so i have a Belgian wit i brewed and its been in the primary for 18 days now dying down but still fermenting 1 pop every 20 seconds i have a thin layer of foam and it looks and smells great haven't tasted it ,but I'm sure everything will turn out good . i just have never fermented a beer for this long. anyone else?
og 1.058 i piched a wlp400 belgian wit starter bout 1 liter

RDWHAHB, that puppy will be ready in a few more days. I just brewed a wit with WLP400 and I had in in primary for about 16 days, kegged and started serving right away. Check the gravity to confirm..

Wits are best young, so I haven't done an extended ferment with them, but I have fermented plenty of other beers for a few months before...

HTH,

--FB

I would check the gravity in a couple days to see where you are at. Sounds like the fermentation was fine, some take a little longer than others. If its not done don't try and rush it.
Cheers
CN

I'm 12 days into a simple Pale Ale. Brewed up a 10 gallon batch with my brew partner and he took his five to his place and I kept mine. We pitched an equal amount of WLP001 starter that had been on the stir plate right up till pitching time. His finished in a couple of days and I'm still at 1.017 (from 1.043) as of last night, with airlock activity still going. I'm OK with the slow and steady fermentation thing but for a beer this small to only drop .026 in 12 days despite constant activity? Odd.

robowobo, I'm in a similar situation, but I'm following the RDWHAHB code. I got a "belgian wit" bubbling away too, but I used dry danstar nottingham instead of wlp400. It's been bubbling for two full weeks at a rate of about once every 4 seconds and is just now slowing down to about twice a minute. I'm fermenting in the mid-60s. I'm quite content with mine bubbling that long. Makes me think I'll get a pretty full attenuation.

I've never had a fermentation run that long with airlock activity. What is your fermentation temp?

right on 66 f i keep it in my furnace room in my basement so i can control the temperature i remember the starter was very foamy and going great more so than any other starter i made. i've had beers go 10-12 days . im not too worried about that, but i think this one will go 20 - 22 days i have never had that before.and i was curious if anyone else has?
i give it a couple of shots of oxygen usually at the start and right about a week after or usually right before fermentation is done.
i'm thinking like you slat great attenuation.

Robo, I wouldnt introduce oxygen during fermentation or after the fact.. oxygen is not your friend.. unless you want it to come out oxidized... not a good flavor profile for your beer

Unless you are brewing a 20%+/- monster skip all but the first shot of O2. In the case of the said monster it's ok to hit it with O2 once a day for the first 3 or 4 days, NOT AFTER THAT.

So forget the shot of O2 at a week, that is unless you really like oxidized beer.

Fred

Fellas - does that include shaking up your pail/carboy to encourage further fermentation? I usually do that when things start to slow down, . . . just to lengthen the fermentation a bit. Would simply raising the temp be a better plan to help it along those last few points?

Frank B., I also brewed up the wit last night with a WLP400 starter - the last time I used this yeast, I had good airlock activity well after three airlock blowouts, probably a total of 10-12 days. I'm planning to bottle straight from primary . . .

As long as you are not already fermenting too warm, bumping up a few degrees along with rousing will not hurt.

Fred

All of the Belgian yeasts I've ever used have had extended ferments- at least in visual terms. The kraeusen seems to want to hang around almost to the end. I try to wait for it to drop as I've been conditioned to see this as a sign that the bulk of the ferment is over. However, gravity and taste checks probably would serve as better indicators that it is ready.

If you feel it is good to go- it is!

I recall in BLAM Stan mentions that it often takes as long to drop the last few points as it does to do the majority of fermentation.

I can testify to that. I just finished a Dubbel with CL-300. The first 3 days where VERY vigorous, and then it pretty much just stopped. In those first few days it got it down from 1.064 to about 1.030, then it took about 3 weeks to get from 1.030 to 1.007. A real pisser.

WOW, you've still got some CL-300 around??? I used to love that stuff!

Yeah, I was lucky to get a slant from brewsters before they took a dump. Got it with a slant of Cl-50. I really like the flavor/aroma profile that its putting out in my dubbel, but the ferment sure went weird. I did a westmalle dubbel based on Caped Brewsaders claim that they only use Pils and syrup. So I used Belgian Pils and 1.5 bottles of the D2. I'll let you know in a few weeks, I just crashed it yesterday.

I'm gonna use some D2 for the first time this weekend...looking forward to trying it.

what ya going to make denny?

Dunno, exactly...I'm gonna check out the grain stash today or tomorrow and see what I've got. I'm thinking a pils base, maybe some special aromatic, _maybe_ a touch of CaraMunich, some soft blond sugar, the D2, WY3787. Start out with some kind of noble hop and finish with Strisselspalt....

I made up my Westy with the D2 last weekend. Used 3787. 1080 OG. Looks pretty good so far. We'll have to do a side by side, Denny.

Yeah, I'm definitely thinking something along the lines of your Westy recipe, N8. How much D2 did you use? I've only got 1 bottle so I was thinking of supplementing with the sugar.

1 bottle of D2, and a lb of soft blonde sugar. It's what i had on hand.
For the grist, I used 50% Glen Eagles Floor malted MO, 50% Simpsons Golden Promise. Both were allready opened, and didn't want to open up two more bags. Hallertauer, Styrian Golding hops, for about 35 IBUs.
Nonetheless, I think it'll be a TastyBrew.

That's kinda where I'm at, too. Gotta get over to Kevin's and see what we've got on hand....

This is a little off the 'long fermentation' original thread topic, but since we are talking about belgians, AND, Denny brought up the D2 sugar......I put some organic black cherry juice in a dubbel (oh, mmmmmmmyyy), but I dont know how to calulate that into my gravity points. Any clues?

If it was from a bottle with a ND label you can figure the grams of sugar per serving and extrapolate it out. Treat it like cane sugar.

well i'll quit the blast of o2 right at the end the last beer i have turned out great but ,it's been 20 for the wit days and no change but i have to say this stuff smells great.

robo, how did your Wit turn out?

I'm fermenting a batch right now with WLP400 and it is also turning into an extended fermentation. It has been a week now and I've still got lots of airlock activity.