Raspberry addition/no airlock activity?

[Jamison]

I have a PM Raspberry Cream Ale in secondary right now. I added 3lbs of organic raspberries when I racked it to secondary 5 days ago. I was expecting the airlock to take off again from the sugars in the raspberries. Hasn't happened.
I made a starter and all the #'s were good. Primary fermentation took off really fast (O.G.= 1.042 down to 1.005 when transfered). I used WLP080 Cream Ale Yeast and it is fermenting at 67 degrees, right where that yeast likes it.
This is just my 3rd batch and I have never brewed with fruit before. Recipe is as follows:

Raspberry Cream Ale Partial Mash
5 Gallon batch
GRAINS
-- 2 lbs Rahr 2-row
-- 0.5 lbs CaraPils
-- 0.25 lbs flaked barley
-- 0.25 lbs flaked maize
FERMENTABLES
-- 3.15 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
-- 1 lb Briess Pilsen dry malt extract
HOPS & FLAVORINGS
-- 0.75 oz Cluster (45 min)
-- 0.25 oz Cluster (15 min)
YEAST
-- WLP080 Cream Ale
FRUIT
-- Add 3lbs of organic raspberries to Seconday for one week

Do you think I should pitch some more yeast when I pull the Rasperries off and let it sit for another week or so, or just go with it? I normally only use Better Bottles for Primary and glass carboys for Secondary. I went with an Ale Pail for secondary with this one so I could put the berries in a straining bag and hopefully keep the seeds and fruit gunk at bay when I rack to the bottling bucket. There is quite a bit of headspace in there. Could that be why I'm not getting any noticeable airlock activity?

 

[bottlebomber]

There's just not enough sugars in the berries to get a dramatic secondary fermentation. Id be a little worried about all the headspace in your bucket, though. Not a good thing, especially with a lower gravity ale (less alcohol, less resistance to bacteria). Should be fine though. If you have the facilities for it, you may consider refrigerating the bucket

 

[Jamison]

Thanks bottlebomber, that's good to know. I will be bottling on Monday. I didn't want to be worried about bottle bombs! I will pick up another 5 gallon carboy before my next double brew day. I have a Strong Dark Belgian going right now too. I thought I would need my carboy for that, but it is still bubbling away in primary 3 weeks after brew day.

 

[statseeker]

Just remember that airlock activity in no way signals fermentation is still happening or not happening. That bubbling could just be CO2 coming out of the beer solution and pushing out the headspace. You probably know this already, but it's still good to know.

I'd wait an additional two to three weeks or until the gravity readings are stable before bottling to make absolutely sure there was no chance of bottle bombs.

 

[birvine]

I added raspberries to a secondary and it took several days before the ferm kicked in again. It didn't go a lot but enough that I should have been mindful of the rising raspberries to the top of the gallon jug. In the end, it all turned out fine and tasty. Very tart but very good.

B

 

[Revvy]

You just need to leave it alone and let it do it's things. All an airlock bubbling means is that an airlock is or isn't bubbling. It's not a fermentation gauge, it's a vent to release EXCESS co2m it doesn't tell you if a beer's fermenting or not. Some never or rarely bubble, or bubble and stop and start. Or the cat hits it and it starts bubbling. So don't concern yourself with what it does, just what you hydrometer says.