Risk of oxidizing fermenting beer

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone can tell me where my greatest risk of accidentally oxidizing my beer is between these two options:

a) keeping the beer in primary in a plastic bucket for the full 3 weeks, or
b) racking to a glass carboy for secondary after 1 week.

Thanks!

Nick

Seeing that there is no oxidizing risk to fermenting in a bucket for 3 weeks (if done correctly and not taking the lid off to have splash parties)... I'm going to go with the racking to secondary option (which is very rarely necessary unless fruiting, oaking, hopping, etc.), even though this really isn't a huge risk of oxidizing either unless you have a huge head space in the secondary or splash the beer during the process.

And... that has to be one of the best run on sentences of the day.

I agree with maffewl. I've left a beer in primary in a plastic bucket for 6 months with no oxydation issues.

Revvy said:

I agree with maffewl. I've left a beer in primary in a plastic bucket for 6 months with no oxydation issues.

Click to expand...

OK, good to know.

So the only real reason to rack to secondary is really if you want to dry hop or something similar?

It seems like popular opinion nowadays is to just leave it in primary for fermentationand conditioning?

CanadianQuaffer said:

OK, good to know.

So the only real reason to rack to secondary is really if you want to dry hop or something similar?

It seems like popular opinion nowadays is to just leave it in primary for fermentationand conditioning?

Click to expand...

Many of us dry hop in primary.

Rather than re-invent the wheel with a discussion that we've really killed on here, I suggest you read THIS thread, it's become the "uber discussion" on this topic thread.

To Secondary or Not? John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff Weigh In .

Pretty much every question has been answered in there, there are podcasts and articles and other citations, and that's where the discussion is ongoing.

You got it.

Oxidation is a minimal risk if you know what your doing. I always rack to a secondary and sometimes end up siphoning a brew 4 times, never with an issue of oxidation.

If it is an aged beer, I would stick with just the primary though, better safe than sorry