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bubbawadew

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I brewed a English Brown Ale from Brewers Best. I followed the instructions pretty closely. I found that my primary had a crack in it so I was forced to use my bottling bucket. In a post yesterday i stated i was not going to use a secondary but i changed my mind on that, I am going to now. Also found out my thermometer was off by 10 degrees. Ok now to the point. I brewed this batch on Saturday the 5th and saw sings of fermentation in about 4 hours. Last night i noticed there was about two bubbles per minute in the airlock. Is that normal? also what is the best way to tell its time to transfer to the secondary? Sorry for the noob questions. Thank you
 
Well I'm no expert but my two cents is to leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks, its fine for it to sit on the yeast and let it clear up.(I personally don't use a secondary unless I'm going to dry hop or something like that, just personal preference. As for when its done fermenting I would take a hydrometer reading then wait a few days and take it again. Basically you want consistent readings, if not then let it sit cause it probably means that its not done yet.
 
Don't use the airlock as a measure of anything. If you are going to secondary, wait until the hydrometer readings have stabilized.
 
you can leave it in primary for 3-4 for weeks. No need to transfer, but it is entirely up to the brewer.

the only way to tell that fermentation is complete is the user of the hydrometer. Airlock activity does not really indicate anything other then amount of CO2 produced from the current fermentation stage. you need to the same hydro reading two times in a row at least 3 days apart to tell when active fermentation is complete.

typically beers are moved onto the secondary around 7-14 days.
 
.... I brewed this batch on Saturday the 5th and saw sings of fermentation in about 4 hours. Last night i noticed there was about two bubbles per minute in the airlock. Is that normal? ...

Looks like other posts have answered your other questions so I will just respond to this one. Quick, and vigorous, fermentation starts are not unusual for ales. It is also not unusual for ales to complete most of this primary fermentation activity in a short period of time (days) and then settle down to less activity.

As others have stated however, air-lock activity is not necessarily a good indicator of ferm activity (other things, like temperature changes, can cause your air-lock to bubble). Only SG readings can definitively answer that question.
 
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