Secondary Fermentor Question

I recently transfered my beer into the secondary fermentor. Within 18 hours the fermentation has completely stopped. Is this normal? I was thinking the fermentaion might pick up a bit since the "spent" yeast and other debris was siphoned off leaving a cleaner wort.

Thanks

NRS

So your beer finished fermenting in the primary after 18 hours? Or your beer showed signs of fermentation for 18 hours while in the secondary? If it's the former, you racked way too soon and will experience off flavors from the yeast not having time to cleanup. If it's the latter, it's quite normal to see some activity since the transfer oxygenates the beer some and puts some yeast back in suspension.

It was in the Primary for 7 days. When I transferred it to the secondary the fermentation stopped completely within 18 hours. Hope that helps

NRS

NorthRiverS said:

It was in the Primary for 7 days. When I transferred it to the secondary the fermentation stopped completely within 18 hours. Hope that helps

NRS

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If there was visible fermentation, you transferred too early. They may have sold you a "secondary fermenter", but it's really a bright tank.

NorthRiverS said:

I recently transfered my beer into the secondary fermentor. Within 18 hours the fermentation has completely stopped. Is this normal? I was thinking the fermentaion might pick up a bit since the "spent" yeast and other debris was siphoned off leaving a cleaner wort.

Thanks

NRS

Click to expand...

Let me be perfectly clear. Racking the beer off the existing yeast cake will NEVER result in increased fermentation activity, all else being equal. Yeast likes nutrients, oxygen, and possibly even heat. It doesn't need a tidy bedroom.

If you're meaning you had airlock bubbles for 18 hours, odds are that was just CO2 escaping from solution because racking the beer agitates it. Did you take a SG reading with your hydrometer before you transferred it?

Cat,

Yes, the OG was 1.085. The gravity at transfer to the secondary was 1.014.

NRS

Sounds about done to me. What was your target FG?

Cat,

I agree. Seems like it is done fermenting. The kit stated the FG should be 1.028, but it has gone way beyond that. As of now the beer is sitting in the secondary container. There is no fermentation occurring. The kit directions say to leave it in the secondary for 15 days before bottling. Any reason to bottle before that?

Thanks

NRS

NorthRiverS said:

Cat,

Any reason to bottle before that?

Thanks

NRS

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Thirst.

Wow... that kit is an oddity. Most of them have instructions that translate to "Get it out of the fermenter and bottle it as quick as you can and then buy more kits" or some such. Leave it for the 15 and you'll be happy. You also could have left it the whole time in the primary as well and it would have been good.