Secondary loss of foam

Hello all, this is the first batch for me so any insight will be greatly appreciated. I have had the batch in the secondary for about three days and the foam has greatly diminished. Is this normal? Im concerned.

Little background: I used the Munton's Bock Extract kit, primary for one week then racked to the secondary. Primary conditions were steady indoors 65-68. For the secondary I have moved it outside to where conditions are 30-40.

Thanks for the help.

There should have been no "foam" in secondary...if you got any kind of krauzen or foam on top when you racked it, that means that you racked it too soon, and fermentation was/is still going on.

Why/when did you rack to secondary, and did you take a gravity reading first?

Any way the beer is fine...but just leave it alone, the krausen will fall when fermentation IS over and then the beer can start doing what it should be doing in the secondary, clearing.

Before you next brew, read this and the accompanying links in the article and, it covers secondarying or choosing not to secondary and opt for what many of us do, long primarying instead...and give you enough info to make your own mind up. And do it properly.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/multiple-questions-about-secondary-fermentation-140978/#post1601829

Revvy said:

There should have been no "foam" in secondary...if you got any kind of krauzen or foam on top when you racked it, that means that you racked it too soon, and fermentation was/is still going on.

Why/when did you rack to secondary, and did you take a gravity reading first?

Any way the beer is fine...but just leave it alone, the krausen will fall when fermentation IS over and then the beer can start doing what it should be doing in the secondary, clearing.

Before you next brew, read this and the accompanying links in the article and, it covers secondarying or choosing not to secondary and opt for what many of us do, long primarying instead...and give you enough info to make your own mind up. And do it properly.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/multiple-questions-about-secondary-fermentation-140978/#post1601829

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I racked it to the secondary when the airlock would bubble less than once every minute. I thought the racking to the secondary at that time was good so it would wake up some yeast and not keep feeding off the dead yeast in the trub.

Hello there! First batch? Welcome to the best hobby out there... One thing I will say (being fairly new at this also), do not let the first batch spoil your motivation if it does not turn out as good as you had hoped.

First off, do not worry about the foam. There is no need to have/not have foam until after you carbonate your bottles. There may be foam during fermentation, there may not. Typically, foam will appear during the first week or so and subside... so your fermentation was fairly typical.

Second, someone correct me if I am wrong, but 30-40 may be a tad too cold for lagering.... and that might not even be the point here. In reality, does a muntons bock kit even come with lager yeast? In case you were not already aware, there is a big difference between ale yeast (fermented above 60F usually) and lager yeast (fermented around 50F), and bock definately needs some lagering. Alas, I may be wasting my breath since I doubt Muntons Bock kit would even warrant lagering... Too late for that anyway, the batch is almost done.

I hope this answers your questions, someone please correct me on the temerature if you need to.

Enjoy!

PS: Next time, buy some DME (dry malt extract) and some hops, and perhaps some steeping specialty grains (if you are so inclined) and make your own beer following a simple recipe. You will get much better results than the kits, IMO... I have made many kits and the difference was huge.

BleuChien said:

I racked it to the secondary when the airlock would bubble less than once every minute. I thought the racking to the secondary at that time was good so it would wake up some yeast and not keep feeding off the dead yeast in the trub.

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Nope. You need a hydrometer to measure when fermentation is over. Racking prior to that is premature, and with colder winter temps its common for primary to last more than 7 days.

You rack to secondary to clear the beer. Nothing more. No fermentation is supposed to take place in secondary unless you add more fermentables (honey, fruit, and the like).

The yeast are plenty awake...its not common for them to peter out in a normal beer, wine or mead.

Feeding off the yeast in the trub is autolysis and takes many many weeks, sometimes months to start to occur. Right now the yeast in the bottom of the vessel are alive and kicking. Many people harvest that yeast and use it again and again for several generations.

Rule #1 in this hobby is patience. A rushed beer is never a good thing.

jjones17 said:

do not let the first batch spoil your motivation if it does not turn out as good as you had hoped.

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This is why I named my 1st batch "Cades Imperial Garbage Pale Ale!" :rockin:I am hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. That being said, I have learned ALOT about the process, and my own processes and believe when I brew my next (2nd) batch, it will be better, probably not great, but better.

CB

Good comments by all, and helpful. @Foekillercreek, thats a great name for your first. I had a funny experience....my first brew was a coopers dark ale kit using 1 KG of table sugar. After 3 weeks in the bottle it was drinkable... but after that it started to become REALLY crappy tasting especially since my 3rd & 4th batches were much improved (used DME as primary fermentables and some steeping grains to add body). Anyway, I dumped about 2 gallons of it after having it for 3 months.

That week, I went over to a buddy's house and he still had some that I gave him 2 months previous. It was in the fridge. (mine were being stored in my basement at about 65F). Anyway, we tasted it and it was like "Beer Flavoured Water".... if there could be such a thing. It was less skunky (probably signifying that my batch was infected and the infection progressed given the higher storage temperature of my basement compared to the fridge), but it still told me that I had come a long way only after 8 batches or so since then.

Keep on learning.. thats the funnest part IMO. I must have read John Palmers online book like 6 times by now, and the more I learn I realize how much more information is yet to be put to use!!!