To much head space in Secondary?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MZzzz

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2011
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
Phila
My IPA concoction has fermented for 3 weeks in the primary. Last night I transferred it to a secondary and added some hop pellets in hopes to add some flavor/aroma over the next week and then move to bottling. Im a bit worried now though because I lost some beer during a blowoff early in the fermentation. As you can see in the picture below I have a good amount of space in the top of the carboy. Should I cut my losses and get this bottled now to avoid any aeration, or do you think its safe to leave for another 5 days? This is my first 5 gallon brew, I'll just be happy if its drinkable.

carboy.jpg
 
That's def too much head space for 5G of beer. A 5G carboy or better bottle would be the best choice for secondary. Or a 5G food grade pail,which would be easier to work with with it's wider openning.
Keep an eye on it,you may need to bottle if it so much as starts to look off.
 
Aeration is not really the concern per say at this point. When you transfer from the primary, the CO2 blanket gets disrupted after fermentation. While in secondary, very little fermentation should be taking place, therefore that CO2 blanket will not reform and oxygen can re-permeate into the beer. Like uniondr said, keep a close eye on it and if you start seeing a film, different than the hop oils, may want to go ahead and bottle it.
 
Thanks for the input. It is actually a 5g carboy, Im not quite sure how we lost so much. Union-When you say it starts to look "off" do you mean a layer of film as twistr mentioned? If not for film are there any other signs, and would it be to far gone once the film started?
 
Shouldn't be too far gone if a film develops, you can always rack from underneath it. Unless you had bad sanitation procedures, I wouldn't expect it to look "off" necessarily, but if oxygen gets into it, the beer will have a stale taste and I think that's the bigger concern.
 
You'll be fine. CO2 blanket will protect it. I have had beers with twice as much head space as that turn out great.
 
You'll be fine. CO2 blanket will protect it. I have had beers with twice as much head space as that turn out great.

The problem is it won't have that blanket anymore since it is in secondary now. If it were still in primary it wouldn't be a big deal, but after racking it, a lot less likely it will return.
 
Did you say that is a 5gal that you are using as the secondary? if so it looks like you are about a gallon short
 
I think our sanitation was pretty spot on. The biggest issue I had was cooling the wort after the boil. I didn't have enough ice and it took about 40min before I had it cooled down and poured into fermenter. Rookie mistake, I guess next time I need to double up on the ice. A few days into the fermentation the airlock had bubbled over and we lost a good amount of wort. We made a blowoff tube and left that on for about a week until the fermentation settled down.

Bottom line, I just don't want to risk leaving it in the carboy if its going to develop unwanted flavors. And if there is no visible way to tell that sounds like trouble. Maybe I'll just leave it for 3-4 days instead of 7.
 
The problem is it won't have that blanket anymore since it is in secondary now. If it were still in primary it wouldn't be a big deal, but after racking it, a lot less likely it will return.
some co2 was off-gased during racking, since the transfer disturbed the beer. there will be CO2 in the headspace. less than in primary, obviously, but there will be some there. since CO2 is heavier than O2, it should settle down into a thin layer over the beer and be sufficient for a few days.
 
Another question. The directions I used said to put cheap vodka or sanitized water into the airlock of the primary. What does this method accomplish, and should it be done for secondary too?
 
You don't have to get it cooled in under 15 minutes, I've let mine sit overnight to cool before pitching. As long as everything stays sanitary, not a big deal. In the end, it'll likely turn out just fine. RDWHAHB :mug:
 
Another question. The directions I used said to put cheap vodka or sanitized water into the airlock of the primary. What does this method accomplish, and should it be done for secondary too?
you want alcohol or sanitizer in there in case there is suck-back. if pressure changes (ex: temperature drops, causes air in carboy to contract, which creates a vacuum), some of the liquid in the airlock could be sucked into the carboy. you want that liquid to be sterile. you don't want dirty water that has been sitting in the airlock for several days/weeks... that could contain all sorts of nasties.

I've let mine sit overnight to cool before pitching. As long as everything stays sanitary, not a big deal. In the end, it'll likely turn out just fine. RDWHAHB :mug:
indeed chances are good it'll turn out fine... but why take chances? it's safer to cool quickly and get beer yeast in there as soon you can. there is a risk of something bad getting in there, inadvertently, and setting up shop before your yeast does.
 
some co2 was off-gased during racking, since the transfer disturbed the beer. there will be CO2 in the headspace. less than in primary, obviously, but there will be some there. since CO2 is heavier than O2, it should settle down into a thin layer over the beer and be sufficient for a few days.

True, guess I was thinking more long term, forgot he was just dryhopping.
 
Would putting in a tablespoon or two of priming sugar help create a better co2 blanket in the secondary if you find yourself in a situation like this? I've run into similar situations and found that if I can get a small amount of activity in my airlock i feel better about the co2 protecting my beer.
 
I'd rather leave it in primary,even dry hop in there. No worries then. I don't secondary unless I have an additive I don't want the yeast interfearing with.
 
Did you say that is a 5gal that you are using as the secondary? if so it looks like you are about a gallon short

He's actually a little over 5 gallons. The last line before the carboy starts curving is the 5 gallon mark. That's perfect because losses from trub will probably yield right around 5 gallons. 5-gallon carboys hold about 6 gallons of beer. Maybe more.

As to whether that's too much headspace, I would say it is fine. I've had way more headspace than that in a couple of secondaries, and the beers aren't oxidized one bit. RDWHAHB.
 
I vote with the crowd that says youre fine. Ive had that much headspace while dry hopping before and nothing bad happened. The beer turned out great, and a couple even won awards.
 
Swmbo wouldn't allow my beer equipment anywhere near a nice, carpeted floor.
 
Well im feelin good with the positive comments. I think ill let it sit until next wed or thurs unless i see any film. Living room siphon action was a once and done experience. Seems odd for the beer to be so dark, i used a muntons gold ipa kit with an extra 2lbs of light dme. Is that normal?
 
The beer always looks darker in the carboy than in the glass due to the volume of it. In the carboy, you're looking through a 12-14 inch thinkness of beer vs 3-4 inches in a glass. Once it's done and poured in a glass it will look much lighter
 

Latest posts

Back
Top