Airlock activity in the secondary?

[Feem74]

I fermented in the primary for 2 weeks with activity from the blow off tube most of that time. I checked it after a 2 or 3 days of no activity and I had hit my FG target. I racked to the secondary 3 days ago. Pulled it out of the fermentation fridge last night and did not notice any airlock activity at that time. But after I had it setting on the counter for ~20 min getting ready to put in gelatin I noticed bubbles in my airlock. Timed it at a pace of about 2 to 4 min between bubbles.

I had NO other visible signs fermentation in the carboy. I checked my FG again and still at the same value. So, I decided to add the gelatin and put in back in the fridge to cold crash. Temp has dropped from 65 down to 50 this morning and I'm still getting airlock activity with no signs of any activity on top of the wort.

Do I still have fermentation going on? Or something else?

Thanks for the input, really appreciate it. This one has me really confused.

 

[hogwash]

Fermentation has stopped but it is still off-gassing a little as there is residual CO2 from fermentation. Nothing to worry about especially since your gravity isn't dropping.

 

[Revvy]

Co2 is a gas that expands and contracts due to all manner of things such as temps and barometric pressure changes, that's why we say repeatedly an airlock is NOT a fermentation gauge, it's a vent. Bubbling in an airlock just tells you that gas is escaping, NOT WHY.

 

[Feem74]

Ahh, makes sense! My last few brews were with a bucket that didn't seal well and got no airlock activity. Went to the carboys this time and got more than I expected. Off-gassing isn't a term I had come across before. That's something I would have would have said my dog does in his sleep.

Thanks again! Love this site

 

[hogwash]

Ahh, makes sense! My last few brews were with a bucket that didn't seal well and got no airlock activity. Went to the carboys this time and got more than I expected. Off-gassing isn't a term I had come across before. That's something I would have would have said my dog does in his sleep.

Thanks again! Love this site

I don't know that it's a technical term but I'm sure I've read it on here somwhere.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

If it was cold and it warmed while sitting on the counter then the "out-gassing" is due to the change in the amount of dissolved CO2. As it sat cold, a portion of the CO2 that the yeast produced was dissolved in the beer, but as it warms the beer cannot keep as much in solution, so some of it comes out as bubbles.
Airlock activity on cooling is a different story (perhaps the gelatin affects the solubility of CO2 in beer? I have only used gelatin once and didn't pay attention to airlock activity)

 

[Feem74]

I thought the same thing to about a temperature rise, but I checked it with the temp controller and it hadn't changed from when I pulled it out of the fridge. I wasn't careful not to disturb it when moving it to the kitchen since I wasn't racking it. I wasn't crazy with it, but maybe moving it as much as I did stirred it up enough to set off some gassing activity.

I checked this afternoon and with the temp now down to 45 I didn't see the same signs of activity I saw this morning. Guessing the temp has settled it back down.

 

[Revvy]

The thing is, it could be anything causing co2 trapped in the trub layer from coming up....Vacuuming in the same room, bumping against it, a truck rumbling on the street, a dog trying to hump the fermenter.