How much airlock activity in secondary.

I racked my beer on Saturday after it had been sitting in the primary for a week. The airlock in the primary had slowed significantly.

This is my first time using a secondary and have noticed a decent amount of activity in the airlock. Is this normal? It's in a Better Bottle, so I can see what's going on in the beer if that is any indication. There is only a little bit of foam at the top, not even enough to really even call it a "layer". I'm not really concerned about improper fermentation, I just wanted to know if it's common. I guess I at least know my yeast isn't dead

One of three things may be happening, maybe all. You may have a bucket primary which has a slightly less seal than the better bottle would. It was still fermenting a bit but the airlock didn't get the same amount of pressure. Second, the racking roused the yeast back into action to finish up the last bit of sugars. Third, racking agitated the beer enough to kick out any dissolved CO2.

If you form even a thin layer of kruzen on the top of your secondary, you may have transfered it a little early, but it will not cause any harm.

Never trust an airlock for an indication of activity. In secondary, I look for the haze to settle, as my indication on when to bottle/keg.

I racked on top of blueberries for this beer, so would the introduction of new sugars cause this to happen as well?

I'm trying to keep an eye on the color but its tough since the blueberries made it much darker than the color I saw in the siphoning hose.

sharp63 said:

I racked on top of blueberries for this beer, so would the introduction of new sugars cause this to happen as well?

I'm trying to keep an eye on the color but its tough since the blueberries made it much darker than the color I saw in the siphoning hose.

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Yes, the blueberries would cause fermentation to occur, giving you a true secondary fermentation. It won't begin to clear until fermentation is finished.