Secondary fermentation in demi-johns

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moto748

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Hi folks!

I'd appreciate a little guidance. I used to make beer pretty successfully years ago, and recently decided to give it another go. So I dug out my old recipe book, dating back to 1985... :)

Anyway, I have an old Burco boiler that I used satisfactorily for mashing grains, and had a pet recipe with pale malt, crystal malt, and barley. So all went OK, although the yeast took a long time to get going, the best part of 24 hours. I suspect this was maybe the wort was a bit to warm still when I pitched the yeast. Anyway, in time it fermented quite vigorously. I made the beer on Saturday, yeast in on Sunday, and by yesterday the fermentation had started to die down so I decided to transfer it to demi-johns. I think this is partially because I fear that whilst in a plastic bucket, there is more risk of contamination, whereas once it's in the demi-johns under a fermentation lock, it's 'safe', so as to speak.

However, there is no sign of further fermentation through the locks now at all. When I made it before, I recall a fair amount of action through the fermentation locks when in the jars. That's why I wanted to transfer it over whilst there was 'still a little life in it'. But, paradoxically, having left the yeast (or, at least, 95% of it) in the bottom of the bucket, I now fear I should have waited longer before transferring. I'm beginning to wish I'd primed the demi-johns with a little of the sediment from the bucket.

So my question is, do you think I should add a little more yeast to the demi-johns? Perhaps start a 'primer' up in a bottle, and add a little of that? Any comments gratefully appreciated.
 
You won't really know where the fermentation is at until you test the gravity. Did you do a hydrometer reading when you transferred? If not best to do it now and it will give you a very clear indication where the fermentation is at. It may be that the fermentation was very vigorous intially ad the beer is finished primary fermentation.
 
Presuming that you were aiming for something between 1010 and 1012 (were you?), then 1018 is not too bad. You should see it drop some more in secondary, even if you are not seeing airlock activity. If this was my brew I would leave for 5-7 days in the demi and then try again before I did anything. There should be plenty of yeast in suspension to ferment a little more.
 
Drew a bit off today. Hydrometer reading is about 1016 and it's slightly cloudy :( I'm sure when I made it before, it was pretty well clear in demi-johns before I ever bottled it.

Tastes OK.

I'm thinking I might as well bottle it now. I can't seen that much more is going to happen in the demi-johns. Any comments, guys?
 
I tend to leave all my brews in the primary for 14 days then move to a secondry for another 7 days before i even think about bottling or kegging it.
 
It's quite flat now. Nothing seems to be really happening. I suppose leaving it longer won't really hurt, though.
 

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