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Thanks! One step at a time for me...

I had not thought of that. Good point.

Absolutely - please share! I do keep a few spray bottles around that go weeks/months without changing, but for really sensitive items like kegs and fermenters I've always erred on the side of caution and created a fresh batch. Thanks - I'll try this next time.

Perhaps I'm missing something here. Wouldn't it require the same amount of CO2, whether the keg was half full or completely full to begin with? Ultimately the keg will still be filled with the same volume of CO2... right?

Thanks for that link - that's extremely helpful. One quick question about your closed gravity transfer: when you are ready to transfer to the keg, do you use the same line that had previously been used as the CO2 outlet? So just move the line from the top of the fermenter (where the airlock...

Part of the issue is that I'm not filling the keg completely with starsan - it's a precious commodity here so I try to conserve where possible. I generally fill it up half way. Still, it's clear I should be purging it after allowing the foam to settle out, and not opening the keg and pouring it...

Thanks. I knew it was of dubious value, but common sense would suggest that it's better to not allow the beer to remain exposed to the oxygen indefinitely - right? Or are you saying the damage is done with the first moment of exposure, and additional time has no impact?

Thanks - I'll need to look into how to do a closed/semi-closed transfer. I do purge the starsan in the keg with CO2 prior to racking; I assume that's what you're referring to as a liquid purged keg? I'm always a bit paranoid about the residual starsan foam that ultimately winds up as a...

I've started gyle-priming my kegs rather than relying on forced carbonation. I like the idea of having secondary fermentation to scoop up any dissolved oxygen that may have entered the beer while racking to the keg, but I'm a bit concerned about the keg space. Should I purge the head space with...

Healthy krausen forming after ~14 hours:

Thanks, bernard. That was more or less my understanding of it, and there were clearly demarcated lines of yeast and trub as you say. This starter appears to have been successful, but now I'm wondering if, when pitching the starter, I should apply the same principle and try to leave as much trub...

I think that's exactly what I did. Thankfully, there appears to be a pretty substantial amount of slurry at the bottom of flask, so I think I'll have enough to brew.

I think I've probably done something wrong. I was worried about excess trub getting into the new batch, so I shook the two pint jars and allowed them to settle for 20 minutes before pitching, leaving most of the slurry behind. I'm fairly certain I read that in How to Brew, with the idea being...

I recently harvested (washed) some S-04 from a batch of robust porter. I've created a starter and saw a bit of activity overnight. I've taken it off the stir plate, will let it sit for about 12 hours, then will cold crash overnight before my brew day tomorrow. My question is: how do I know how...

I pitched at 50 F and kept it there for four days. I then set the freezer to 59 F, which took about 12 hours to warm up.

Thanks, everyone. Some excellent advice here. I'm going slightly off the topic of the original post, but the talk about oxidation through suck back has me a bit concerned about how to cool to the lagering temperature. I don't have the right equipment to implement any of the solutions I've seen...

Interesting. So you only keep it at 60 F for 1 day or 2, and then keg and bring to 70 F? Or it stays at 60 F for 5-7 days, then you keg? I was under the impression that it was best to lager on the yeast cake, as it helps to absorb residual sulfur. I may need to reconsider.

That looks excellent. Thanks for the recommendation.

Now there's a new rabbit hole for me. I've been routinely cold-crashing my ales without any thought for potential oxygenation. With my current setup a balloon would probably work best.

Thanks, all. There's some very good info here, and it's clear that as brownni5 says there are many ways to approach this. As a fairly new home brewer (around 1 year in) I'm still doing almost everything according to The Book (Palmer). This is only my second lager, so I'm being particularly...