No more activity after 1.5week?

[Oclement]

Hey,
I started my first homebrew out of a Brewferm Kit (Grand Cru) 2 weeks ago.

I've been seeing mild activity (not a huge krausen but still present. No airlock on the bucket so I can't speak about CO2) for a while, but after about 1 to 1.5 week in the fermenting bucket, it looked like activity dropped greatly, and the krausen seemed to have "gone back" into the beer after that 1.5 week.

I transfered the beer to a carboy for a secondary "fermentation", and as I expected, there doesn't seem to be any activity (no bubbles or anything).

Is it possible fermentation was already completed after a single week? What should be my next course of action? I intend to let it sit anyways in the carboy for another 2 weeks, unless you guys tell me otherwise;

Also, not sure about the temperatures when I measured (I THINK it was somewhere between 77ºF to 72ºF... yeah, so much for not taking notes) but my initial gravity was around 1.07 (a tiny bit higher) and when I transfered it in the carboy it was at about 1.02.

This particular brew is said to result in an approx 8% ABV

Adivces? Thakns in advance

 

[bonzombiekitty]

Don't rely on "activity", rely on your hydrometer. If you get the same reading on on your hydrometer for 3 days, it's done. That is, unelss your OG is measuring way too high. 1.02 is on the higher end, but not out of the ordinary really.

 

[temptnmonkey]

Big beer for your first!

To know if it is done fermenting, you need to have unchanged consecutive (over a day or three) hydrometer readings. But for a big beer like that, you need to let it sit for a few weeks anyway (minimum). So don't even worry about it and take an FG before you bottle for recipe/notetaking.

Congrats!

 

[Joker]

If it dropped to 1.02, the fermentation is probably very close to complete. Check it again in a week just to be sure.

 

[weirdboy]

I know you are probably anxious to drink it or whatever, but it doesn't hurt to just leave it there for a few more weeks.

 

[seabass07]

It seems like you were expecting additional fermentation to happen in the secondary. It isn't for a second fermentation. It's really just to help clear the beer. It would do the same thing if you left it in primary. If you are getting activity in secondary, then you transferred it too soon. You did it right.

It's very possible that it was done fermenting in a week. I've only had one beer take longer than a week and that was a barley wine that ended over 13%. It's best to leave it for one or two weeks after it reaches FG.

 

[Oclement]

Thanks for the replies, it clears things up.
I wasn't really expecting actual fermentation in the secondary but I was thinking it would still release some more CO2. I didn't think it would reach this state that fast, I though it would take a full two weeks to complete fermentation.

I'll let it sit for a while before bottling then.

Thanks again!