What now? Fermentation after 1 week.

That is a bit odd, the airlock thing after so long.

I may get flamed for this, but take a gravity sample. This way you can see what is going on in there to push crud into the airlock and find out how well fermentation is going.

Was this dry yeast?

 

I'd let it go in primary for at least two weeks. Gives the yeast some time to 'clean up'. Definitely take a gravity reading as NiceFly suggested. Take another gravity reading in two days or so.

Also, while there is some difference of opinion surrounding the topic, I don't typically rack my IPA's to secondary. Some people swear by secondary for every beer style. While still new to the hobby, I seem to fall into the crowd that believes racking to secondary isn't always necessary, especially when you aren't adding flavoring additions (chocolate, vanilla beans, fruit). You can dry hop in primary with no issue so long as you wait until fermentation is finished.

 

Airlock activity just means it's off-gassing. Doesn't mean it's fermenting.

Obviously there's no way I can really tell you it's done but, 1056 for a week at room temp, it's done.

 

If you're gonna dry hop it I'd do so when you take a gravity sample. Do that a week before you plan to bottle. I haven't been using secondary fermentation and my beers have been coming out good.

If the airlock got crud in it, take it out and re-sanitize it (and around the grommet) and replace it.

 

The OP stated: “Today i got home from work and the airlock was packed with crud like it happened the first night it was in there.”

As leedorham mentioned, with 1056 for a week at room temp I too would have expected that the primary fermentation would be done. Why you still have krausen and that krausen is ‘high’ enough to crud up your airlock after a week is a mystery to me.

I would let your primary fermentation go for another week. I personally do not perform a secondary for any of my ales; I don’t think it is necessary to conduct a secondary and there is always a risk (albeit a small risk) of oxidation or infection during the transfer from the primary to the secondary. It just isn’t worth it to me to conduct a secondary.

Cheers!

 

I presume you have kept your eye on it all along, that there wasn;t that crud in there the whole time?
Somethink like that happenned to me, though not as long a time. I brewed last Sunday, Monday morning and evening the airlock was chugging nicely, but Tuesday morning it had some serious krausen overflow. So much that when i stuck a backup airlock on there to go clean the primary, when I got back downstairs a few minutes later, the backup was full of junk. So i rigged a blowoff tube in there. Even last night, there was still a good layer in there, though it had fallen somewhat.

I'm planning on giving it at least another week - maybe 2, depending on what it does between nnow and then - and then rack over - this is to be a sour ale on currants, so the infection part will be intentional but I still want the main stuff to be set before I rack and pitch my bug blend in there.

 

as long as it's not overflowing, I'd say leave it alone.
If the beer is still actively fewrmenting, then don't rack it off. Let it settle way down before transferring.
If it is, then I'd recommend a blowoff tube.

 

As a new brewer, don't get hooked into rigid time frames (1 week in primary, then rack, etc). Every beer is different. The beer will tell you when it's ready (krausen drops, no airlock bubbles, stable gravity, etc). Cheers, good luck, and welcome to the hobby!