PackerfaninSanDiego
Member
When and Why do it?
talking about racking into 2nd carboy after 5-7 days,,,,,some say it's to help with clarity and some say it's a waste of timeafter you finish your first fermentation, it's time to ferment something else. you move on to your second fermentation.
talking about racking into 2nd carboy after 5-7 days,,,,,some say it's to help with clarity and some say it's a waste of time
In the case of beers of moderate alcoholic strength (4-5%) their peak flavor can be enjoyed by consuming them within 3 or 4 weeks of brewing. My own preference is to let them age at least 4 weeks. This creates 2 issues. First, the headspace in the typical primary fermenter may have too much oxygen in it, or airborne microbes, both of which can deteriorate the flavor of the beer, so some brewers put it in a carboy with minimum headspace. Second, if you have only one primary fermenter you might want to get another batch going and tranferring to a secondary allows that.
How do you figure there is to much oxygen left in the fermenter after fermentation? Carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen and there is a lot of CO2 produced during fermentation.
There is also a lot of turbulence in there so there *could* still be some oxygen mixed up in the gasses. Certainly while the kreusen is still there the beer is more protected, but after it falls it becomes susceptible, particularly if the brewer succumbs to the urge to get his/her nose in there to give it a sniff. Over a two or three week period this oxygen *could* cause a problem. Same with airborne microbes. Not saying these *will* cause problems, but to feel more secure some brewers eliminate the possibility by minimizing head space.
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