Surprised....

I just brewed a clone from BYO: Fullers London Pride, using Wyeast London Ale III. I know it is a top cropping strain. I was lazy and did not take an OG reading. After the major initial fermentation (I used a starter for the first time. VIGOROUS. I will always do it now!) I racked it into the secondary with hardly any yeast (visible) going in. I thought it would just taper off and that would be it. WRONG. The top layer of yeast has formed again and so has the bottom! I can't believe it. The initial fermentation was about a week. All I can say is WOW! Comments?

Looks like you have a good beer being born. Generally, moving to secondary is done in order to remove the young beer from the trub and old yeast. The time to do so is after the krauesen ( foamy rocky head ) has fallen, not just by time in fermenter. By what you have said, it appears you racked a bit too early, IMHO.

It's not unusual for fermentation to last more than a week. Additionally it is fairly difficult to see yeast that are in suspension going through the racking tube unless there are some chuncks. That's a good yeast, did you save some for another brew?

Thanks for the responses. What should I do now? Rack it another time? If I keep some of the yeast, how should I do it? Putting some in a sanitized beer bottle with an O2 cap on it and put it in a fridge? How long will it last?

jay29 said:

Thanks for the responses. What should I do now? Rack it another time? If I keep some of the yeast, how should I do it? Putting some in a sanitized beer bottle with an O2 cap on it and put it in a fridge? How long will it last?

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In the primary, if it looks like it is still, and only a bubble or two through the lock in a minute,then its safe to rack to secondary. But, if you didn't suck up a bunch of trub the first time, IMHO, i'd just let it ride to finish right where it is, then go to the bottling step. The more times it's messed with, the more chance to get it contaminated and oxygenated.

When you bottle, put a piece of sanitzed al. foil over the top of the carboy until you do the bottles. Then there will be a bit of beer still left over your yeast cake. swirl it around till it's all mixed up good then pour it into sanitized jar, cover (al-foil) and put in the fridge. It will remain viable under beer for up to 3 weeks. Wyeast London Ale III is a tough breed and can take what other yeasts couldn't handle. If you want to keep it longer, pour off the old beer and add some new wort to replace it, let it rock and roll a while and put it back. Some of the other guys might be able to help you somemore.

In theory you should only move to Secondary after fermentation as stopped or is in a point or two of your intended FG.

If it's not finished the racking will reinvigorate the ferment as you have done.
It's not a bad thing but seeing as Secondary is actually a bright tank and not normally a fermenting stage you may want to extend the time in the secondary or even rack to a third vessel after the krausen has dropped.