Possibly transferred to secondary too early...advice?

[Eisenhans]

Ahoy folks:

I had my beer in the primary fermenting bucket for 2 days, and today the airlock stopped bubbling completely. After reading some of the posts on here, I feel like this was too early (since the physical signs stopped, but that apparently doesn't mean it's done fermenting).

Should I attempt to re-pitch yeast, or is it basically a done-deal at this point? What can I expect the beer to taste like at this point? It was a heffeweizen extract kit with wheat DME added.

Thanks in advance

 

[SuburbanBrewer]

Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew. Chances are the beer isn't done, but there isn't enough activity to get a vigorous airlock. Give it a week and check your gravity. Then check it a few days later. If the number hasn't moved, you're done.

 

[Eisenhans]

Thanks for the reply.

So there should still be enough yeast in the secondary to allow for sufficient fermentation to go on?

 

[SuburbanBrewer]

What was your OG? My guess is the yeast were still swimming in the beer when you transferred.

 

[passedpawn]

Sounds normal.

Expect it to taste very yeasty now, and possibly sulfury. Depending on the yeast that was included with your kit, you might pick up some cloves and banana. Maybe a little sweet and thick mouthfeel due to lack of carbonation.

Give it another 10 days in the primary, then bottle. A hefeweizen certainly doesn't need a secondary. In fact, most beers are fine without that.

You don't need to add any more yeast. There are billions of them swimming around in your carboy right now.

 

[pjj2ba]

It is possible that the seal on the bucket lid failed and C02 is escaping somewhere. Not a problem.

Another more likely possibility, is that the bulk of the fermentation is already complete. Ideally fermentation is fairly quick. When you hear people saying it took their beer a week or more to ferment, that likely means (for normal SG ales) that there was a problem somewhere. You appear to have done things right!