Double checking my procedure

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Brewno

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After brewing last Sunday and a lag time of about 7 hours I ended up with a vigorous ferment and a blow off! After I cleaned that up and put a new airlock in I was back in action bubbling away at one or two bubbles per second. Out of my three batches this has been the most vigorous. My others stopped bubbling by the second day and never bubbled as strong. My OG was 1.062


Now I'm on day 6 and am ready to rack to secondary tomorrow and I am still getting a strong bubble every 40-42 seconds in a 6.5 gal carboy.
I will rack tomorrow but was just double checking with you guys on this first.
I'll be racking to a 5 gal carboy and was wondering if, with less space, there would be more pressure and more activity.
I would imagine that although secondary is a clearing tank that any residual fermentation would be done there also or at least the escaping of any extra gas?

I was hoping that by this time it would be over a minute betwen bubbles.

Good to go?

Tommy
 
Brewno said:
Now I'm on day 6 and am ready to rack to secondary tomorrow and I am still getting a strong bubble every 40-42 seconds in a 6.5 gal carboy.
I will rack tomorrow but was just double checking with you guys on this first.
I personally would wait a little longer, but others will say you can do it now. I normally wait for a bubbble every 90 seconds or so, then I wait one more day for good measure.

Brewno said:
I'll be racking to a 5 gal carboy and was wondering if, with less space, there would be more pressure and more activity.
You will see LESS activity after racking. It has nothing to do with the size of the vessel or anything to do with pressure (pressure would be the same as the larger vessel, by the way), but you are racking the beer away from a lot of yeast. Besides.... it's basically done fermenting at this point anyway, so tha amount of activity will just continue to wane.

Brewno said:
I would imagine that although secondary is a clearing tank that any residual fermentation would be done there also or at least the escaping of any extra gas?
that's basically correct, but there is really no 'extra gas'. You wil lget so me additional CO2 from the finishing fermentation, and you will knock some out of solution during the racking process, but the overall bubble activity in your airlock will be small and will quickly cease completely.

Brewno said:
I was hoping that by this time it would be over a minute betwen bubbles.
Then just wait a little longer. Why are you so eager to get it racked over?
 
Walker-san said:
Then just wait a little longer. Why are you so eager to get it racked over?


It's a time thing, something I have little of. My next chance would be Wed. which would make it 10 days.
If that didn't workout I'd have to wait until next week.

I may just wait and see if I have time on Wed.

Thanks

Tommy
 
I would not move it either, there still seems to be some good fermentation happening. I have extended my primary fermentations to at least 10 days and I think I get a better beer because the yeast have the time to finish up their work.
 
I'll cast a "wait" vote, as well. Practically speaking, you could leave the beer in primary 3-4 weeks without ill effects. Some people have reported even longer periods, but I try to stay in the 10-21 day range (generally speaking).
 
Blender said:
I have extended my primary fermentations to at least 10 days and I think I get a better beer because the yeast have the time to finish up their work.


I've extended my primary time as well and I'm convinced I'm getting better beer because of it.

Wait!
 
Yes, I'm letting it wait.

My other two batches, even during fermentation when it was bubbling every 2 seconds weren't as strong of a bubble as this, just a blip. It is down to every 50 seconds at this point but when it bubbles it's like a small explosion.....ok, more like a fart in a bathtub:D
Either way, it's big!!! I just hate to stop such a beautiful thing so I will let it sit a few more days.

Tommy
 
I finally got my brew racked to a secondary after 10 days in primary. Unfortunately I didn't do such a clean job as my last brew. I'm not talking about making a mess, I'm talking about sucking up sediment. My last batch was fermented in a bucket and it was easier to tip and position the auto siphon. The small opening on a carboy was a little tough. Anyway, it's all done and sitting pretty even though it has some sediment sitting at the bottom already.
I took a hydrometer reading and it was 1.028. My OG was 1.062.
It smelled a little like alcohol but tasted fine. After I chilled my sample it tasted even better and had no alcohol smell.

Waiting sucks:)

Tommy
 
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