Scotch Ale 2nd ferment - no bubbles!

[Gulliverx2]

I just transferred the highest gravity beer I've done yet (a Scotch Ale at 1.079) to my glass carboy, and have not seen anytype of restart of the fermentation process. This is wierd to me, since every other beer I've done yet (all lesser amounts of sugar) had at least some type of re-kick-started fermentation temporarily.

I kept in primary fermenting bucket for exactly a week - and bubbles were fairly consistent until about day 4. When I transferred it, the gravity was 1.022. I tried sucking up 'some' of the cake at the bottom when transferring - and think I got some - but not as much as my previous transfers.

My fear is bottling all of this only to find out there wasn't any yeast left to carbonate.

Im still pretty new to this - am I being overly concerned - or should I re-pitch at all to be on the safe side? If I re-pitch - I'm concerned about how much I should add that would affect taste vs restarting yeast process.

Thoughts??

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Do you have a recipe you can post? Chances are, your beer is already done. High gravity beers tend to finish a bit higher depending on the yeast and recipe.

No worries about yeast either. There are still plenty of yeast in suspension to carbonate your beer. It will take a lot longer to carbonate though since it's higher gravity. Look for 4+ weeks.

 

[COLObrewer]

I wouldn't expect fermentation per-say to re-start when using secondary, also you should not be transferring to secondary until you confirm fermentation is complete. See here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-4.html
I would wager this strong scotch ale was near enough to completion however.

 

[permo]

your beer is done man, IMO, you should not experience any fermentation in secondary. It is for clearing and bulk aging.

You should allow your beer to fully finish in the primary, for a strong scotch ale, two-three weeks in primary and then 1-3 months in primary and you are set.

Your FG seems right on, so you are probably good.

RDWHAHB......

put that secondary fermenter in a closet and forget about it for a long while. My strong scotch ale(OG 1.074, FG 1.019) sat in secondary for 3 months at 60 degrees and is amazing.

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I wouldn't expect fermentation per-say to re-start when using secondary, also you should not be transferring to secondary until you confirm fermentation is complete. See here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-4.html
I would wager this strong scotch ale was near enough to completion however.

your beer is done man, IMO, you should not experience any fermentation in secondary. It is for clearing and bulk aging.

You should allow your beer to fully finish in the primary, for a strong scotch ale, two-three weeks in primary and then 1-3 months in primary and you are set.

Your FG seems right on, so you are probably good.

RDWHAHB......

put that secondary fermenter in a closet and forget about it for a long while. My strong scotch ale(OG 1.074, FG 1.019) sat in secondary for 3 months at 60 degrees and is amazing.

It isn't necessarily true that you should rack once primary is completely finished. While Palmer does note the risks in not doing so, he also goes on to state a few reasons you would want to.

I rarely use secondary, but when I do, I usually rack once I start seeing the krausen falling back into the beer. Usually at this point it's not quite done. The reason for doing this is to push any oxygen out of your secondary. If you transfer while it's still producing gases, you have no worries of contamination. True...it can upset primary fermentation, but I've never had an issue.

 

[mojotele]

I just transferred the highest gravity beer I've done yet (a Scotch Ale at 1.079) to my glass carboy, and have not seen anytype of restart of the fermentation process. This is wierd to me, since every other beer I've done yet (all lesser amounts of sugar) had at least some type of re-kick-started fermentation temporarily.

It's possible that what you are calling "fermentation" is really just CO2 being released from the beer due to agitation. Are you gauging fermentation by looking at bubbles in the airlock? If so, what you've seen previously may not be fermentation at all just CO2 that was previously produced by the yeast escaping the beer.

As others have said, you usually don't see any fermentation in secondary unless you've deliberately racked it while fermentation was still ongoing.

 

[Gulliverx2]

Thanks for all the info! CO2 escaping instead of fermentation re-kick-starting makes sense...

I suppose I could have waited longer till secondary, but still following exact directions from local beer supply store. Great note for next one as I'm trying an Abbey Ale! Will let this one sit for bit in secondary, but was planning to let sit most while conditioning (planning on 6mo - though lets see how good my will-power is!). My buddy did this with this recipe before and it turned out amazing.

Biggest fear was the yeast in the suspension and not having anything left for conditioning. How long does yeast stay dispersed in the liquid before all settling down during the primary and secondary ferments? Hate to get to end of 6 months for any of these high gravity beers and get flat beer...

Thanks again!

 

[Gulliverx2]

Do you have a recipe you can post?

It was really only an extract brew - hoping to get into full mash by summer!
6lbs Muttons light malt extract
3lbs Muttons light dry malt extract
1lb crystal malt
1/8lb Roasted barley
2oz Bittering Hops (used Fuggles for this)
1 tsp irish moss
1 packet yeast (11.5g Safale.... 04 I think)

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

I would expect that recipe to be done at 1.022. It's a little high, but that's to be expected with extract.