Fermentation question

Hello,

I'm new to brewing so I'm not sure if this all happened too fast?

Converted a cream ale kit into a ruby porter on Friday evening. Used 1 pack of safale s-04.

starting O.G was 1.060

Checked yesterday and it seemed pretty active.

Today it already looks finished O.G is at 1.018

Seems a little fast compared to the last few kits I've made. Should I wait a few days before racking into the carboy, or is something wrong?

Just because fermentation is complete, doesn't mean the yeast is done with it's job. The yeast are really tenacious creatures and if left to their own devices like to actually clean p after themselves,. They like to go back and eat the byproducts of normal and abnormal fermenatations.

If you leave then alone...not rush the beer to a secondary, or to bottles, then can swim along cleaning up many of the stuff that leads to off flavors...

That's why many of us skp secondary and leave our beer alone in primary for a month....I f you do secondary wait till the beer has been in the primary for 12-14 days, so it can finish cleaning up, then rack it.

Even Palmer says you should wait.

How To Brew said:

Leaving an ale beer in the primary fermentor for a total of 2-3 weeks (instead of just the one week most canned kits recommend), will provide time for the conditioning reactions and improve the beer. This extra time will also let more sediment settle out before bottling, resulting in a clearer beer and easier pouring. And, three weeks in the primary fermentor is usually not enough time for off-flavors to occur.

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Kk, Thanks for the info. I've been thinking about dropping the secondary. But with this kit If I leave in the primary for a few weeks how long do I leave it in the secondary? the kit calls for 3-5 days primary and 15 in the secondary.

Deadalive said:

Kk, Thanks for the info. I've been thinking about dropping the secondary. But with this kit If I leave in the primary for a few weeks how long do I leave it in the secondary? the kit calls for 3-5 days primary and 15 in the secondary.

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I only secondary if I am adding fruit, or dry hopping. I leave my beers in primary for a month and go straight to bottle. A long primary does the same thing as racking to secondary. Allows everything to settle and the beer to clear. The trub compresses and I leave plenty of yeast behind. And my beer is extremely clear and crisp tasting.

I've had judges pick up on that in contests. My beer has been described as Jewel like.

I do about 3 weeks in primary and then still do one week in secondary. For me, it helps get my beer just a bit clearer. Both because of the extra week itself, but also because a little secondary time lets anything I suck up in racking settle out again. I can be a bit of a klutz with my autosiphon. If you feel more comfortable using a secondary, then give it a week and call it good. Otherwise, just go with the long primary and siphon carefully when you bottle.