Waiting for yeast to settle in Secondary

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MrDanders

New Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Need some advice here...

I have had a brown ale in the seondary for 8 days now and there are no signs that the thick (3/4 inch) head of yeast ( Wyeast 1318) is settling at all. My temps are 67-68F, the brew was on the primary for a week and fell from OG=1.053 to 1.019. When I transferred it to the 2ndry there was little floating yeast at all.

I dryhopped some pellets into the 2ndry, and within a couple days of racking the carboy was covered over. Bubbling is still on-going, but quite slowly (every few minutes).

How long until I see the krauzen settling out? I have heard that if I move the carboy to a cool area (not likely, but possible) that it will start to settle.

Any thoughts?
 
My first thought is you racked too soon.

Your OG was 53. Divide by 4 (for 75% attenuation) = 13.5. At 19 it was too high to rack. You still had kreusening going on.

To reduce any chance of contamination you should wait to rack until the kreusen head drops out. ;)
 
When you dry hop, sometimes the hops will never drop, too. You might want to try to rig up a racking cane filter and rack out from under the hops if its done. Make sure its done, though. Patience, I know its tough but thats what it takes.
 
I agree that you racked too soon- you were at 63% attenuation for your yeast. Depending on your yeast, you could have waited until 1.012 or 1.014 to rack.

The 1-2-3 is just a guideline, and as long as fermentation is happening it's definitely not done! I'd leave it until the krausen falls, and then leave it some more after that.
 
If you cool it, the yeast will drop out and stop. Then when you bottle you'll end up with glass bombs. Let it finish. You may even want to get the temp up to 72 just to help the yeast a little more.
 
Back
Top