foam in the secondary fermenter

[j-pint]

HI,
I'm making an american amber where I replaced the brewing water with maple sap. Something I read about in BYO mag. I'm doing extract with only 5.5# of fermentables other than the maple sap which is only 2% sugar. I used Danstar Windsor dry yeast. Fermentation stalled out at 1.020 so I racked it and moved it to the basement to condition (It's about 55 degrees down there). I thought I'd keg it today so I took one last SG reading and it foamed up in the hydrometer tube! not just a couple of layers of bubbles but head! There was so much foam I couldn't get a good SG reading, but it appeared to be unchanged.

It didn't have any overt classic off-flavors but it didn't taste just right either. I've never seen anything like this in over 40 batches. Has anyone seen this? Do I just have some sort of infection?

Oh, there is a little scum/bubbles on the surface in the secondary. I've seen that on occasion and it didn't seem to be harmful.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[didinho]

maybe the yeast is still active and fermenting a little bit

 

[Aristotelian]

How long was it in primary and secondary?

I can usually taste some residual carbonation from a sample, but never had enough to foam up. I would give it more time to make sure it is done and/or to see if off flavors or pellicle develop in the case of infection.

 

[eadavis80]

LEt it sit until fermentation is complete. IF it's only at 55 degrees, it might need to be warmed up some to finish up.

 

[bobo31]

I opened on of my secondary's the other day that is holding a sour wheat and it foamed up like crazy. I had about 2-3 inch head. My wife was sitting next to me and we were both really shocked. You could hear the bubbles popping.

 

[j-pint]

Thanks for the advice. It was in the primary about 10 days and in the secondary about 3 weeks. I put it down in the basement to condition because the gravity appeared stable. I've warmed it up and it continues to bubble a little. And there are bubbles on the surface. I'm going to check the SG again this weekend. Hard to believe that the yeast are still at work after being chilled for a couple of weeks.

 

[stella_tigre]

Sometimes racking will restart a "stalled" fermentation, in my limited experience. Don't know if it's a bit of oxy waking the yeast up or ?

 

[j-pint]

Just in case anyone is following along...
It was in the primary for 2 weeks there was no change in the SG for a week so I racked and left it at 65-68 degrees for a week. still no change so I put it in the basement at 55 degrees for two weeks - still no change in SG. On the advice of the fine people here I warmed it up again for the past week and it came to life! and the SG has dropped from 1.020 to 1.016.It appears not to be finished yet.

It still foamed up like I've never seen before when I took the gravity sample. I has a wonderful clear copper/amber color and tastes about like I think it should, although I've never made a beer like this before.

we'll see how it turns out!