moved beer to secondary fermentation carboy

[Nirvanahalls]

I moved my first homebrew from it's first carboy after 7 days of active fermantation to a second carboy. All the tools, carboys, tubes etc were sanitized with iodine solution. The brew is now developing "patches" of foam (for lack of a better term). Is this normal, or have I allowed my brew to become contaminated?

[billy frank]

Sometimes after moving my brews I will get a secondary fermentation, usually there is a bit of yeast still suspended in solution and moving it might have provided the yeast enough air to have an aerobic fermentation, or it just stirred it up enough to get some more activity out of the yeast. I would give it a taste and see if it has soured or gone kinda ciderey, if it tastes like flat beer it is good.
Good luck,
Billy

[drstandley]

I get those patches all the time. No big deal. In fact, I often toss in some yeast energizer in my secondary and that causes the patches. I think it's just yeast. And if you're using an Ale yeast, it's a top feeder anyway. I have no doubt your beer will be great.

[drstandley]

One more thought that I had last night as I was looking at a batch of my own in the secondary. Not sure where you live, but here in Ohio it's cold as hell. My secondary had patches too, and I realized that my house was too cold and my ale yeast wasn't warm enough. The foam patches was telling me that it was trying to start again, but needed some help. I moved it to my laundry room and closed the door, which makes that room really warm, and bang! The patches went to a complete covering of foam and the air lock started to move again. It just needed to warm up.

Hope that helps a little. Mine was moving along real nice this morning. Oh, I always put a little vodka in my air lock for two reasons; one you can see it bubble when you're fermenting which makes it a nice gauge. and it also doesn't allow any bad air back down into the fermenter or carboy.

[BucksBrew]

Will the airlock stop burping or do you take hydro readings based on projected finish date to determine when to bottle? Thanks!

[drstandley]

My airlock doesn't seem to burp much after I rack. But from readings I've taken, it has furmented further. That makes NO sense, as CO2 is being created. It must burp while I'm sleeping.

I've got one doing that right now. Because I was a lilttle unhappy with it after the primary fermentation, I added some additional wort to the secondary, so I know there's enough food in there to keep it going. However, this is a Lager yeast and I've heard that you don't see much action with that, but it really is down there working.

[BucksBrew]

I've read that one burp per minute to a minute and a half is good enough to start your bottling.

I will rely on my hydro readings. I don't want exploding bottles!

[drstandley]

It can also set in the carboy for more than a week. I've talked to guys that have left it there for a month or two. I plan to leave this one in for a month.

But I have to think if you've made 5 gal. and it was in the fermenter for at least a week, and in the secondary a week, that baby's probably done. I've never had bottles explode, but I've heard about it. What a waste, and a mess that would be.

[BucksBrew]

I'm making Pilsner Urquell with liquid lager yeast. The recipe says to put in fermenter 1-3 days to start then put into cooler area for 7-10 days then transfer to secondary fermenter for 2-3 weeks then age 4-6 weeks. I didn't know this would take so darn long! haha

I was just curious about airlock activity originally, if it stops entirely or burps continually?

[drstandley]

I've only done one lager, and I'm still in the process. A friend of mine has done them for years, and says that it's a long slow process. There have been some other guys out here that have told me that it will appear that nothing is happening for days, but yet it is. Unlike ale that just bubbles its ass off for a week.

I bet yours will be really good when it's done. The bitch is, now you have to buy another carboy if you want to brew again while it's taking its time.

[BucksBrew]

I have a couple carboys and buckets. My original kit came with two each, which is nice now that I think about it.

I took a reading this weekend. I'm not sure how it read. I used the plastic tube the hydro came in, but the bubbles I think affected the true reading. It read 1.21, which I'm guessing is not anywhere I need to be if I'm going to baottle soon!

I need to get a little larger tube to do my readings in.