Secondary - No Fermentation

I'm making a California Common style beer. On day one of the Primary fermentation, I had added tangerines wort at the end. After three days of rigorous primary fermentation activity, I decided to rack into my secondary as I wasn't sure what the fruit would do (rot) and wanted to get it off of my beer.

After racking into the secondary I saw no activity via the airlock. No bubbles at all. After a week seeing that the airlock hadn't moved I decided to repitch another vial of yeast. I did that a couple of days ago and I still haven't seen any activity.

Have I killed my beer?

I typically move my beer into a secondary after four days. Is this good/bad?

it may have finished fermenting. The only way to tell is to draw a sample and check the gravity. I would start leaving it in the primary longer though. I usually leave my beers in the primary for 3 weeks to a month.

Rack to secondary after 4 days? Seems to me the yeast would be hitting their peak. Good? Bad? I don't know. Unnecessary? Yeah.

And the airlock means nothing. I would move my beer based on gravity readings.

Also, using a secondary is typically a bright tank, meaning its for clearing the beer. You might also use it to rack beer over fruits etc, its goal isn't usually fermentation.

A hydrometer is $7. After unnecessarily repitching it would have already paid for itself.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

ummmm... you didn't kill the yeast, but you should probably follow directions/recipes if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

repitching the yeast was unnecessary. there are millions of yeast cells in each ounce of homebrew, even after fermentation stops.

you need to use a hydrometer to determine when fermentation stops.

Thanks for the quick replies! I'll grab a hydro reading today and then check it in a couple of more days to see if its done or what.

After 4 days of vigorous fermentation your beer was probably done with 95-99% of the fermentation. I wouldn't expect to see airlock activity.