Second Fermentation

[naa10104]

Hello,

On third batch and seem to always find new issues/questions. Decided to move beer to secondary fermentation container after app. 7 days to help reduce sediment in final product. Original SG was 1.42 ... yesterday SG was 1.24. Beer looked fine and was sending up small bubbles slowly but consistently. Beer was clearing and Krauson(?) had dropped to bottom. Once I moved it I dry hopped it with .5 oz of Galaxy hops. Plan to leave it in second fermentation for at least a week before bottling. Will also check SG again and make sure it has stopped dropping. My question is did I move it too soon ? I get this bad feeling that I should have left it alone for up to a week more. Any advice would be great ....thanks !

 

[VikeMan]

My question is did I move it too soon ?

My guess is that it will probably be ok. The dry hop character will probably be a bit different though, since you dry hopped during active fermentation rather than after fermentation was finished. (Both are common methods.)

 

[jrgtr42]

Generally you really don't even need to move to secondary. As long as you're not constantly moving and disturbing the fermenter, it'll drop clear when it's ready.
Unless you're needing to bulk age for fruit (and not even always then,) wood (ditto,) or souring, moving to a secondary can cause more issues than it corrects - you have that much more chances of picking up infections, oxidation and so on.
That said, you want your primary fermentation to be over or very nearly so when you move to secondary, presuming you do that. So that will come to the questions of what was your expected FG, did you check the gravity a couple times to see if it was still moving?
Most likely you moved too soon, but that's not a major issue - there's still enough yeast in there to continue fermenting, but you'll probably have a big of a lag phase as they reproduce enough to finish the job.

 

[VikeMan]

there's still enough yeast in there to continue fermenting, but you'll probably have a big of a lag phase as they reproduce enough to finish the job.

I dunno. All the yeast that were in suspension would have been racked along with the beer, which leads to the question...

Do yeast that have already flocculated and settled participate in attenuation? Do they ever re-suspend and re-engage? Can yeast in the yeast cake attenuate sugars in place? I've never been able to find an answer to this.

 

[naa10104]

Generally you really don't even need to move to secondary. As long as you're not constantly moving and disturbing the fermenter, it'll drop clear when it's ready.
Unless you're needing to bulk age for fruit (and not even always then,) wood (ditto,) or souring, moving to a secondary can cause more issues than it corrects - you have that much more chances of picking up infections, oxidation and so on.
That said, you want your primary fermentation to be over or very nearly so when you move to secondary, presuming you do that. So that will come to the questions of what was your expected FG, did you check the gravity a couple times to see if it was still moving?
Most likely you moved too soon, but that's not a major issue - there's still enough yeast in there to continue fermenting, but you'll probably have a big of a lag phase as they reproduce enough to finish the job.

 

[naa10104]

Thanks to all for the replies. I did not do multiple SG's to see if the yeast was done. Just the one at 1.24. I was told that moving cuts down on the sediment/crud that ends up going into your bottles ... that is the main reason I moved it to the second bucket. I will probably give it a solid week then check the SG again. May wait a few days after that and check SG again to make sure it has reached it's lowest reading. Is there a final SG reading that indictes done or a bottom figure ? THanks

 

[jrgtr42]

I dunno. All the yeast that were in suspension would have been racked along with the beer, which leads to the question...

Do yeast that have already flocculated and settled participate in attenuation? Do they ever re-suspend and re-engage? Can yeast in the yeast cake attenuate sugars in place? I've never been able to find an answer to this.

That's a good question, and I don't have an answer - I presume that settles yeast could still help in attenuation - it's not just dead yeast. I don't know if they'd resuspend - maybe if natural circulation is strong enough some of the top layers may come back up?
I presume if they're still alive, if sugars get to them they'll still process it.

 

[jrgtr42]

Thanks to all for the replies. I did not do multiple SG's to see if the yeast was done. Just the one at 1.24. I was told that moving cuts down on the sediment/crud that ends up going into your bottles ... that is the main reason I moved it to the second bucket. I will probably give it a solid week then check the SG again. May wait a few days after that and check SG again to make sure it has reached it's lowest reading. Is there a final SG reading that indictes done or a bottom figure ? THanks

If you're careful in racking from fermenter, you'll leave the crud behind. If you have a racking cane, hold it just above the level of the trub, and you'll get all the beer and none (minimal) of the stuff. What I do is start the low somewhere in the middle. I then lower it down in the fermenter until I see stuff start flowing up through the tubing. At that point, bring it back up just a little until it's flowing clear again. You should still have enough yeast in suspension to carbonate, but I don't worry about a little bit more coming through.

 

[naa10104]

Hello,

Today took SG reading which indicated 1.20, one week ago it was 1.24. Does not appear to be any fermentation occuring. No bubbling and has cleared up some more. Hops that I added a week ago in a bag are dissolved and some residue floating on top. No activity in airlock. Two questions, okay to bottle now ? Also, all the SG reading were taken with the wort in the 6.5 gal bucket. Is this okay compared to taking a sample in a beaker/tube ? Have seen it done both ways. Thanks very much !

 

[VikeMan]

OG was 1.042 and it's at 1.020? Most (like 99.9% of) 1.042 beers would not be finished at 1.020. What was the recipe?

 

[naa10104]

Hello,

3 lbs Dark Sorghum/3 lbs. Brown Rice syrup/.5 lbs. dried Rice sugar/4 oz Maltodextrin/2 tablespoons Dark Candi syrup/ 1/2 Whirlfloc tablet/.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient/ 1 pack (11g) Nottingham HP Ale yeast. 3 varieties of Hops. My concern is that i moved the wort to the secondary fermenter to early and interrupted the fermenting process. It looks good and smells good, my calculations for ABV right now put it at app. 3.8% . Thanks

 

[VikeMan]

3 lbs Dark Sorghum/3 lbs. Brown Rice syrup/.5 lbs. dried Rice sugar/4 oz Maltodextrin/2 tablespoons Dark Candi syrup/ 1/2 Whirlfloc tablet/.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient/ 1 pack (11g) Nottingham HP Ale yeast. 3 varieties of Hops. My concern is that i moved the wort to the secondary fermenter to early and interrupted the fermenting process. It looks good and smells good, my calculations for ABV right now put it at app. 3.8% . Thanks

You might want to check out one of the many ABV calculators on line. 1.042 -> 1.020 = ~2.9% ABV

I've never used any of those first 3 ingredients, so I can't comment on their fermentability. Maybe the gluten free sub-forum guys would know. I think I know exactly one of them, so... paging @skleice.

 

[naa10104]

Thanks for the reply ... appreciate it.