bourbon barrel disaster...

I recently made NB bourbon barrel porter everything went smooth until tonight while transferring to my keg. I usually do not use a secondary fermenter since I have a conical but I needed to put this in a carboy to let it mix with the bourbon and oak, I bought a racking cane and used some tubing I had after a while I noticed that the tube was not completely sealed around the racking can and sucking in air, have I basically aerated my beer while transferring?! After a while the siphon stopped working leaving about a half gallon+ in the carboy. Is the beer in the keg going to be stale by the time its ready? I am drinking whats left in the carboy it is delicious uncarbed! I hope it is not ruined.

If you have co2 maybe aerate with co2 may help. Or keg it, pressurize it, and drink it.

I'm thinking maybe the bigger beers stand up to oxidation better than lighter ones--but not sure. The advice for a beer you think is aerated is to drink it up sooner rather than later. Tough medicine, right?

I hope it is not to big of an issue, it is in the keg I will give it a try in a week or so.

Aeration is a bigger problem on the hot side, if its just from the racking cane you probably introduced a small amount air to the beer but probably not enough to alter the heavy flavors of the porter. You might have long term stability issues, just make sure you drink it fast. Regarding the beer in the keg, I'd use the set it and forget option and enjoy it.

Well if it tastes half as good as it did when I was putting it in the keg I don't think drinking it quickly will be an issue!

I had this happen once but it did not adversly affect the flavor of the beer. Your beer will be fine.

Shinglejohn said:

I had this happen once but it did not adversly affect the flavor of the beer. Your beer will be fine.

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ditto. bought new tubing which was too loose and allowed aeration but it didn't make a noticable difference. you'll be fine.

Are you sure it was sucking in air, or was dissolved CO2 forming bubbles around a nucleation point created by the joint?

joety, I've never heard of this before. Can you elaborate?

It was definitely taking in air around the plastic tube where it was connected to the cane

2wide said:

joety, I've never heard of this before. Can you elaborate?

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Absolutely. I had a similar issue with my racking cane several years ago. I covevered the joint with a sealant type tape and that did nothing to stop it. Then a friend pointed out it was likely CO2 forming that was disolved in solution but became "dislodged" when passing over the joint between the racking cane and the hose. This joint creates turbulence, just like shaking up a can of soda, and bubbles form as a result. If I give it a pump the bubbles go away and gradually return. Once the pocket of CO2 starts to form again, it does so at an increasing rate, as the pocket itself creates more turbulence than just the joint.

When you think about it, the static pressure created by the beer seeking a point several feet lower than the originating vessel is not going to be sufficient to pull air through that joint.