How do you know when to begin secondary fermentation?

[dillonkc]

Me and a couple friends just started our first batch of beer. It has been in the primary fermenter for just over a day and a half. It started bubbling about 3 hours after primary fermentation began. At it's peak it would bubble 18-20 times a minute. It has now slowed to about 4-5 times a minute. We aren't going off a recipe but our beer should turn out to be a hoppy stout. How do we know when primary fermentation is over and it's appropriate to transfer the beer to a carboy?
Also, it seems like the bubbling may have slowed too soon. Do we need to add yeast?

 

[JonM]

Lots of us skip the secondary completely and just leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks. Secondary's not necessary unless you're long-term aging or adding fruit or something.

And the bubbling is addictive to watch, but you can't tell much about what the beer is doing just by watching the bubbles. Specific gravity is the only way to tell how te beer is progressing. Cheers!

 

[CannibalAJ]

JonM is 100% correct about the specific gravity reading. Also, each brewer does does the fermentation their own way.

Personally, I'm pretty lazy and let the primary go for 2 weeks, then rack to my 5 gal carboy for 2 weeks of aging, unless I want the beer in my belly and it goes right to the keg.

All a matter of opinion when it comes to basic beers with out dry hopping or flavor additions.

 

[Revvy]

Even when racking to a secondary, which I rarely do, I recommend folks take their first grav reading on day 12 and the second on day 14 and then rack for a minimum of another two weeks.....

That way you can get some benefit from the yeast cleaning up after itself before you move it.

 

[badbrew]

Pull a sample after the bubbles stop and drop a hydrometer in the sample to see if gravity is where it is supposed to finish (like 1.010 or whatever). Then drink the sample and transfer (if you want to).

 

[brewhappy]

I wouldn't worry about doing a secondary (almost ever), especially on your first beer. Just let it sit for a couple weeks and check the gravity to see if it is done. For a hoppy stout I'd say anywhere under 1.017 and you can consider it good for your first brew.

 

[nlk22]

Hey, I'm friends with the OP. I had previously posted about this brew in this thread.

The reason we are putting it in a secondary is to do some dry hopping and to (hopefully) let more sediment settle out (our strainer wasn't that good)

We are just worried because the bubbles have almost completely stopped less then 2 days after racking it into the primary fermentor. But that doesn't mean our yeast is dead?

 

[dantheman13]

Hey, I'm friends with the OP. I had previously posted about this brew in this thread.

The reason we are putting it in a secondary is to do some dry hopping and to (hopefully) let more sediment settle out (our strainer wasn't that good)

We are just worried because the bubbles have almost completely stopped less then 2 days after racking it into the primary fermentor. But that doesn't mean our yeast is dead?

Not dead, just slowing down. Yeast goes dormant, it doesn't die. It takes a heck of a lot longer for the yeast to actually die. I've left beer/ciders in the primary for over a month, and I was still able to bottle condition them. I would leave it in primary at least a week (Revvy recommends 2 weeks, which is what I normally do).

I personally don't secondary even for dry hopping, unless I am going to let the beer age for a few months. If you are more interested in the subject, BasicBrewing's most recent podcast and BYO are currently conducting a community based experiment on secondary vs no secondary:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr03-15-12fastag.mp3

Also, check out some Palmer:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-3.html

 

[badbrew]

Hey, I'm friends with the OP. I had previously posted about this brew in this thread.

The reason we are putting it in a secondary is to do some dry hopping and to (hopefully) let more sediment settle out (our strainer wasn't that good)

We are just worried because the bubbles have almost completely stopped less then 2 days after racking it into the primary fermentor. But that doesn't mean our yeast is dead?

What was the room temp that it fermented in?

 

[nlk22]

I don't know about the temperature of the room. Maybe about 60 on average?. After the first day we wrapped it in a blanked so it wouldn't get to cold overnight (sometimes it gets really cold in our house because we live in NorCal and don't have very good windows). This was probably misguided, as the next morning we discovered that it was still around 80° F. So we took off the blanket, and now its around 64.

 

[badbrew]

The 80 may very well be the key here. Pull a sample and read the gravity. You can also taste it to see how sweet it is. If you still have high gravity then you may need to repitch.

Also, is there a krausen on top? (foamy layer)

 

[TimTrone]

If it got up to 80 it's probably just finished. That's pretty warm

 

[jbsg02]

I don't bother with secondary. For me, it's just another chance for oxidation and possibly contamination.

 

[dillonkc]

The 80 may very well be the key here. Pull a sample and read the gravity. You can also taste it to see how sweet it is. If you still have high gravity then you may need to repitch.

Also, is there a krausen on top? (foamy layer)

There is a krausen on top. What is the best way to pull a sample from the fermenter?

 

[BrewScout]

There is a krausen on top. What is the best way to pull a sample from the fermenter?

If it were me, I would just snap the lid back on and give it another week. After the krausen has fallen, use a turkey baster to grab a sample to check gravity and taste (which is the best part of taking samples IMHO) Ohh! One more thing...
Welcome to the addiction

 

[nlk22]

Ok so we were wrong: There was a large krausen developed within the first 12 hours, causing a bit of overflow out of the airlock, but it has since subsided. When dillonkc posted earlier today saying that we did have a krausen we were confusing residue stuck to the sides of the fermentor for an actual krausen. Upon lifting the lid we saw that there is essentially no krausen layer left. So shall we go ahead and check the SG, and re-pitch if it is still high?

On the upside it smells amazing!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

you're good, let it ride until you have stable gravity readings that jive with your target FG over a few days. then you can either rack over to secondary on the dry hops, or dry hops right in primary, both work fine, secondary makes it a little less messy IMO.