Not sure what I'm looking at

So I am on my second batch of homebrew. I transfered this to a secondary yesterday and last night I was reading about not putting it into a secondary because risk of oxidation. So now I am like the typical first time brewer and wondering, "Did I just ruin my brew" I think I am over thinking this but I just want to ask to relive my concerns. The concern I have is the dark on top and the light on bottom. Is this normal? Should I not have put it in the secondary fermenter? Also as you can see in the picture there is a small amount of light that gets in through the curtains in the room. Is this enough to skunk my beer?

That is just yeast and other particles that are in suspension, in a day or two they will settle out you will end up with a white layer of yeast on the bottom and the beer will be uniform in color. No worries! As long as you siphoned the beer and didn't pour it through a funnel or something you did not oxidize it.

I always wrap a dark colored towel or blanket around my glass carboys to keep light out.

The color gradation is due to yeast settling. The dark at the top is clear beer, and the farther down you go, the more yeast there is causing it to look cloudy. Give it time and it will clear.

Thank you so much for your fast response. That is exactly what I was wanting to hear. You all rock.

And if you are worried about the light, just put a towel or shirt around the carboy.

thats alot of headspace, how long do you plan on leaving it in the secondary?

It was in the primary for a week and I was thinking of a week in the secondary. Then off to the bottles. Does that sound right?

a week should be fine, just making sure it wasn't long term. just for future reference, a week is kinda a waste of effort for a secondary, you might as well jsut leave it in the primary.

A week in primary seems a tad short. One of my current brews has been in primary almost 5 weeks. Let it sit a little longer next time.

spazjdm said:

A week in primary seems a tad short. One of my current brews has been in primary almost 5 weeks. Let it sit a little longer next time.

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5 weeks seems like overkill to me. 2 weeks primary, 1-2 weeks secondary and then bottle conditioning or kegging is what I do.

Do not let sunlight hit the carboy. Once I oxidized the beer because I let it sit too long in primary and then racked to secondary after all the air lock bubbling had ended. I let it sit in secondary too long with oxygen on top of the beer. Now I either leave it in primary until keg/bottle or rack when airlock bubbles greater than 60 seconds so when I secondary the co2 will push oxygen out of carboy. Truth is the secondary really isn't necessary if you bottle because birling will add more yeast residue and clouds the bert when your pour anyway.

When I was germany and got racks of beer from the local brewery it was all bottled the old fashion way with corn sugar and they all were cloudy. Moderm process carbs the beer and then bottles to avoid the yeast residue at the grocery store. Kegging also avoids this. The year residue will keep you strong! Drinking it adds some flavor. Try it

blawjr said:

5 weeks seems like overkill to me. 2 weeks primary, 1-2 weeks secondary and then bottle conditioning or kegging is what I do.

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Yeah, well... secondary seems overkill to me.

Typically I do 3-4 weeks primary, then keg.

Reno_eNVy said:

Yeah, well... secondary seems overkill to me.

Typically I do 3-4 weeks primary, then keg.

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lol i agree about secondary, been thinking about cutting that out of my regimen. 3-4 weeks primary then kegging seems like a good place to start. Unless I'm dry hopping i guess

I dry hop in primary after all the yeast settles

Reno_eNVy said:

I dry hop in primary after all the yeast settles

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Damn, you make me feel so stupid. Thanks!:cross:

Oh I wasn't going for that. Just trying to make brewing easy, one lazy step at a time