foam in secondary?

[gatorhick]

So this is my first brew, i chose to do an English Brown Ale. i was in primary for 9 days was holding steady on my hydrometer and siphoned into a secondary carboy. I got so used to the vigorous fermentation in the primary i guess i expected to see at least something happening in secondary, but nothing is really happening not even a small layer of foam, should i be worried? from what i've been reading it is really important to have a nice layer over the beer to protect it from bacteria.

Also, would i be better off leaving in secondary for a few weeks and then bottling or go ahead and bottle and then let it bottle condition for a few weeks. basically-better to spend time in secondary or in bottle?

thanks

 

[Hammy71]

Your beer should be fully fermented before you move it to secondary....therefore no 'foam'. Sounds like your doing just fine. I'd leave in the secondary for 2 weeks than 3 weeks to condition and carb in the bottle. The longer you can hold off the better your brew will be. I know it's hard....but have patience!!

 

[milwaukee]

Yeah. Nice use of the hydrometer to confirm that your fermentation was complete instead of trying to just tell from the airlock.

When you rack to the secondary, you may get a few bubbles from CO2 that's in solution and bubbles out. But you should not see anything significant.

You don't need foam to protect your brew. If your secondary is sanitized, you're good to go. Your beer is actually less vulnerable at this point. It has some alcohol and much of the potential bacteria food (starch) has been consumed by the yeast.

In terms of the question about the secondary vs. bottle conditioning. There's a big debate out that's been going on for a while about the value of secondaries. One side says it's unnecessary risk with little benefit. The other side says you get a clearer cleaner beer. Personally, I think it's good to have experience doing both... and so if you have a brew or a situation where you want the extra clarification you get from a secondary... go for it.

Although. Someone might argue, anything that falls out out of solution to clarify your beer, will fall out during bottle conditioning. Or fall out after that when you chill it. But--this is why people debate this.

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

Nope - all good. Sometimes you see activity in the secondary but general rule of thumb is you don't want to disturb the beer (such as taking it out of primary) until its nearly fermented out. However, either way you'll still end up with a good beer. Don't sweat it - you're doing great.

 

[jimmypop13]

I went by the 1-2-3 rule and transfered my beer yesterday to the secondary after a week and its still bubbling like mad. There's more than an inch of kreusen in my secondary already! I thought you were just supposed to transfer after a week no matter what. I guess my beer didn't mind from the speed its still bubbling away at

 

[Hammy71]

I went by the 1-2-3 rule and transfered my beer yesterday to the secondary after a week and its still bubbling like mad. There's more than an inch of kreusen in my secondary already! I thought you were just supposed to transfer after a week no matter what. I guess my beer didn't mind from the speed its still bubbling away at

Dude.....there is probably over a hundred threads on here about not moving your beer to secondary or to bottle it until fermentation is done...... 1-2-3 is a guide line, not gospel.