Should my beer in secondary have NO foam

[Jim Fehrenbach]

After transfer to secondary fermenter there was no head. I know the beer is flat but I thought there should be some foam on top layer.

 

[Revvy]

After transfer to secondary fermenter there was no head. I know the beer is flat but I thought there should be some foam on top layer.

if your beer was finished fermenting in primary, and you did a good job racking over to secondary, then you shouldn't have ANYTHING on the surface, or very little...the point of the 2ndary is to clear your beer (secondary fermenter is a misnomer)... although you MAY over the next couple of days see some stuff kicked up onto the surface by any re-rousing of the yeast...you may see small white colonies of yeast on top...or if you used moss, or whole hops, but didn't strain your wort into primary, you may have small flecks of that kicked up carried by the co2...but eventually all that will fall back down as the beer clears...

 

[mullimat]

When your beer is in primary it shouldn't have any "Head" at all. The "head" you see in primary is called krausen which is normal but no you shouldn't see any at all in the secondary. But i'm also pretty new to brewing so maybe someone more experienced can chime in and confirm/ deny my input.

 

[Jim Fehrenbach]

Thanks for the feedback. This is only my second batch I have ever made and my first batch had some head on it in the secondary so I thought I had done something wrong. It sounds like mamybe my first batch something was wrong and I did better the second time around. Do you guys use a seondary? I have spoken to alot of folks that don't bother with it.

 

[Revvy]

Thanks for the feedback. This is only my second batch I have ever made and my first batch had some head on it in the secondary so I thought I had done something wrong. It sounds like mamybe my first batch something was wrong and I did better the second time around. Do you guys use a seondary? I have spoken to alot of folks that don't bother with it.

I prefer a secondary for at least a week, usually 2-3...It frees up my bucket for more brewing.

If your first one had head...you may have racked too early, or didn't rack with your siphon gently enough, you don't want to aerate finished beer, it my cause oxidation.