Pics of Beer in Secondary - Yeast?

Hey everyone. Here is a couple shots of my first PM in the secondary. It's been in the secondary for 4 days and it's been 9 days since pitching. Just wondering if this is yeast or just other junk from the grains left over. There is also a layer of it on the bottom. I think it's yeast as activity picked up again when I transfered it over to the secondary. It's still bubbling about once a minute.

Sorry for the quality...couldn't fine the digi cam and I had to use the cell...

Yes, it looks like yeast activity. If you racked at 5 days, that might have been a bit early, particularly if you were fermenting on the cool side of the yeast's temperature range. But not to worry, just leave it in the secondary for 2-4 weeks, and it will be great, I am sure.

Cool.

Yea I racked to the secondary cuz there was absolutely no activity in the primary after 3 days. I watched it for about 4 minutes a few times and nothing...so I racked it.

Also, I dry hopped in the secondary. I just dropped them in there. Is it still ok to leave the beer in there for that long with the hops?

Dry-hopping with hop pellets will contribute to the stuff at the top of the beer in the fermenter, so it is probably a combination of yeast activity (produced by rousing the yeast when you racked the beer) and the hops. That's all fine.

One note -- don't trust airlock activity as a good way to know when to rack. You should always use a hydrometer and check to see how much attenuation you have achieved. A general rule of them is that you want about 70% attenuation before you rack to the secondary, but this figure varies somewhat with the yeast and the recipe.

In general, it can't hurt anything to leave your beer in the primary for AT LEAST a week (1-3 is typical). Then, leave it for 2-3 weeks in the secondary before bottling.

Since you have dry-hopped it already, you might consider bottling at two weeks from the date you racked. But make sure you have achieved full attenuation first -- you gotta do those hydrometer readings!

Best of luck, and let us know how things turn out.

Someone who isn't me has this same problem!!

Someone who isn't me dry hopped in the primary, but someone who isn't me has a huge layer at the bottom, and at the top. Someone who isn't me has an empty secondary, should I tell him to rack it to that for the remainder of the clarification?

Remember, this is someone who isn't me

Lol...I wonder who it is.

I dry hopped in the secondary, so I can't help your 'friend'.

flyguy said:

Since you have dry-hopped it already, you might consider bottling at two weeks from the date you racked. But make sure you have achieved full attenuation first -- you gotta do those hydrometer readings!

Click to expand...

is that 2 weeks from the date I racked to the secondary or primary?

So, generally, how long is it "ok" to dry hop? Up to 2 weeks? I think I've read 10 days before...but don't know where. If it's 2 weeks, then I can leave it in the secondary until next weekend. If it's 10 days, then I will be bottling on Tuesday...

It's someone who isn't me, remember?

My friend doesn't seem to think that dry hopping in pri or sec should matter, but I was wondering if the EAC's could help out someone who isn't me