eep oxygen into secondary?

daum · 06-18-2007, 01:43 PM

This weekend about 5 days after i started the fermentation in my primary i used an auto siphon to transfer it over to my carboy. at the end of the process when I was tipping the bucket over and getting the bottom of it out, a some air got into the siphon and was transfered over to the secondary(bubbles)....this won't really ruin my beer will it?

Also, how long would you suggest leaving it there in the secondary, I was thinking about 1 week(til friday) then bottle it for a week or more. Also any other input on what I should/shouldn't do in the future. I built myself a dark closet for this, it maintains around a 68 degree ambient temperature. I didn't have a hydrometer at the beginning of this endevour , but will have one for the next batch which I plan to start this week.

Daum

Evan! · 06-18-2007, 01:50 PM

It's fine. It'd take quite a bit of oxygen to ruin a beer.

Without a recipe, I don't know how long you should keep it in secondary. Some recipes can be bottled straight from priimary; others need 6 months or more of aging. What kind of beer is this?

Yes, a hydrometer is absolutely essential. I didn't use one at first, even though one came with all the equipment I inherited, and I was really flying blind without it. Nobody here could help me much, because there were so many unanswerable questions. So, yeah, get that hydrometer quick.

68f might be a little warm for some yeast...especially when you factor in the added heat from fermentation activity.

You should always aerate, and always use a big yeast starter when using liquid yeast.

daum · 06-18-2007, 01:54 PM

I used coopers draught starter kit(I believe that was the one) then added 3 more pounds of dried malt, 1 oz of cascade hops. I am sorry not sure on the exact type of the kit was too excited to get this going. The guy at the store said at the end my beer should taste something like a redhook pale ale. He said to just wait two weeks in the primary(didn't have any other buckets/carboys at the time) then to just use a bottling bucket and bottle it for at least a week or two. The yeast I used was a dry one that came with it.
Daum

**ThomasRau** · 06-18-2007, 06:03 PM

The standard rule of thumb is at least 1 week in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary and 3 weeks in the bottle. That said, some beers are quite drinkable with one week in the primary and one week in the bottle. But virtually all beers improve dramatically with extra aging. Once you bottle test it yourself. Taste some at the time of bottling. Then taste again at 1,2 & 3 weeks. Stash at least one bottle to age 6-8 weeks and then try that one. You'll see that the additional time really rounds out and mellows the beer, many of the subtle complex tastes that are masked early on, appear after sufficient time.

As for the small amount of air that bubbled in, no sweat, short of shaking it vigorously you are not going to introduce enough oxygen to cause a problem.