Fermenting again after 3 weeks

Hi everyone, I have never seen this, but after 3 weeks (1 week fermenting, 2 weeks in secondary), one of my beers has started to bubble again yesterday.

I brewed on 7-30 Cheesefood's Vanilla Caramel Creme Ale, and reracked after the bubbles stopped to a secondary (8-04), had a day of bubbling again, and then it was silent.

Yesterday, the secondary started to bubble again, about 1 rhino fart every 3 seconds. Here is a picture of the fermenter.




The hydrometer readings are as follows:

OG: 1.044 (Didn't quite get it high enough)
Sample gravity after reracking on 8-04: 1.021
Today's Gravity: 1.020

I'm guessing since the final gravity is 'supposed' to be around 1.014, that some freak yeast thing happened and now it will finally drop the gravity more so.


Edit: Forgot the question...

1- Is this normal?

2- Should I let it be?

3- Contamination or not? (While taking the reading, it smells great!)

#1 sound like you racked to early. Did you have steady SG readings for a few days before you racked to secondary. That 1.021 is very high for a beer to be done.

#2 Let it be. Just let it set for a another week. THEN take a reading and see if its close to the est FG.

#3 Just be clean. And its to early to tell.

Arneba28 said:

#1 sound like you racked to early. Did you have steady SG readings for a few days before you racked to secondary. That 1.021 is very high for a beer to be done.

#2 Let it be. Just let it set for a another week. THEN take a reading and see if its close to the est FG.

#3 Just be clean. And its to early to tell.

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+1 on this!!!

ANy number of "normal" things could have caused it...Temp shift kicking up some more fermentation, a stalled fermentation starting again, or simply a build up of trapped co2 from the bottom...or brewery poltergeists.

That's one of the reasons for waiting a few weeks before racking or bottling. If you leave it in primary for 3-4 weeks, then it is likely that fermentation has completed.

If you leave it in primary for 3-4 weeks, then it is likely that fermentation has completed.

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The reason I don't like to wait too long is because I'm worried about the dead yeast cells decaying and making 'off-flavors' in the beer. Although I do admit I moved it to the secondary pretty fast. I can't help it! It smelled so great! I can't wait!

I will test it again in a few days, and then again to see if the gravity has moved.

Thanks for the replies.

toastermm said:

The reason I don't like to wait too long is because I'm worried about the dead yeast cells decaying and making 'off-flavors' in the beer. Although I do admit I moved it to the secondary pretty fast. I can't help it! It smelled so great! I can't wait!

I will test it again in a few days, and then again to see if the gravity has moved.

Thanks for the replies.

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That's a brewer's bogeyman, n00b. I leave mine in for a month, a lot of us leave it for 3-4 weeks.. Up to a month actually makes the beer taste and look better, the yeast clean up after themselves after fermentation is complete.

This sums it up pretty nicely https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=709419&postcount=3

As well as this quote from How to brew..

As a final note on this subject, I should mention that by brewing with healthy yeast in a well-prepared wort, many experienced brewers, myself included, have been able to leave a beer in the primary fermenter for several months without any evidence of autolysis.

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Or this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=70438



So, since you probably jumped the gun and racked to early, letting your beer sit would be a good thing.

This is a hobbie about patience padwan...

Here's some more reading about the benefits of patience. (these are about bottle conditioning)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=558191&postcount=101

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=73254