2 Weeks In Primary?

So I've had my brown ale in the primary for just over 2 weeks now. I took a sample last night to take a reading and dropped my hydrometer which shattered all over the kitchen floor...wonderful.

I'm wondering if I'm safe to rack to a secondary? I'm still getting bubbling every 1-2 minutes from the blow-off tube which seems odd to me but could just be excess CO2. I was planning on racking to a secondary and adding some coffee. Am I pretty much all clear to do so?

I unfortunately do not have a backup hydrometer and won't be able to get to my homebrew shop in the near future.

I don't use secondaries, but if you were going with a primary only I would say go one more week in before going to the bottling bucket with it. Since your moving it to the secondary I don't see why it couldn't just hang out for the last week over there instead of leaving it in the primary. If I was in a no hydrometer situation, I would feel pretty safe about bottling after 21 days in the fermenter. I don't see why moving to the secondary would hurt anything, I think enough yeast will get transfered with the beer to finish the fermentation and the clean up. You may want to wait on an actual secondary user to come chime in first though, lol

unless you planning on fashing out yeast from that batch just forget about moving it to secondary, dump coffee beans in there and hang tough for another 7-10 days until your beer ready for bottling. I just dont understand people who desperate to move a brew in a different vessel when its still fermenting in a first place.
I rarely use hydrometer but I give 3-4 weeks for most beers without moving them enywhere

paraordnance said:

unless you planning on fashing out yeast from that batch just forget about moving it to secondary, dump coffee beans in there and hang tough for another 7-10 days until your beer ready for bottling. I just dont understand people who desperate to move a brew in a different vessel when its still fermenting in a first place.
I rarely use hydrometer but I give 3-4 weeks for most beers without moving them enywhere

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Good call, I didn't think about suggesting to nix the secondary after the hydrometer incident. Thats definitely what I would do if it were me.

If you are still getting bubbles, you are probably still fermenting. I wouldn't move it. Most of the experienced brewers on here who comment on this sort of post recommend against moving to a secondary vessel. They also advocate leaving the beer in the primary for about a month.

If I was in your shoes, that is with out a hydrometer, I would wait for at least a week from the last time I saw ANY airlock activity before I did anything with the beer. And while I was waiting I would get a new hydrometer.

Try using the forum search for long primary, primary vs secondary, or something along those lines to find a wealth of info on the subject.

Give it time, wait till the gravity is stable for three days then, if you must, rack over to the secondary vessel to add your coffee.

Hope it turns out!

I actually do use a secondary (usually), but I would agree with the others. Leave it in the primary for another 7-10 days. You can either add the coffee now or wait until after another week, transfer it and add the coffee then. Waiting it out is almost always the best answer. In the meantime, I would try to get a new hydrometer.