6 gal. for secondary ferm

anyone use a 6 gallon carboy for secondary ferm? is it too much air for the brew or are there any reasons not to?

My lhbs gave me a 5 gal. for secondary since one of the purposes of the secondary is to reduce head space.

6 gallons would be fine. Even though there is very little fermentation going on there will be some and that will layer the top of the beer with CO2 so head space doesn't matter. All we are trying to do is get it off the trub.

See, now that’s exactly what I was thinking when the guy at the LHBS told me that there would be too much air on the beer in a 6 gallon. There is still some sugar conversion in the secondary. Sugar conversion produces CO2. CO2 is heaver than O2. Therefore, any CO2 production in the secondary will push the O2 out of the airlock.

Anyway, I’m thinking of using a 6 gallon secondary for my peach cream ale because that’s where I’ll be adding the fruit.

thats cool.. my only reason for thinking that is because i want to get a 6.5 for my primary fermentation, and have 2 carboys for secondary (a 5 and the 6 gal) I guess i was just trying to make sure that the 6 would be fine for secondary...

aekdbbop said:

thats cool.. my only reason for thinking that is because i want to get a 6.5 for my primary fermentation, and have 2 carboys for secondary (a 5 and the 6 gal) I guess i was just trying to make sure that the 6 would be fine for secondary...

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I use 6.5 gallon buckets for a secondary and I haven't had a problem.

feedthebear said:

Anyway, I’m thinking of using a 6 gallon secondary for my peach cream ale because that’s where I’ll be adding the fruit.

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A larger secondary for a fruit beer might not be a bad idea, since you will get some action when the fruit is added. Not sure about peaches specifically, but there will most likely be a noticeable amount of post fruit fermentation. This would eliminate any causes for concern with regards to contamination from excess headroom as you will be assured that there is CO2 in there.

Also, you will have some room for the fruit addition without having to siphon off some beer and re-add it later.