Airlock will NOT stop bubbling, what's up with that?

[clickondan]

Dry stout, nothing unusual. Primary fermentation visually complete after a week, has been sitting still for 2 weeks now (total of 3). FG is stabilized. Airlock is still bubbling, once every 5 seconds. Ambient temp is controlled and the carboy is not being moved. What the...?

I want to bottle this one in a couple days. I'm willing to wait some more, but it has been bubbling once every 5 seconds for 2 weeks and isn't slowing down. How is this possible with a stabilized FG, no ambient temp swings and not physically disturbing the beer?

 

[emyers]

What's the specific gravity? Could just be the beer off gassing co2. Being a stout I wouldn't sweat letting it sit for an extra week or two.

 

[duboman]

+1, take a reading, could be done

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

Mine is going crazy as I warmed it back up from cold crash. It is just the co2 being released. I will give it a few days then bottle

 

[clickondan]

Thanks all, I had this one on a schedule for a reason which I why I posed the question here, but I'll just break the schedule and sit on it for another week.

 

[Pappers_]

As stated above, its probably just off-gassing the dissolved CO2. Another, much less likely, option is that some bacteria is going to work on your wort, slowly but steadily. But if that's the case, your gravity reading should continue to decrease. Releasing CO2 is a much more likely cause - and you can bottle/keg while its still doing that - dissolved CO2 isn't an issue when bottling and kegging beer.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Take a gravity reading and see if it's actually changed 0.002 or more. If it hasn't I'd say it's just CO2 in solution being released due to temperature changes. I consider this the same problem as an air lock not moving and people worrying about fermentation. Take a gravity reading for both situations usually gives an answer.