Newbie When to go to Secondary

[SJMIKEUS]

Hello....

I started my brew last sun night...had it in too cool of a space....and my fermentation didnt start...I was told to open up stir it and move to a warmer room....Fermentation started tues night and was really bubbling till the next morning where it slowed to like 10 bubbles a minute....Now today Sunday im beating at 1 beat for every 2 min......Is it time to transfer.....and did the slow start mess anything up??

Thanks In Advace!! And Hi to all on this Site..

Mike

 

[Sasquatch]

If the foam on top has fallen, move to 2ndary. I would move it. It's been in a week anyhow.

 

[Lounge Lizard]

Nah, you probably didn't mess anything up. I would have just jiggled the primary around a little instead of opening it up. Or set it into a tub of warm water for a while.

The general rule is one week in the primary, two weeks in the secondary, and three in the bottles.

I think it is Walker (or Homebrew99) who has three criteria before moving to the secondary. He says he makes better beer than his friends...

It's been in the primary a week
The bubbles are coming at least 90 seconds apart
The krausen has fallen

If all three have happened, move it....

 

[Beer Snob]

Well the simple answer is... when it's ready. The challenge sometimes is how do you know its ready. The brew that I just moved to the secondary was very confusing in this respect. I had no foam, good temperature and active 2 day fermentation. Then it stoped. I increased the temp... repitched even... not much happened. If you have a hydrometer when it gives you the same reading for a few days usaully thats when you know its ready. In my case I had a pretty high reading (which makes deciding if its done very confusing), but from what people have told me here that migth be from the nonfermentables that I used. So thats why the answer to your question is... it depends.

If you dont have problems then you can move to the secondary certainly when you see what everyone had replied with here