Too early to secondary?

Hi all! Noob here, call me Cliff.

First batch (AHS Belgian Wit) went great and is already gone. Burp!

Second batch is an AHS Texas Bock extract and I have a few questions. When I read the instructions, they stated that the fermentation should take place under cold temperatures, but there were also instructions for room temp fermenting which were basically the same as with my first batch. Starting gravity was spot on, and I pitched at about 75 degrees. After 5 days, my airlock was bubbling about once every 90 seconds. When I opened the bucket, I was surprised to see no foam on top and only a light ring around the side of the bucket. I transferred into my carboy, and found a lot of sediment at the bottom of the pail. I don't remember the exact hydrometer reading on my sample, but it was midway between the starting and finished gravities. The sample tasted fine with no off flavors. After two days, I have no foam on the beer (my first batch overflowed the airlock) and very little airlock activity.

My questions:

1. Am I correct in assuming that the lack of foam on top (and sediment on the bottom of the pail) is due to the yeast (White Labs German Bock) being a bottom fermenting yeast, or did I not aerate enough when I pitched? Or the temperature I am fermenting at? I could move it to my garage in the secondary where it is cooler, but I have no control over temperature fluctuation.

2. Did I move to my secondary too quickly?

3. Should I not worry and go get a beer? (I think I know the answer to this one!)

Thanks all!

#3 go get a beer and relax. You just made beer.

2) Why move to secondary at all? Unless you are racking onto fruit or something, there is no reason to use a secondary.

I just discovered the "Multiple Questions About Secondary Fermentation" thread, and I am about midway through it. Enlightening. So far I am just following the instructions on the kits and they always seem to mention secondary fermentation...but the lightbulb has now gone on.

Was I correct about the yeast being bottom fermenting, or am I off base here. Still learning!

LaurieGator said:

2) Why move to secondary at all? Unless you are racking onto fruit or something, there is no reason to use a secondary.

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It's a bock, it supposed to be moved to a secondary to lager. 'Cliff' you fermented way too high (40s-50s) for a lager and def moved too early (weeks) though. The higher temp part you saw was for a diacetyl rest. I'd give this a read: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10.html

dcp27 said:

It's a bock, it supposed to be moved to a secondary to lager. 'Cliff' you fermented way too high (40s-50s) for a lager and def moved too early (weeks) though. The higher temp part you saw was for a diacetyl rest. I'd give this a read: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10.html

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Are you sure? I don't lager but I thought that the Primary was fermented at lager temps and then the temp goes up for a diacetyl rest... It would not need a secondary at all...

If you are an AHA member, John Palmer answers the "should I secondary" question in this article.

Fair enough. I understand the reasoning behind AHS not posting instructions on their site, but had I known that bocks required cold fermentation I would have chosen another kit. That said, what will the warmer temperature do to the beer...will it still turn out? I could move my carboy to my garage (it is cooler there) but there is no temperature control and I worry that there will be too much variation between day and night time temps. Thoughts?

There will be off-flavors from fermenting at too high of a temp. I am pretty sure you will have a diacetyl flavors with a lager yeast fermenting too high but I am not sure what other off flavors you may have.

I've read some of the talks about "should I secondary", but I believe that article only pertains to ales, and I agree on secondaries being unnecessary. By definition, a lager has to be lagered though.

kidamadeus, it'll still produce beer, but it's going to be estery and fruity, potentially with some fusels too. just give it some time and it should all fade out. since you moved it off the yeast too early, you may need to pitch more yeast, and i'd go with ale this time, probably fermentis S-05

So if I am understanding this correctly, I could pitch an ale yeast into the carboy and continue fermenting at room temp? If I do this, could/should I maybe add some additional sugar/honey or just leave it be? This is becoming an adventure!

kidamadeus said:

Fair enough. I understand the reasoning behind AHS not posting instructions on their site, but had I known that bocks required cold fermentation I would have chosen another kit. That said, what will the warmer temperature do to the beer...will it still turn out? I could move my carboy to my garage (it is cooler there) but there is no temperature control and I worry that there will be too much variation between day and night time temps. Thoughts?

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In the future keep in mind that ales ferment around 65-75 and lagers ferment around 40-55. An easy way to tell is to look up information on the yeast.

anytime someone starts out a question with the words, "is it to early to...," the answer is almost always, unequivocally YES.

kidamadeus said:

So if I am understanding this correctly, I could pitch an ale yeast into the carboy and continue fermenting at room temp? If I do this, could/should I maybe add some additional sugar/honey or just leave it be? This is becoming an adventure!

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Since you already racked, and your SG is in between your OG and FG, I would and keep the temp in the 60s for 2-4 more weeks. While you're at it, I'd grab an ounce of whatever hop smells best while you're at the LHBS and throw that in for 5-7 days before you bottle, cuz why not

dcp27 said:

I've read some of the talks about "should I secondary", but I believe that article only pertains to ales, and I agree on secondaries being unnecessary. By definition, a lager has to be lagered though.

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From the article: Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering.

My worry is that I may need to toss the batch. Being my second batch (and perhaps a bit impatient) it seems that I have screwed this up. I guess I will just sit on it for a few weeks and see what happens.