Same Old Question About Fermentation

[herkojerko]

I just wanna be sure. My caramel cream ale has been in the primary for 8 days. The first night it blew if the airlock and foamed over. I replaced it with a blowoff tube and it bubbled pretty good for 3 or 4 days. It's been down to 2 bubbles a minute for 3 days now. I was going to do the 1-2-3 method. Can I rack to secondary now or should I wait ? Thanks

 

[Orfy]

Go for it.

But you should try checking the gravity.

 

[david_42]

I just wanna be sure.

Only checking the final specific gravity is certain. Everything else is guessing.

 

[rod]

i racked my attempt at caramel cream after 7 or 8 days in the primary and should have used my hydrometer
it promptly formed another krausen in the secondary and bubbled along for another week

 

[dantodd]

I'd wait until the bubbling is stopped, or nearly so before racking.

 

[Evan!]

I just wanna be sure. My caramel cream ale has been in the primary for 8 days. The first night it blew if the airlock and foamed over. I replaced it with a blowoff tube and it bubbled pretty good for 3 or 4 days. It's been down to 2 bubbles a minute for 3 days now. I was going to do the 1-2-3 method. Can I rack to secondary now or should I wait ? Thanks

The only way that this should be measured is by taking gravity readings several days in a row. If there is no change from one day to the next, then you should rack. If there is change, then you should wait.

As David sayeth, everything else is just guesswork. Not that guesswork is bad...personally, unless I'm really unsure, I just wait until the krausen has fallen and there is little to no airlock activity. I take a reading once and if it seems high, I'll wait a day and take it again. If it seems like it's within my attenuation range, I'll not bother taking any more readings, I'll just rack.

 

[herkojerko]

After 9 days of primary very active at first and down to 1 bubble a minute at the end I racked to the secondary. I was dissapointed in the hydro reading which was og 1048 and fg 1030. Could this be from not enough oxygen when the yeast was pitched? If I leave it in the secondary longer than 2 weeks will that help? Thanks for your help

 

[texasgeorge]

If your fermentation went off like a rocket and was still bubbling pretty good, I have a difficult time believing that your OG and FG are that close together. While the oxygenation problem can cause yeast to not attenuate well, I don't think that's a problem here because of the violent fermentation at the outset.

I think there might be a problem with your hydrometer or measuring technique, or you haven't accounted for differences in temperature when you measured. I'd guess that your beer is currently within a point or two of what it will finish at. Whoever said that hydrometers will only make you worry... was right IMO.

If you're super concerned, you can add a packet of dry yeast and see what happens. If it goes off again, consider a tertiary in a week.

My advice: Leave it in your secondary and take readings at/around 10 days and again at 14 days. If they're close, bottle/keg. If not, let sit for another half-week. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Or, just RDWAHAHB.

 

[mcaustin]

After 9 days of primary very active at first and down to 1 bubble a minute at the end I racked to the secondary. I was dissapointed in the hydro reading which was og 1048 and fg 1030. Could this be from not enough oxygen when the yeast was pitched? If I leave it in the secondary longer than 2 weeks will that help? Thanks for your help

I just racked my caramel cream ale to secondary last night after several days of very, very little activity (like a bubble every 5 minutes or so). After I racked it, I took a hydrometer read and got.... 1030 also...

It doesn't taste really really sweet or anything. I took the temp of the sample I used for the hydro reading, and it was like 61 degrees (had been at 68-69 for all of fermentation, just racked in my garage and the little sample cooled off a bit).

Is this a candidate for trying beano??? I just find it odd that both herko and I seem to have stopped at 1030. My og was 1055.

Austin