourstar]

Maybe its best to rack your brew, it maybe overfermenting, does it smell stale?

leaving the wort on the yeat cake for too long will yield poor flavours, if you rack it gently i think the fermentation will probably stop completly.

[Pale_Ale]

Overfermenting?

[fourstar]

Overfermenting?

What I mean is its been sitting in the wort for too long and the yeast will be eating itself once all fermentables are gone.

Giving a bad smell, therefore overfermenting.

[rwh]

Commonly known as autolysis.

[beergoggles]

Bottled the 2 brews last Mon and Tues all seemed fine no stale smell , yeast cake looked fine , brew was settled . Strange one , got me beat .