Secondary while still with krausen?

[Tapout]

I have a IIPA in primary at the moment. The recipe called for one week in primary and then transfer to secondary. The conundrum I have is that at one week it was still bubbling away and had a good thick krausen. I decided to wait another week to let the krausen fall. A week later and, while it has fallen quite a bit, there is still some krausen left. Will I lose anything by going ahead and transferring? The bubbling has slowed considerably now.

Thanks for any answers.

 

[ChefRex]

Leave it be, let the krausen drop,no reason to secondary an IPA in my opinion anyway.

 

[unionrdr]

Even at two weeks, it could still be finishing up the last couple points of gravity.But generally, most of the krausen will have fallen back into the beer by then, leaving only bits of it floating on the beer. It will also begin to clear after initial fermentation is done. Moreso while it finishes fermenting & all the up & down swirling slows down.
Also, forget the instructions, as their time schedule is almost always wack. Some of mine take 3 weeks or more to finish & settle out clear or slightly misty. Others are clearing in 10 days. So no two fermentations are alike.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Have you taken a gravity reading? If it is at FG or within a few points then go ahead and transfer.

On the other hand, there is very little (as in nothing, actually) to be gained by moving your beer to secondary, unless you need the primary vessel freed up to start another batch.

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah. I, & many others here do single stage fermentation. That is to say, only primary. We even dry hop in primary, but only after it's at FG & settled out clear or slightly misty. This will help prevent the hop oils from coating the stuff settling out & go to the bottom.