Ok to check gravity yet?

[YukonLT]

I brewed an all grain Black Rye IPA with an OG of 1.065. It's been in primary for 16 days now. I have been wanting to transfer to secondary and dry hop it but it's still bubbling...slowly. Maybe one bubble every minute to two minutes. On all my previous brews I waited until it stopped bubbling to check my FG, but they didn't take this long to stop. This is my first all grain batch, and everything went great. Hit all my numbers, etc etc. So should I wait a bit longer to check it? It has been controlled during fermentation at 68 degrees, so I thought it would be done by now. I have read of 10 day fermentation times from so many people on here with similar recipes, so I guess I just don't know why it's taking so long.

PS- I used Safale-US05 yeast

 

[RM-MN]

Certainly it is fine to check the gravity now and if it is at the expect FG, you can dry hop right in the primary, no need to transfer to secondary for that.

 

[YukonLT]

I just didn't want to let any oxygen into the FV yet, I guess that was my main concern. I want to transfer to secondary to dry hop so I can free up this primary to brew again this weekend.

 

[Dan]

I have to agree with RM-MN no need to secondary. Not sure if your LHBS is close by but you could just get yourself another FV and save yourself time and the hassle of a secondary. Exposure to oxygen is going to be greater by racking to a secondary. Just food for thought.

 

[RM-MN]

I just didn't want to let any oxygen into the FV yet, I guess that was my main concern. I want to transfer to secondary to dry hop so I can free up this primary to brew again this weekend.

As long as you don't do any violent motions the CO2, being heavier than air, will remain over your beer. Any oxygen introduced when you sample should be displaced by the outgassing CO2.

Transferring to secondary is one of the acceptable reasons for secondaries but for less than $20 you can get a bucket fermenter with lid and airlock. That lets you do 2 batches at once without needing to secondary. You could even do a third smaller batch in the secondary you have so that isn't wasted either. A 5 gallon secondary would be fine for anything from a 1 gallon to about a 4 gallon batch.

I do quite a few 2 1/2 gallon batches so instead of buying an ale pale (since I don't need all that space) I bought a couple of the food grade 5 gallon buckets from Walmart, drilled a small (1/8") hole in the lid and taped a flap of plastic over it to form a crude airlock. I think that setup was under $5 each.

 

[YukonLT]

Well, another reason I like to secondary is it seems to clean the beer up nicely. I have yet to bottle a beer from my primary, but now you guys have me thinking...

 

[YukonLT]

As long as you don't do any violent motions the CO2, being heavier than air, will remain over your beer. Any oxygen introduced when you sample should be displaced by the outgassing CO2.

Transferring to secondary is one of the acceptable reasons for secondaries but for less than $20 you can get a bucket fermenter with lid and airlock. That lets you do 2 batches at once without needing to secondary. You could even do a third smaller batch in the secondary you have so that isn't wasted either. A 5 gallon secondary would be fine for anything from a 1 gallon to about a 4 gallon batch.

I do quite a few 2 1/2 gallon batches so instead of buying an ale pale (since I don't need all that space) I bought a couple of the food grade 5 gallon buckets from Walmart, drilled a small (1/8") hole in the lid and taped a flap of plastic over it to form a crude airlock. I think that setup was under $5 each.

Thanks for all the info, but I should have mentioned that I use glass carboys for my FV's. I have two 6.5 gallon and three 5 gallon carboys.

 

[YukonLT]

So I checked it and I'm right where I wanted to be at 1.012. I ended up just dry hopping in the primary to try that out. Funny thing is that it bubbled again before I took the blow off tube out, and again after I added the dry hops and put the airlock on. Maybe I'm going to loose another point or two of SG at the end of my dry hop?

 

[Yooper]

So I checked it and I'm right where I wanted to be at 1.012. I ended up just dry hopping in the primary to try that out. Funny thing is that it bubbled again before I took the blow off tube out, and again after I added the dry hops and put the airlock on. Maybe I'm going to loose another point or two of SG at the end of my dry hop?

Maybe- but probably not. Adding the dryhops added some nucleation points, and so sometimes I see co2 bubbles when I add the dryhops or move the carboy. It sounds fine!

 

[YukonLT]

Maybe- but probably not. Adding the dryhops added some nucleation points, and so sometimes I see co2 bubbles when I add the dryhops or move the carboy. It sounds fine!

Oh I'm not worried about it at all, it's gonna be a good beer! Thanks for the response though Yooper

 

[Dan]

One thing, among many that I have come to enjoy in brewing is listening to the comforting sound of the bloop gurgle bloop gurlge of an airlock venting CO2. Pretty sure Craig, of CraigTube, mixed in that sound with some music on one of his videos.

My bucket lids are getting worn. They don't seal perfectly anymore.. and airlock activity isn't as strong as it used to be.. Kind of like me sort of.

I have learned to take the proper steps in brewing and give my wort a healthy enviorment with an appropiate amount of chipper yeasties but I don't get that comforting sound of airlock activity much, anymore.

Airlock activity is like sex - you just can't get enough of it at first and then after a long time it's just comforting on occasion.