Secondary fermentation - too early?

[dyyony]

:mrgreen: I'm very green at this so...
I moved my beer from the primary fermenter to the secondary (3 demijohns) after 10 days. It looked to me like there wasn't much ging on anymore. The hydrometer I have gives me a reading as a ABV% which was 3.5%. I've read a bit about homebrewing and I thik I might have moved the beer too early.

does this matter?

 

[commsbiff]

If it's not finished fermenting yet, it should continue in the DJs to give you a lower Final Gravity and higher ABV%. 10 days should be enough in the primary IF the temperature has been kept at the required temp steady 18-22 C (the lower the temp the longer it will take, but too high and you may damage the beer). I assume with your hyrdrometer that you take a reading before fermentation and one later and compare (or subtract) the readings to find a difference - being your 3.5%.

 

[dyyony]

Our initial reading was around 6.5% ABV and when we moved it to the secondary it was 3.5%, so I guess we just leave it there for a couple of weeks and then stick the hydrometer in the demijohn to see how it is going. Presumably we need to ensure it is in the "Green Zone" on the hydrometer to avoid explosions when we bottle it.

 

[Parva]

You're reading the hydrometer wrong. Forget the %alcohol scale, the figures you're interested in are the ones that say 50, 60 etc. If when you started it read '60' that means that your starting gravity is 1.060. As it gets towards the end of fermentation it may drop down to say '10' which is 1.010. From these readings you can work out the %ABV of your beer/lager/wine whatever. I would think there will be a calculator for this in the 'Calculators' link top-right of this page.