High gravity after transfer to secondary

Hello.....

I have a recipe kit from midwest...its the sierra nevada pale ale clone with dry yeast to give you guys some info. I have let it ferment for 7 days in primary with a og in the neighborhood @ 1.05. The last three days of fermentation were inactive(visably) and my gravity readings were consistatly 1.02. (after cracking the primary lid there was no krausen left, only small foam present) I decided to go to a secondary 5 gallon carboy. After 2 hours in the carboy for piece of mind I took a gravity reading and it was 1.12. in a 70 degree F area. Wow it went up could this be from the agitation that occurred during transfer??Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

I don't mean to be a jerk, but I'd question your readings here. 1.050 sounds about right for an OG. 1.020 is a little high for an SG, you may have had a stuck ferment. But there is no way it went up from 1.020 to 1.120 (perhaps you mean 1.012?). It's just a guess but I'd say your hydrometer might be getting stuck along the side of the test tube.

Also, there is also no reason to have checked the gravity after 2 hours in the carboy. Once you rack to secondary most fermentation is going to stop. You may rouse the yeast a bit and drop a couple more points, but that'll be it. In general you should wait until fermentation is complete before racking to a clearing tank. If you do have a stuck ferment, the best thing to do is rouse the yeast in the primary and given them more time to work rather than racking early.

It was probably 1.012 before you racked it. Leave it for 2 weeks then bottle.

I go along with TeleTwanger. I made a Sierra Nevada Pale clone not that long ago and had an OG about what you reported and racked after about 2 weeks, let sit 2 more, then packaged. No explosions after 6 weeks. I'd go with you fat-fingered the gravity.