No little bubbles on surface of beer in 2nd Ferment.

[neckrich]

I am a new homebrewer. On all my other batches I have noticed small bubbles (co2 I assume) on the surface of my beer in the 2nd fermentator. On this batch of IPA I do not see any at all. I had great vigorous bubbling in the Primary and my gravity also suggests that fermentation went well. Temps were always between 65-70F. However I am worried that the yeast are inactive or dead. If the yeast are dead will I need to add more before bottling to get carbonation?

 

[Revvy]

DId you take a grav reading? That's the only thing that will tell you if you had fermentation or not....anything else is superfluous nonsense.

Yeast doesn't die unless you boil it, anyway....if yeast can survive for 4,000 years in amber it not a weak mewling baby....it just doesn't decide to die on us despite what you may have heard.

There will be plenty of yeast to do the job, relax.

 

[Shaneoco1981]

I am a new homebrewer. On all my other batches I have noticed small bubbles (co2 I assume) on the surface of my beer in the 2nd fermentator. On this batch of IPA I do not see any at all. I had great vigorous bubbling in the Primary and my gravity also suggests that fermentation went well. Temps were always between 65-70F. However I am worried that the yeast are inactive or dead. If the yeast are dead will I need to add more before bottling to get carbonation?

No, you are fine. RDWHAHB! I never see bubbles of CO2 in my secondary. Your yeast are not dead, but some of them have fallen out of suspension and have basically gone to sleep, but you don't need a lot to carbonate. Keep it in the secondary for as long as you want to, and then bottle. You are good.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

REVVY is right. unless you take gravity readings the rest of the stuff is a probably or a maybe...ONLY the hydrometer is a sure way to tell. As far as bubbles in secondary, I believe the fermentation should be DONE before transferring over to secondary which in most instances is a bright tank rather than actual secondary fermentation, AND not really necessary most of the time according to popular concensus.

 

[Malintent]

gonna take a guess and say that now that you have a few brews under your belt, you are more patient and doing a better job at letting your beer primary correctly... thus, your secondary is doing what it should do... very little.

 

[FunkyDung]

I've read quite a few posts about air lock activity... and in the many, detailed, lengthy and explicit posts I've read, Revvy.. I truly appreciate your consistent info on airlock activity. Definitely spot on.