Primary ferm

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

broterbrew

New Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
My Octoberfest has been in primary ferm for 15 days and still have bubbles coming into the airlock. I have been keeping it 52deg. I want to lager it and am afraid it is not done with the primary ferm. What should I do?
 
Take a hydrometer reading for three days and if it's the same, rack to secondary. There's really no other way to know for sure if it's done. Worst case, if you live in the middle of nowhere and it's absolutely impossible to get a hydrometer (they ship them, though, too)...wait until the 3 week mark, then rack to secondary.
 
on top of the gravity reading, you should prolly be pulling a sample to see if a diacetyl rest is in order before lagering too
 
Hydro reading separated by 3 days!

Could be residual CO2 offgassing from a finished fermentation.
 
I'd raise temp to 62-65F for a d-rest either way, just to make sure the yeast finish strong.
 
Got another question. Should I leave it in the primary to lager or transfer? I don't have a carboy but I do have a bottling bucket? Thanks in advance.
 
You could transfer to bottling bucket (sanitized) and then clean the primary, sanitize, and rack back into that. Generally I'm leary to secondary in something with a valve in it but I'm sure others will say they've done it just fine. My initial suggestion involves some risk as well with the multiple transfers.
 
broterbrew said:
Got another question. Should I leave it in the primary to lager or transfer? I don't have a carboy but I do have a bottling bucket? Thanks in advance.

I never really secondary, but I keg, which sort of serves the same purpose. However, I use 8 gal Brewcraft buckets with spigots as primary and I've never had an issue... just make sure to take the spigot off and clean it well.
 
Back
Top