Fermentation still going on after 10 days

I think you should take a gravity reading now. And another one in 2 days.

 

It will help because you will see if it's done. The airlock is NOT always a sign of fermentation.

I bet you that beer was done by day 3, 4 at most. What you see now is just barometric pressure changes in the atmosphere, paired with possible temperature fluctuations, causing the airlock bubble. Or you have contaminated beer.

Take a gravity reading. It's likely been done for close to a week now.

 

Yeast flocs and other particles slightly denser than the beer can rise, buoyed by CO2, and then fall again. Your beer's attenuation may or may not be done. Thus the suggested gravity readings. If it's not done, there could be many reasons. Most likely would be weak/insufficient yeast.

 

How do you know that?

 

Slurry can be a bitch to estimate, both cells counts and viability. But to be clear, I don't really think it's likely that you have a yeast problem. I think it's likely there's no problem at all. Yeast only becomes a likely culprit if attenuation isn't finished.

 

@hoji813

Why are you SO against just taking a reading? Everybody is trying to help, but you constantly just fire back on reasons why we are wrong. A hydrometer reading is the ONLY way to know, so just do it.

You are making this a far bigger issue than it needs to be, when the solution is so simple.

I still bet you that beer was finished days ago.

 

TBF, they did say that they were going to.

But I agree generally - if ten years of debugging software has taught me nothing else, it's never a bad idea to double-check your assumptions, particularly if you can't think of any way they can possibly be wrong.

 

If a mid-gravity beer with Wyeast 1056, at 66F, isn't done attenuating after 11 days, there's a problem with yeast health, yeast count, or something about the wort you're not telling us that is ******ing the yeast.

 

@hojo813

Still bet it's done. I have had krausen thick and foamy on top of finished beer that never 'broke' and when I racked that beer into a keg I couldn't see the top surface of the beer. Depends on the yeast and the beer itself. You also see 'activity' of particles up/down due to CO2 and atmospheric pressure and temperature. Physics does some cool stuff...

Unless your yeast is flawed/unhealthy or temps too cold for the yeast... Nothing but an underpitched lager (not counting sours and those funky strains) will take more than 7 days tops to ferment out. I have never, ever seen it in my 70+ batches now with both ales/lagers... Ales have ALWAYS, even high gravity stuff, finish in 3-4 days to FG.

 

Regardless of their appearing to be activity, and all what you said here about there being a couple things new to your process. The yeast are more than likely done, and there's just some residual activity taking place. Sometimes that's just what happens, and that's why you take your first gravity much sooner than your 14 days, and waiting until such and such about airlock activity. I'm a visual person through and through. But, understanding that visual activity through also having a gravity reading is the most important base to have covered.

Oh, you pitched it low. There's your answer right there. They are going to behave different coming in cooler, and work slower. Still. You should take gravity readings more frequently, and sooner.

 

Brewday I take at least four separate samples for my refractometer. If I'm doing a batch sparge brew, I want to know what gravity my 1st and 2nd runnings are. Because that's what my pre boil gravity is going to be when I brew a split batch from one grain bill.
If I'm doing a full yield, I need to know first runnings, and how low or high it finishes when I cut my sparge off. Nice to know for the note keeping, and if I ever decide to care about efficiency. It's essential to keep track of.
Then I get post boil gravity, which is where the race begins, and if my number matches what my estimated gravity was. I'm super happy, because that's what matters to me most on brew days. Hitting that number.
Post brew day. I stick to using a refractometer and plug its numbers in to beersmith to convert. Most of the time, primary fermentation is done in about 2 to 3 days. So I like to take a reading around day 3 or 4 to check in on that number and where it's at in relation to what my software has estimated. With the kviek yeasts I use now for most IPA related stuff. I am finished up in about a week and typically bottle it a week or so after I brew it. If I'm using something else. It depends, but usually I'm bottling it at 3 weeks, unless it's a sour or big beer.