Corn Sugar in Secondary - 11 days and counting

[nosnhojm20]

Brewed a Pliney the Elder clone. I was smashed by the end of it and forgot the corn sugar in the primary. In my defense my college roommate who I hadn't seen in years was visiting.

I added the corn sugar to the secondary, boiled a pint of water and dissolved in solution. Anyway, it's been about 11 days since this and I'm still get quite a bit of activity and yeast cake development. I'm going on vacation and am anxious to have a ball park of when will the activity stop? I want to start dry hopping it as I wanna drink the son of a b*tch.

How long does activity usually go on for corn sugar in the secondary??

 

[ChemicalBrew]

Was this your 4 or 5 oz. of bottling sugar that you added to the secondary? If so, that was a mistake. That boiled sugar solution should go into your bottling bucket right before bottling. It is what provides the carbonation in the sealed up bottles. It shouldn't be added to a primary or secondary fermentation. No big problem though, let it finish fermenting and then repeat, but this time bottle it right after adding it to your beer. Oh yeah, you probably have a week or two to wait now until that initial corn sugar addition is fully fermented.

 

[nosnhojm20]

No, corn sugar, a full lb. it was supposed to go in the primary just got hammered and forgot like a moron. Lesson learned on that front.

Corn sugar usually takes a week or two to ferment in secondary? Thanks

 

[dgr]

What was your FG at end of primary? What's your SG now? It really is the only way to know. If you have yeast cake forming, you have plenty of yeast in there and I would ASSuME it was done in a few days but would use the hydrometer to know.

 

[nosnhojm20]

Good call, I don't have that info with me as I'm away. I ASSuMEd that seeing co2 bubbles meant it was still fermenting. Getting a bubble or two every 5 seconds, too.

 

[dgr]

That does seem like a lot of airlock activity for just CO2 coming out of solution. You've got yeast and an easily fermentable sugar. Hard to believe it's still chugging along after 11 days. I was going to bottle and had my corn sugar all mixed in before I aborted and put it back in the FV. The corn sugar was fermented out in 3 days. Granted, that was only an 1.059 beer, only 5 oz and likely warmer but I didn't have much yeast.

Just a thought. What's the harm in starting your dry hop while any residual corn sugar is fermenting? You've got like 10 days of dry hopping to get through, right?

Either way, I'd definitely get a hydrometer reading.

 

[pkrath84]

Just a thought. What's the harm in starting your dry hop while any residual corn sugar is fermenting?

Dry hopping typically starts once the primary fermentation has completed. I believe the co2 being produced will carry your hop volatiles out of your beer if you start it sooner than that.

 

[nosnhojm20]

For the record took about 14 days until there was no activity. That being said I never took a hydrometer reading, either. So I guess the "findings" are inconclusive.

 

[dgr]

Thanks for following up on this. I hate cliffhangers.

 

[nosnhojm20]

The beer is a beauty. Beyond flavorful and well balanced. It was Morebeeer's Pliny the Elder clone. Great buy one get one free. 25 bucks? Best money I've spent in a long, long, long time.

 

[nosnhojm20]

I assume it was about 14 days as I went on vacation but you get the idea. Surprising.

 

[dgr]

How'd I miss that sale? :smack:

 

[nosnhojm20]

I think I saw it on homebrew finds.