Transfer to secondary and looks ???

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musicis

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This is a Belgian Ale OG 1.095 and was in the primary for 10 days. I transferred to the glass carboy and the next few days I saw this. A lot of small bubbles moving towards the top. Its been in this freezer now for 18 days @ 69 degrees and it still looks like its fermenting. Never saw this before. Did I let too much sediment in from the primary?

IMG_6975.jpg
 
What you've got there is a fermenting beer. Did you happen to take a gravity reading before you moved it to secondary? More than likely it was above what its supposed to be, and the yeast was still working on it. That's a pretty big beer (assuming you meant 1.095) to be done in 10 days. First things first, get that airlock cleaned out and install a blow-off tube so that your fridge doesn't get painted with beer. The yeast is working its way up into the airlock (causing it to look tan/yellow) and can clog, until pressure from CO2 builds up in the carboy and explodes the airlock and beer everywhere.

Once you've done that, sit back and let it ferment for a while longer. Since you moved it off the yeast cake in the primary fermenter, this could take a while to finish up. Wait another 2 weeks, then check a sample with your hydrometer. If its close to done, let it sit another few days and check again. If its not close yet, give it another 2 weeks and repeat. Eventually it will hopefully get all the way down, otherwise you may have to look at adding back a little more yeast, but more than likely it will just take some time.

For future brews, this is one of the reasons that some people are giving up on moving to a secondary. Myself, I don't bother any more, just leave it in the primary for a month or more (depending on the gravity) before testing and kegging it if its ready. There are pros and cons to it that I won't get into here, but several threads have gone over the ideas behind secondaries.
 
Agreed. Secondary is only necessary for long term aging or if you are racking onto another substance.. In any case I would always take hydro sample beforehand to ensure fermentation is complete.
 
erikpete18 said:
What you've got there is a fermenting beer. Did you happen to take a gravity reading before you moved it to secondary? More than likely it was above what its supposed to be, and the yeast was still working on it. That's a pretty big beer (assuming you meant 1.095) to be done in 10 days. First things first, get that airlock cleaned out and install a blow-off tube so that your fridge doesn't get painted with beer. The yeast is working its way up into the airlock (causing it to look tan/yellow) and can clog, until pressure from CO2 builds up in the carboy and explodes the airlock and beer everywhere.

Once you've done that, sit back and let it ferment for a while longer. Since you moved it off the yeast cake in the primary fermenter, this could take a while to finish up. Wait another 2 weeks, then check a sample with your hydrometer. If its close to done, let it sit another few days and check again. If its not close yet, give it another 2 weeks and repeat. Eventually it will hopefully get all the way down, otherwise you may have to look at adding back a little more yeast, but more than likely it will just take some time.

For future brews, this is one of the reasons that some people are giving up on moving to a secondary. Myself, I don't bother any more, just leave it in the primary for a month or more (depending on the gravity) before testing and kegging it if its ready. There are pros and cons to it that I won't get into here, but several threads have gone over the ideas behind secondaries.

+1 to this great explanation! You do not move a beer off the yeast until FG is verified.

As to secondary or not, do what you want, I'm not going there, but if you continue to choose to secondary remember to verify FG before doing anything:D
 
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