Concerns about secondary fermentation

[SirKreusen]

I started an IPA that consisted of 10 lbs of malt for a 6 gallon batch. 9lbs of malt was light Pilsen DME and 1 lb was Crushed honey malt. Boiled 3 gallons and added filtered water to bring me to 6 gallons. Left it in the primary for 3 weeks as more and more people seem to be saying not to disrupt the primary fermentation by transferring too soon. When I did transfer to the secondary, I dry hopped as well. The fermentation kicked back in and for two weeks now, I have had a thin layer of white kreusen on the top and debris is still swirling around. I used Safale US-05 for the first time. Should I be concerned about this or is this typical for the yeast strain? My secondary usually doesn't kick back in this much and ends up being more of an "invisible" conditioning thing. I know I'll get beaten up for this but I never have taken gravity readings...something I plan on changing for the future. Do I have concerns or should I just let it go longer?

 

[afr0byte]

That small layer may have just been CO2 coming out of solution from the hops being added (nucleation sites). If you'd checked your gravity before secondary and then a couple days after secondary you'd know if additional fermentation had happened. So, yes you should check your gravities, especially if you're bottling.

 

[SirKreusen]

By Jove, I think you are right!
Another blunder I did was look at it when I thought there was enough light. Upon further inspection, it looks like CO2 bubbles trapped under a layer of hops.
Would the situation with the hop layer on top, trap CO2 bubbles for quite some time? In other words, after sitting this long, could it be safe to bottle? Thanks for your time, expertise and help!

 

[afr0byte]

It's almost certainly safe to bottle...though I'd wait for the hops to drop out before transferring to the bottling bucket.

 

[SamBrewer]

3 weeks for primary and 2 weeks for secondary... if the fermentation has not finished yet ( check the gravity of the wort to be able to calculate Attenuation and compare with the one suggested for that yeat strain) you may want to pich more healty yeast and monitor fermentation temperature the next time you brew that beer

 

[SirKreusen]

That small layer may have just been CO2 coming out of solution from the hops being added (nucleation sites). If you'd checked your gravity before secondary and then a couple days after secondary you'd know if additional fermentation had happened. So, yes you should check your gravities, especially if you're bottling.

One more question if you don't mind. I noticed a layer of yeast at the bottom of the secondary with a layer of hops (from dry hopping), on top of that. Every once in a while, I notice a CO2 eruption from the bottom that sends sediment rising up through the wort. As a result, the wort looks very cloudy at this point and I do not see an end to this happening. Some people say to strain it with a nylon, some say to cold crash it before the bottling bucket. If I transfer to the bottling bucket right now, I would end up with a very sediment-laden beer. Any suggestions as to how I can manage a clear beer with this situation?

 

[Cyclman]

If you can, cold crash it.

 

[SirKreusen]

Thought I would give an update. Transferred from the secondary after two full weeks. I decided not to cold crash it after several brewers griped about not having carbonation in the bottle after 4 weeks at room temp. Transferred it figuring that any goobers would settle to the bottom of the bottling bucket and was pretty much right. I ended up with an imperial IPA that has a pretty good hop nose and a respectable ABV... I guess around 9% (never took gravities as mentioned earlier). I want to thank all of you who posted. It was all of you that let me sort through the info and make a decision as to how to go about finishing this beer. Homewbrewing is always evolving and just when you think you know quite a bit...you may suddenly realize you don't know Jack! (at least in my case). Thanks again to all. John