Airlock has started bubbling again! Can I bottle?

[AndyBrew]

Hi all.
New to the brewing game. I have a Belgian Ale down and today is bottling day (day 15). I have found the airlock bubbling away again this morning after being stopped for over a week. The OG 1044 my FG is 1016,and has been steady for three days. Is it ok to bottle? Cheers to any advise.

 

[jmcnamara]

If the gravity has been steady that long, it should be done fermenting.
The bubble might have been co2 trapped in the yeast cake and it is escaping.
Airlock activity only tells you that there's enough built up pressure to push gas out of the airlock. It does not directly tell you if its still fermenting, your trusty hydrometer does

 

[Nosybear]

I'm guessing your beer's just losing dissolved CO2, perhaps as a result of a temperature change or a bit of agitation. Trust your hydrometer. I'd still let it sit a few more days, though, for a different reason: You'll get a better beer after a "conditioning" period than if you rush to bottle.

 

[J A]

I would definitely give it some time. You don't mention the yeast strain or temperature or how many days from brewing you scheduled bottling day, but Belgian yeasts are notorious for stalling under pressure and restarting. Just to be sure, I'd rouse it and leave it for a few days. You're only attenuated 65% and 1.016 is very high for almost any beer. It could be stalled for good, but given that it's bubbling again spontaneously, I'd bet that it has more to go.

 

[Hawkbox]

When you say rouse it... like shake the carboy?

 

[J A]

Yeah...you don't necessarily have to do that with Belgian yeasts, though. My guess is that it's still pretty cloudy in there and that means that the yeast is still in suspension. Assuming that it's not clearing just leave it be and raise the temp to 70F and see what happens.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Kegging crunks helles the other day as soon as I sat the fermentor up on the freezer ready for transfer yes the air lock came back to life burping out co2 most likely disturbed from the movement of the fermentor. It was definitely done though at .008.


This may not be the same in your case though

 

[AndyBrew]

If the gravity has been steady that long, it should be done fermenting.
The bubble might have been co2 trapped in the yeast cake and it is escaping.
Airlock activity only tells you that there's enough built up pressure to push gas out of the airlock. It does not directly tell you if its still fermenting, your trusty hydrometer does

Great thanks for the feedback. Ill leave it a few more ays and check again.

 

[AndyBrew]

Kegging crunks helles the other day as soon as I sat the fermentor up on the freezer ready for transfer yes the air lock came back to life burping out co2 most likely disturbed from the movement of the fermentor. It was definitely done though at .008.


This may not be the same in your case though

Yeah...you don't necessarily have to do that with Belgian yeasts, though. My guess is that it's still pretty cloudy in there and that means that the yeast is still in suspension. Assuming that it's not clearing just leave it be and raise the temp to 70F and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice. I'll leave it a couple more days and check it again.

 

[AndyBrew]

I'm guessing your beer's just losing dissolved CO2, perhaps as a result of a temperature change or a bit of agitation. Trust your hydrometer. I'd still let it sit a few more days, though, for a different reason: You'll get a better beer after a "conditioning" period than if you rush to bottle.

Great thanks for the advise I will check it again in a couple of days and if the same FG I''llbottle it.