Imperial stout

Hi all

I just brewed the Northern Brewer IMPERIAL STOUT. I made a yeast starter about 30 hours be for brewing. I used a six gallon carboy with a blow off tub. I am glad I did use the blow off tub because the kraeusen went up the blow off tub and into the bucket. Here is my question I lost about 45 oz of beer when the kraeusen went in to the blow off bucket. When I transfer the beer to secondary I now will have more head space in the five gallon carboy. I will be leaving the beer in secondary for about three months. Is this extra head space going to be a problem? Could I get some commercial IMPERIAL STOUT from the store and top the carboy off? Is there any thing in the commercial beer that would kill the yeast so it would not carbonate up in the bottles?

Thanks so much

Roger

Honestly I wouldn't worry about the extra head space. I defiantly wouldn't add commercial beer. If you're that worried about it, I've seen people add marbles or glass beads when aging meads to take out the head space, but I wouldn't bother.

Forgot here is a video of the Fermenting Stout.

Home Brew Talk - K5MOW

sudndeth said:

Honestly I wouldn't worry about the extra head space. I defiantly wouldn't add commercial beer. If you're that worried about it, I've seen people add marbles or glass beads when aging meads to take out the head space, but I wouldn't bother.

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Ok cool if you think I don't need to worry about the head space then I will just leave the extra space. What do all the rest of you think about this.

Thanks roger

Dose any one else have any more opinion on this. I would love to here from as many of you as I can.

Roger

We brewed this same kit in the beginning of October 2011, but instead of making a starter we pitched two packets of Safale 04. During fermentation the Krausen definitely overflowed through the airlock and we lost some beer due to this, but after cleaning the airlock and top we left it alone.

Left in primary for 1 month. Then bottle conditioned for approx. 2 months and the samples we are tasting along the way are already coming out fantastic.

If you are concerned about headspace in the secondary, you could always bottle it and let it age there, which is what we did. But I personally wouldn't worry about the extra headspace in the secondary.

I would just bottle it and age it that way. You can accomplish exactly the same thing in bottles as you would in a secondary, it just takes a little longer since it's not bulk aged.

I definitely would not add commercial beer. Call me paranoid, but that just screams oxidation and/or possible infection.

Ok all thanks for the info. I think since all of you don't think the extra head space will be a problem I am going to bulk age the stout in the secondary. I want to do this Bach by the book because it is my first high gravity beer. Thanks so much for your info.

Roger

How did this turn out? I am surprised you lost so much through the blow-off tube. I am going to to brew this today, and wonder if your blow-off tube is doing the job too well perhaps? Did you have any water in the bucket that the tube was leading to?

DarthMalt said:

I definitely would not add commercial beer. Call me paranoid, but that just screams oxidation and/or possible infection.

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Although it seems completely unneccesary to "top up", and I would just leave it, the worries about it seem unfounded and a bit paranoid to me, "topping up" with a similar wine to reduce headspace is a frequently reccomended practice in wine making.

Leave it alone... it will be fine.

Don't add, remember...you're making this beer for a reason!