No activity in secondary

[thunderbyte]

Im working on my first batch, and have a question about my secondary. The brew Im making is an Imperial Light beer from a Bierhaus International extract.

Heres the recipe:
3.5 lb can of extract
6 cups corn sugar
recipe called for teaspoon salt, but I skipped that

I did a partial boil and put the brew into a brew bucket. It sat there for a week at about 68 degrees and I then racked to a glass carboy. I was careful not to introduce air as it was transferred. It had very good activity when in the primary, but this slowed to almost nothing by day 5. At day 7, the bubbles were about 2 minutes apart. I didnt rack to secondary based on this. I am trying the 1-2-3 method to keep it simple my first time.

My question is if I should see any activity in the secondary. The beer doesnt have any foam and the airlock is not bubbling. Normal?

I have since bought a hydrometer but didnt get an initial reading so using it now would probably be of no benefit. Plus Im not exactly sure what Im looking at anyway. When I racked to secondary I took a reading and from what I can tell it said 1.03

Im not sure how you guys go out to three decimals on these, unless I bought a crappy one that isnt as precise.

Anyway, thanks for any input.

 

[Yooper]

Well, you shouldn't see activity in the secondary, since the fermentation happens before you transfer it. The term "secondary" isn't really correct- since it's not a place for secondary fermentation, like for wine. It's more correctly called a clearing tank, or in a brewery, the bright tank.

Anyway, that hydrometer reading sounds wrong. You should be in the neighborhood of 1.012-1.017ish. Did you fill the sample tube and then float the hydrometer in it? Could you do that, and take a picture, so we can see what you're talking about? That would really help us "see" what's going on there!

 

[tgrier]

Welcome and Congrats on your first Brew. Good Times!

I think following the 1-2-3 method is fine for your first time. When I first got my gear AHS sold me a Hydrometer and I could not figure out what the hell to do with it the first time... ha! ... But to answer your question. The secondary is for clarifying. You will see little or no activity. Do not worry and let it sit.

Read up around here cause you will get a bunch of different thoughts on the "should I even use a secondary" and such. Do a search for 1-2-3 v 3-2-1 it is a nice little thread that has a lot of peoples thoughts in it.

Are you going to bottle or keg? Again for my 2 cents.. I think you are just fine.

T

 

[thunderbyte]

I think I might have a better understanding of how to read this now. Anyway, I took another reading tonight, room temperature was about 70 degrees, not sure what the beer temp is. The pic shown here should actually show about 1/2 way between the 10 and 20. That was the reading , but by the time I got a good pic bubbles formed on the hydrometer making it float higher.

I put two red marks on the pic where the readings were. The top is at about what I though was 1.03, and the second down is the one I took tonight. Would these readings actually be 1.003 and 1.015?

 

[Yooper]

Yes, those red lines are 1.003 and 1.015. Remember to allow the hydrometer to float freely in there, not touching the sides, and spin it a little so you release any air bubbles under it. Then read it at 60 degrees, OR correct to 60 degrees. So, look at the temperature on the fermenter. You really should have a "fermometer"- it's a thermometer like on an aquarium that sticks to the outside of the carboy or bucket. They're pretty accurate, and an easy way to judge the temperature of the wort/beer. The air temperature is rarely the temperature INSIDE the fermenter.

Edit- the reading you have of 1.003 must be wrong. It shouldn't ferment that low, plus it will never INcrease in sg after fermentation starts.