Floating hops in secondary fermenter

[Mike McClain]

I have a five gallon batch of a black IPA (recipe kit) in a five gallon plastic big mouth bubbler. Per the recipe instructions I added hop pellets from the kit about a week after transferring to the secondary. Unfortunately a frothy hop slurry is just floating on the top and has not settled after three days. Can I gently swirl or agitate the fermenter to get it to settle? I purged the secondary with CO2 before racking from the primary and also purged the head space again before I put the lid and airlock on. The secondary is in a temp controlled deep freezer being held at 65 degrees. Should I just be patient and wait see if the froth settles? Is it possible the froth is actually krausen resulting from additional fermentation after the addition of the hops pellets? I normally would not have transferred to a secondary, but the recipe instructions called for secondary conditioning and did not indicate as an “optional” step. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Mike McClain]

Sorry for the duplicate pic. Not sure how that happened.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

cooling it down a bit more will help, it could have jump started fermentation again with the dry hop. depending how your set up is if you have the ability to cold crash without introducing oxygen that would be your best bet imo.

 

[RM-MN]

I normally would not have transferred to a secondary, but the recipe instructions called for secondary conditioning and did not indicate as an “optional” step. Any suggestions appreciated.

The first step is to burn those instructions. You didn't need to transfer to secondary.

It appears to me that you had a stuck ferment and when you added the hops the fermentation restarted. There is no way that the addition of hops would cause that much krausen. Did you take a hydrometer reading before transferring to secondary to verify that fermentation was done?

 

[Mike McClain]

Thanks for the replies. OG was 1.063 and FG was 1.014. The instructions did not provide a target FG but all the Krausen had precipitated (surface was clean) and airlock bubbling had slowed to about 1/minute. I obviously should have waited another day or so to take another hydrometer reading (lesson learned). FWIW, do you know if a Tilt hydrometer can accurately record FG, or does the Krausen buildup on the hydrometer which would affect its accuracy?
If the Krausen doesn't drop out in the next several days, I will try cold crashing using the mylar balloon filled with CO2 method, unless someone has a better suggestion.
One final question. My secondary is a 5 gal big mouth bubbler with a spigot. Is there any way to add priming sugar to the secondary without introducing O2 or stirring up any trub, so that I can bottle directly from the secondary instead racking to my bottling bucket? I realize I could add priming tablets to each bottle, but I would prefer not to go that route.
Thanks again.

 

[KDogg]

Any bubbling left of any kind at any rate to says "let me be". Patience. And always take a matching reading before next steps -yup, lessons. I don't think at this point you want to be taking any more shortcuts but at least with the bottling bucket it will give you another opportunity to clear things up and get the volume and carbonation right. Adding more sugar to a secondary can put you back to kicking the yeast into gear again. It's a waiting game!

 

[mashpaddled]

What's up with the weights?

 

[KDogg]

Preventing blow off as sometimes the lids in the Bubblers tend to do. I've had it happen and used a milk crate and bands to keep the top from popping. I have to check it daily or more otherwise as eager fermentations tend to generate much pressure on these at times. I had a Kolsch extract batch blow but prevented more damage through these means and batch turned out great.

 

[RevDroz]

As per your question about a Tilt providing accurate FG, I use my Tilts as my primary reading. Once in awhile I will take a reading with a traditional hydrometer and the readings are as near a match as either option can offer.

That is just my 2 cents.