About the Secondary... Yet Again!

[FunkyDung]

Hello everyone at HBT!

This question is for anyone who has dealt with an infection... and as the title clearly states Secondary, please don't include personal infections

I'm new to this site and homebrewing, and just finished my first batch not too long ago. I racked to a secondary 5 days ago and noticed that as soon as I did that, bubbles had formed on the top. Now, there isn't something that spans the entire top layer of the beer but I've read a few threads and have seen a few images that talk about a thin white film across the top, leading to an infection which in turn causes a beer to taste sour. Well, what I've seen on my brew doesn't compare to anything I've seen and basically, what I'm trying to ask is, has anybody else seen this? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[TTB-J]

Sorry, but it's hard to give you feedback without a whole host of details - how long was it in primary, what was the recipe, yeast used, fermentation temps, etc. There's certainly nothing unusual about having a film or bubbles on the top of the beer, whether its in primary or secondary - that can be due to any number of things, including changes in temperature resulting in the release of additional CO2 or the finishing of fermentation because you racked to secondary too soon.

Not knowing much about your process or recipe, I can still almost assuredly say its not an infection. As anyone around here will tell you - out of 1,000 posts of new brewers worrying about infections, maybe a couple will actually have an infection. And it usually manifests itself in the bottle - when the taste starts to go south or you get gushers.

 

[Skyforger]

I wouldn't worry about it just yet. It's called 'secondary fermentation' because, under some circumstances, a bit of additional fermentation can suddenly take off after you rack the beer. Leading to a small amount of white foam on top of the beer.

If it's not foam, some types of yeast tend to rise to the top of the beer, making a white or tan cap on top of it. This should fall once the CO2 subsides.

Worry only if you see mold or a spiderweb-like white thing on top of the beer. Otherwise you're almost certainly fine.

 

[quadbikerjosh]

yep ttb is right here. almost everyone who is fretting the possibility of an infection doesent actually have one. ive been fortunate enough to never have one in a single brew. (knock on wood) how long was your beer in the primary? what are your ferment temps?

what happens when you tranfer your beer (to anyting that isnt purged with co2 already) is it does come in contact with some oxegyn witch can get some yeast going again even if fermentation has stopped or slowed significantly. plus there is some co2 disolved in the beer already. so when you transfer it, some can come lose and cause some bubbles. it sounds to me like you might have transfered a little early and your seeing a little bit of krausen again. nothing to worry about.

as far as an infection goes, ive heard that they are pretty obvious most of the time. if your beer smells like goats, or sulpher then watch out. also the taste will be very obvious.

 

[FunkyDung]

I brewed an extract APA using pale LME with specialty grains, brewing with Cascade and Citra hops. Cascade for bittering, then Citra and Cascade as finishing hops. I ended up with an OG of 1.052 and pitched an American Ale yeast blend (WLP060). It was left in the Primary for about 11 days and before I racked to the Secondary, I took another gravity reading which was about 1.010. While in the Primary, it remained at about 65 degrees and remains in this temperature range.

Thanks for the quick response.

 

[Revvy]

WHat you have is either yeast rafts or you racked too soon and you got a new krausen forming, either way it is what about 99.9% of what these kinds of threads are about. Noobish nerves. It's just yeast coming to the surface.

 

[FunkyDung]

Noobish nerves. It's just yeast coming to the surface.

LOL! That's going to stick. Thanks to everyone for the help!