Thames Valley Yeast

Have you ever had a yeast that just won't quit? It appears that I have one.

On January 31, I brewed a beer that was a Welsh Bitter recipe with some dark roasted barley. A dark bitter, if you will. The yeast, Wyeast Thames Valley, took well and after seven days I transferred the beer to a secondary fermenter. Then things got strange.

As expected fermentation slowed a bit. But it never quite shut off. In fact, during my birthday party, when the house got a bit warm, the yeast took off like it had just been pitched! Now we are entering our seventh week and the yeast is still chugging along. Given that the original gravity was only 40, how can this be?

Our house is quite cool so that may have slowed things. I may have also measured the original gravity when the wort was a bit too warm. These would account for a bit of what I am experiencing, but seven weeks in the fermenter?!? With no sign of stopping?

My fire chief opines that I will go down to the cellar and find a hand reaching out of the fermenter.

Dear Reader, I will keep you posted.