Refermentation in secondary?

[dlutter]

Hi guys. I'm looking for some feedback on how I should handle this batch.

Some history:​

A few weeks ago I brewed 5 gal of an all Cascade pale ale (loosely based on Deschutes Mirror Pond) that called for 3 oz of hop pellets in secondary with Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship (Chico strain). This is my first time using Imperial. I usually use Wyeast 1056.​

Primary for 7 days went fine but it seemed like it finished a little high (1.012 or 1.014). I transferred to secondary with the dry hop pellets and checked on it a couple of days later. I saw lots of activity in the fermenter (hops swirling & bubbles in the wort) with some airlock activity. I figured its either infected or it jump started something so I just left it alone to sort itself out.​

I've been busy for 10 days and just rechecked it. Gravity is 1.005 and the fermenter is quiet except for there seems to be a lot of dissolved CO2 (small bubbles in the fermenter w/ no airlock movement). It even fizzed quite a bit on the hydrometer. Taste is pretty good, although a little grassy from being on hops for just over 2 weeks.​

Is it likely that I just had a stuck fermentation that restarted in secondary or is this batch infected? Should I transfer it to another carboy (to get it off the hops) and see what happens or should I go ahead and keg it?

Anybody ever had this happen? What were the results (good or bad)?

 

[Jag75]

I've used A07 before , it's a great yeast imo. Have you tried it ? If it smells and taste good keg it and enjoy it .

 

[IslandLizard]

Start thinking about omitting secondaries. They're really not needed, can cause trouble, while solving nothing.

Keep this in mind: Oxidation is bad for beer, especially in hoppier beers, it kills hop sensation. So prevent air (oxygen) exposure as much as possible once fermentation starts. For that reason, skip secondaries unless you can transfer without air exposure. This requires closed transfers under CO2 into 100% pre-purged vessels (such as kegs).

So no, don't transfer, and definitely not again.

You may have witnessed some outgassing due to the transfer while the dry hops provide nucleation sites. That's common. Any CO2 production after that may have come from continuing fermentation (the beer wasn't quite done yet), possibly assisted by some hop creep. Hop creep happens due to enzymes within the hops that break down dextrins into fermentables.

1.005 is quite low.

 

[Jag75]

What yeast have you used in that fermenter lately ? Could be diastaticus

 

[Gnomebrewer]

You might not have reached FG after 7 days. IME, 7 days is about the normal timeframe for the chico strain in normal gravity worts. Also, there was a lot of discussion a few years ago about hops re-starting fermentation - I think the consensus from that was that hops have some diastatic capability, but that could be wrong. 1.005 is low, but not outside what a non-diastatic strain could possibly get with a long/low mash. Regardless, there's no reason you shouldn't keg it. Try to avoid oxygen as much as possible - apart from what's already discussed above, if there is a contamination/infection, many of them do better with oxygen (eg. acetobacter, mould).

 

[day_trippr]

"Hop creep" due to enzymes that degrade long carbs making them available to the yeast is real and strain dependent as to magnitude...

Adding hops to fermenting/fermented beer will provide nucleation sites for dissolved CO2 to break out of solution (there is quite a bit of dissolved CO2 in the fermentor at typical yeast-happy temperatures)...

Cheers!

 

[hottpeper13]

A paper I read on hop creep stated that cascade was one the most prone to this and resulted in very low fg's

 

[dlutter]

Thank you for all of the replies. This is all very interesting information. You have definitely given me some information to read up on.

The fermenter had sat dormant for the last 3 years (due to a move) and was previously used for a clean beer. The only thing I can think of for contaminated equipment is that I used the same siphon and tubing as I used for a naturally fermented home pressed pear cider but I have also used it on other beers since then without problems.

For now I am going to keg it and see what happens. Thanks again!