when to bottle?

[el beero]

ok, so not a pressing need, but I have gotten such great advice here on my first batch so I am going to ask another nagging question~!

So, for an update, I racked to the secondary last night; and, if I say so myself, it looks gorgeous! I am making an American Amber Ale and so far the color is right there. I added top up water to the secondary but tasted some of the raw beer prior to adding the top up water. If the flavor remains the same without becoming totally diluted (which I doubt it will) I am in great shape!

Anyway, now that I am in the secondary (and quickly realizing the potential benefits of using a carboy for primary) and can see all of the activity going on...the following question has come up...the recipe calls for a 2 week secondary, but how will I know when fermentation activity subsides and the beer is ready to bottle? Will the 'foam' go away? Will the beer 'clear up' substantially to give me the clue that it is time to bottle?

Thanks again for the tips in advance!

[BoulevardJohn]

There are a few options. For one it depends on the lock you use. If its a bubble lock... then you have a relatively easy guestimation of when to bottle as the lock will show no pressure gradient.

Of course there is the tried and true... "if the gravity is the same two or three days in a row"

The foam will subside, the yeast should clear some from the top, also. It will look like the yeast isn't working anymore, basically. (of course this is for a top fermenting yeast)

[corkybstewart]

Your beer should really be completely fermented before it's racked to secondary. Secondary fermentation is a misnomer. It should be secondary conditioning. The 2 weeks is plenty of time for spent yeast to settle out of your beer. But if it's still actively fermenting obviously it's going to take longer. When all airlock activity has stopped for a couple of days take a hydrometer reading to be sure fermentation is finished, not stuck. Then if its finished rack to secondary. Leave the carboy in a cool dark place and forget about it for a couple of weeks and bottle.
And I would never top off with water in secondary. Better to have a little less great beer than more watered down beer.

[el beero]

aw man...corky you're gonna give me a complex or something! haha.

well, I hope I didnt just screw up my first batch, but I suppose it is what it is right? When I racked to secondary the fermenting activity had slowed (only a bubble every couple of minutes), but when I checked on the carboy about an hour after (just to make sure it hadnt gone anywhere) there was a nice layer of 'foam.' I did dry hop in the secondary and didnt know if that was yeast activity and/or interaction of the hops. next time right? (although I am not giving up hope for a great batch!). This recipe called for a 1 week primary and 2 week secondary...should I have waited until all fermenting activity had stopped (i.e. no or VERY few bubbles in air lock)? I gave it an extra day from the recipe because when i checked on day 7 the airlock was still fairly active, but yesterday (day 8) it had slowed significantly.

So, for future reference...you can tell fermentation activity with SG readings? This isnt news to me, but I dont know how one does it. Do you just take a measurement every now and again just to see whether it is still falling? or are you looking for it to hit the FG goal? Do you worry about interrupting the air lock when taking a sample for measurement? What does it mean for fermenting to get "stuck?"

My SG reading once I got everything in the secondary (including the top up) was close to where it was supposed to be. Given that the OG was off the charts, this made me feel a little better. oh well, sorry for another long post.

[corkybstewart]

Dry hopping will make it look like its fermenting-the hops make the CO2 break out of solution and will make it foamy for a few days.
Your beer is going to be fine. Sometimes I get a little excited about brewing. I did all the wrong things for years and brewed great beer. It wasn't until I came to this site that I found out all the things I had always screwed up. This last year I've been working hard on developing patience, at least with brewing. I still have to keg those 2 beers in primary, they got to FG last week.
Take a measurement before you pitch your yeast to get OG, and only after airlock activity stops to get FG. Every time you sample it you risk infecting your beer. If your reading is pretty close you can go ahead and rack it, it will usually ferment a couple more points in secondary.

A stuck fermentation means your yeast have fizzled before they finished fermenting your beer, and its not really a problem very often with normal strength beers. You may have to stir them up, warm them up or repitch new yeast to get the fermentation back on track. It happened to me with my tripel that I'm drinking now(not right now, I'm allegedly at work) and I had to warm it up and pitch new yeast and it still never got where I wanted it to. I didn't aerate it enough so the yeast just ran out of gas.

[dparsons]

What Corky said. Bubbles don't tell you when its done. A gravity reading does.