Oxidation

When my siphon to secondary was finishing up some bubbles got into the line and transferred over to the secondary.. Decent amount of bubbling in the transferred beer for a second. This happened because my head was up my ass.

Any thoughts on possible oxidation? I realize the transferred beer pushes out the oxygen in the secondary but does the primary suck in oxygen. Certainly doesn't matter now, just hope I am not making a cardboard IPA. Just looking for some knowledge.

I wouldn't worry about it...I've brewed over a hundred batches, have never had oxidation to such a degree that it negatively affected the beer. When I was a greenhorn bubbles were a normal part of transferring my beer, occasionally still do get air in during transfer. I don't even worry about it now, I certainly don't try and get air in the line, but when I do,,,no worries. I don't think, but I've been wrong before, but that amount of room air in bubbled briefly into the beer is not sufficient to cause off flavors, at least it hasn't in my experience. YMMV

I can honestly say..... happens all the time. A few bubbles at the end off the siphon just tells you,you ran out of liquid. Oxidation is not likely to be a problem, you can put a clamp on the hose and clamp it closed before the bubbles start if that is a concern. Cheers

just wondering (my auto siphon took a crap on me and i basically had to pump the beer out...a lot of air got in it) what does oxidation taste like?

Chia said:

just wondering (my auto siphon took a crap on me and i basically had to pump the beer out...a lot of air got in it) what does oxidation taste like?

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In small amounts, it presenst as a slight astringency on the sides of the tongue or a slight metallic finish in beers with darker malts in the recipe. It may taste a bit like sherry (the wine) or madiera, or even almost like brandy as it progresses. As time goes on, or in more severe cases, it can make the beer taste stale. In the most severe cases, it can taste like wet cardboard smells.

The most common flaw I've tasted in homebrew is oxidation. While it won't ruin many beers, especially when young, it can be tasted in many homebrews.

I had a good almost half my beer transferred with bubbles because i dry hopped loose with pellots and put a nylon piece over the end of the autoshipon, it would clogg up and bubble the crap out of it,it was and irish blonde back in Feb. still have them and are still great.

Thanks for the replies... I usually try to cut the flow just as the bubbles show up in the tube and stop them from reaching the beer. I usually get a little splashing just from removing the tube from the carboy but that it. This was just excessive from what I am used to so it bummed me out. Glad to hear I shouldn't.

Often times the bubbles in the siphon line is CO2 coming outr of solution. Don't worry about a few bubbles at the end of a siphon.

If you do get a small amount of O2 in the beer, the yeast should be able to scavenge it out ..... a lot ... well, that's a problem.

Calder said:

Often times the bubbles in the siphon line is CO2 coming outr of solution. Don't worry about a few bubbles at the end of a siphon.

If you do get a small amount of O2 in the beer, the yeast should be able to scavenge it out ..... a lot ... well, that's a problem.

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Yup. Pretty much this. You're good man. Hope you like the brew!