Transferred to secondary too soon. Dump it?

[fermentingnewb]

Good afternoon,

I am new to brewing and had began my first batch, American Pale Ale kit by Brewers Best. I made my wort, checked for gravity which was in range and pitched the yeast. 6 days later, I transferred the brew using a siphon to a carboy even though the Krausen has not settled (without checking final gravity and before the settling) since the instructions said to transfer to a secondary when the fermentation slows but before it completes. I now have this type of mixture (day 8), foam on top and appears to be sizzling and activity in the airlock. Should I wait it out 2 weeks or should I dump it now and restart? All suggestions appreciated and cant wait to learn from you seasoned brewers! Thanks

 

[Alan Reginato]

Hi! Just wait. No problem at all. Many brewers, including me, not even transfer to secondary.

Just dump your beer if it has a really bad infection or after conditioning and still have a really bad taste. Otherwise don't give up on your beer!

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

As long as you were clean, this won't matter.

You don't really have to do a secondary. Just between you and me.

 

[fermentingnewb]

Awesome, thank you so much! Will keep in fermenting then!

 

[IslandLizard]

The "storm" we see in your video is a sign of active fermentation!
The krausen (foam on top) is a natural occurrence and it will drop once fermentation slows down.

Let the beer be and the yeast do her thing for the next 2 (or even 3) weeks. No need to take gravity readings and such until she's completely done fermenting.
The one thing you can do is keeping the temperature in the area the beer is in as constant as possible. Or put the beer in an area where the temps are consistent 24/7. Most importantly, prevent temp drops, such as could happen overnight, as those could stall the fermentation.

since the instructions said to transfer to a secondary when the fermentation slows but before it completes.

Please ignore any instructions to using a secondary! They're old, outdated instructions. Phooey to Brewer's Best for not correcting that!
Secondaries are not needed in general, except in some advanced cases, none in the beginning brewers realm.

So from now on, leave the beer in the "primary" until ready to package (bottle or keg).
She will clear by herself when it's all done.

 

[Rish]

^^What they said. Leave it alone for a couple of weeks or more then proceed with checking sg. When you get the same reading 3 days apart you are ready to bottle or keg. In the future, forget about secondary, just wait 4 weeks then check to see that it's at fg and then package.

 

[Jeroen79]

Yeah just let it be, skip secondary and bottle after about 4 weeks.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

Beer doesn’t know where it’s at; just follow the good advice above and treat it like it’s in the primary for the duration.
Cheers!

 

[hotbeer]

Pretty much what everyone else told you is what I'd recommend. When I started out using all-grain 1 gallon kits, I would sometimes have beer in the FV that would seem to finish and stop bubbling, clear up and then start bubbling vigorously again and churn up all the trub on the bottom. Then after a few more days it'd clear up and then repeat the bubbling again.

Sometimes this happened for up to 5 - 6 weeks. They turned out very good. So patience is rewarded. Don't feel like you have to rush the beer into the bottle because the recipe said two weeks or something else.

I only ever used a secondary once. I've never used one since. Trub and excess yeast will all go to the bottom of the FV given enough time or by cold crashing. I just give it time, it's usually not much more time than those that cold crashing claim to get. If you have stuff still floating on the top when it's clean and clear in the middle, then don't worry. Just rack the stuff from the middle of into your bottling bucket, keg or directly to the bottles.

Just make sure you give me a clean and clear beer when you hand me a glass. Unless the style is supposed to be hazy.

 

[rallenhall]

I seldom do a secondary, but presently have a 10 gal. primary of IPA separated into two five gal. secondaries for different dry hop additions. I always transfer when there is still a bit of active fermentation. Gives the yeast a chance to scavenge any oxygen pickup from the transfer and the CO2 produced from fermentation in the secondary will force O2 out of the headspace.

 

[WesBrew]

Looks normal. Do you have any temperature control on this fermentation?