co2 carboy flush (docudrama)

Just racked to glass. I stared at the airspace and thought about the horrors of oxidation I've read about in all the books. I don't know if o2 will make a subtle change in aroma/flavor or turn it into Bagdad street sewage but just to make sure I lunged for my pocket sized bike tube filler & snapped in a co2 cart. I dove in slow-motion to the carboy rolled to my feet then popped off the airlock and blasted the o2 to kingdom come. I blew the remaining vapors off the co2 gun, tucked it in my pants and walked off...


did I save my Brown Ale
did I ruin it
or did it not make a damn bit of difference (concrete hurts!)

Don't sweat it. You did the right thing. Loads of folks don't have access to CO2 to purge carboys. I sounds like you purged the headspace just fine.

Next time if you wish, put the CO2 in before you rack. It's heavier than air and the beer will stay below the layer and put the air out as it rises.

The main thing was not to splash the beer while racking.

Geek, anyone that uses a CO2 inflator for their bike to purge O2 from their secondary is a EAC Brewer and a Fred.



(Yeah, I did the same thing AND I have two inflators, one for the roadie and one for the MTB. Hi my name is Rick and I'm an EAC Fred.)

I don't care much for this method, because you're introducing alot of potentially unclean elements forcefully.

In the future, I'd recommend keeping a can of "Private Preserve" on hand. It's made for wine and spirits; you spray some of the contents into a bottle of wine, and the mixture of argon, CO2, etc., is heavier than air and nonreactive, and protects the opened wine from oxidation. If I'm worried about headspace on my carboys, I'll sometimes use a few sprays of this stuff.

photogscott said:

Just racked to glass. I stared at the airspace and thought about the horrors of oxidation I've read about in all the books. I don't know if o2 will make a subtle change in aroma/flavor or turn it into Bagdad street sewage but just to make sure I lunged for my pocket sized bike tube filler & snapped in a co2 cart. I dove in slow-motion to the carboy rolled to my feet then popped off the airlock and blasted the o2 to kingdom come. I blew the remaining vapors off the co2 gun, tucked it in my pants and walked off...


did I save my Brown Ale
did I ruin it
or did it not make a damn bit of difference (concrete hurts!)

Click to expand...

See highlighted text.
Never thought it made much of a difference my self when racking to a secondary. but I do flush my kegs with c02 before racking in to them.

Cheers

In your primary, you MIGHT see a better flavor, since it will take a few hours to build a blanket of co2, but as for the secondary..... you have MORE than enough suspended co2 to almost immediately blanket said precious golden (or brown, or black, or red........) liquid. I keep a 20# tank on hand, and as much as I "waste" my co2 (believe me, my wife thinks I just like to play with the damn thing) I have never purged my carboys. Might split a batch and see if there is any difference in taste under similar conditions.

I use Better Bottles. In their literature, they describe a technique of using the waste CO2 from the primary to purge the secondary, then rack to secondary in a closed loop system. Very simple and clean. I use the same technique when racking to a bottling bucket (another BB), but use the CO2 cartridge bike tire inflator (A salvaged presta valve fits nicely in 1/4 ID tubing.) with one of these filters: http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16797 That should keep the nasties out. Just picked up a CO2 tank and regulator for kegging, so I'll have a less expensive source of CO2.

Now can someone decipher EAC Fred for me? I probably are one.