5 Gallon Glass Carboys

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MPOWELLJR

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Ok, so I got a good run on some glass 5 gallon carboys, $8 a piece. My question is this. When I rack over to them off of the trub from the primary if there is any headspace what should I do to prevent oxidation? I know I should probably start making larger batches in order to fill the space in the future but I have 2 batches going right now in primaries that I need to rack over.
 
If the carboys are actually 5 gallons in volume, there won't be enough head space to worry about oxidation. Any remaining head space will get purged with co2. When you rack the beer, residual co2 from primary will bubble out for a short time. No worries. Also, keep in mind that if you plan to dry hop now or in the future you will need a little head space in the carboy. Adding dry hops to the beer makes more co2 bubble out and you end up with some foam on top. If you don't leave enough head space, you will get foam comming out of your airlock.
 
he never said how large his batch size was so we dont know how much head space he will have.

the short answer though is that active fermentation will make a CO2 barrier between the lighter oxygen and the surface of the liquid. its not a bad idea to purge a secondary with CO2 before you rack onto it, but not necessary if you cant easily do it.

if you are storing beer in a carboy post-secondary (for whatever reason) you probably do want to purge it with CO2 as its not creating its own CO2 anymore.
 
If you're doing 5 gallon batches, 6.5 gallon carboys are for primaries, 5 gallon carboys are for secondaries, in my opinion.
 
LandoLincoln said:
If you're doing 5 gallon batches, 6.5 gallon carboys are for primaries, 5 gallon carboys are for secondaries, in my opinion.

+1

I would also consider not doing a secondary, and just bottling /kegging directly after 2-4 weeks in primary, for ales.
 
I asked not too long ago about using only 6 gallon better bottles for both primary and secondary. The consensus was that secondary, while unnecessary unless dry hopping or long aging a big beer, would not be a problem even with the larger headspace. So I have one 5 gallon BB that came with my starter kit but will probably never get any more.
 
I've been using my 6.5g bucket fermenters as my primaries for now. I'm planning on leaving the pumpkin ale in that until bottling time but I have another ale that I plan on ageing for at least 6 months on bourbon/oak cubes so that'll be the one I put into the 5 Gallon. I've been doing 5 gallon batches but have the means to start doing 10-12 gallon batches and splitting into multiple fermenters. I was thinking 12 gallon batches split into 3, 5 gallon carboys for primary fermentation with blow off tubes.

Thanks all, such a great community to belong to. Cheers.
 
the only thing to remember with blowoff tubes is that when you use top-fermenting yeast (which is most non-lagering yeasts) you can loose a good percentage, or even almost all, of the yeast colony out of the blowoff tube if you fill the carboy too high.

if that happens you can end up with a stuck or incomplete ferment, or possibly the same negative effects that come with under pitching.
 

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