Secondary Transferring Question

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.
M

MilwaukeeBrewGuy

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
356
Reaction score
4
Ok, so here is my situation. I have a 2 full primaries. I would like to move one to a keg because i think i have a stuck fermentation and I want to use the yeast cake to get the other one going again.

I do not have the Co2 tank yet though. Can I just transfer to the keg and secondary it without adding any Co2?
 
Not really. With no way of purging the keg with CO2 you're going to risk oxidation.

When you transfer to a secondary carboy you minimize the O2 exposure by having very little head space and relying on the gas stirred up by the agitation of the transfer to purge for you. With a keg you're going to have a lot more head space but no more CO2 to clear it out.
 
do you have a Ralph's near by?

if so you can get a 1lb. block of dry ice. put the ice in a glass and add some hot water. then pour the fog and only the fog into the top of the keg. keep it up till you feel you have filled the head space and have sealed the keg. the more dry ice and hot water you can get at one time the more fog and CO2 you will get.
 
whatisitgoodfor said:
Not really. With no way of purging the keg with CO2 you're going to risk oxidation.

When you transfer to a secondary carboy you minimize the O2 exposure by having very little head space and relying on the gas stirred up by the agitation of the transfer to purge for you. With a keg you're going to have a lot more head space but no more CO2 to clear it out.
Click to expand...

not exactly true.

depends on how long ago the beer finished fermenting. If it 'just finished' its still throwing off a lot of CO2 that's in solution, so it'll gas off enough CO2 into the keg, much like a carboy, and will be blanketed.

However, i'm not sold on the idea of racking a stuck ferment onto a full yeast cake. That's a LOT of yeast, plus there's no specifics listed like OG, current gravity, ferm. temp, and such.
 
The beer finished fermenting about 1.5 weeks ago so the Co2 that i gives off probably is next to nothing.

I brewed a Haus Pale and a Dunkelweissen. The wheat beer OG was 1.054 and I checked after 5 days and it was at 1.020. I will check again since it has now been 9 days. I was just trying to prepare for the worst.

It was suprising because it almost blew up. Krausen came out of the airlock. I have been maintaining about 68 degrees on both primaries.
 
TipsyDragon said:
do you have a Ralph's near by?

if so you can get a 1lb. block of dry ice. put the ice in a glass and add some hot water. then pour the fog and only the fog into the top of the keg. keep it up till you feel you have filled the head space and have sealed the keg. the more dry ice and hot water you can get at one time the more fog and CO2 you will get.
Click to expand...


huh, this sounds like a neat little trick.
 
Another option would be to rack onto a small amount of priming solution (a 1/4 cup or so of dextrose dissolved into some boiling water) -- Dump that in the keg then rack on top of it.

It will start another mini-fermentation (kinda like bottle priming) and you'll have lots of CO2 -- Just remember to pull the gas release thingie a couple of times over the first few days to release the oxygen sitting on top.
 
MilwaukeeBrewGuy said:
The beer finished fermenting about 1.5 weeks ago so the Co2 that i gives off probably is next to nothing.

I brewed a Haus Pale and a Dunkelweissen. The wheat beer OG was 1.054 and I checked after 5 days and it was at 1.020. I will check again since it has now been 9 days. I was just trying to prepare for the worst.

It was suprising because it almost blew up. Krausen came out of the airlock. I have been maintaining about 68 degrees on both primaries.
Click to expand...

It is possible that it's done fermenting, actually. Was it extract?
 
no it was an AG - Jamil's recipe for Dunkleweisse. Actually I just checked and it dropped a couple of points to 1.016. I just roused it again, maybe it will drop a little more. I am shooting for 1.008.

I think the yeasties are just being lazy little bastages. Using Wyeast 3068 and they were pretty fresh.

EDIT: yep after another good rousing the airlock is bubbling again. I guess sometimes you just have to kick em in the gonads.
 

Similar threads

F
Transferred to secondary too soon. Dump it?
Replies
10
Views
798
WesBrew
WesBrew
S
How much fermentation occurs once transferred to secondary?
Replies
25
Views
1K
bwible
bwible
C
Cold Crash / Force Carb Temp and Pressure Vs Serving Temp andPressure
Replies
6
Views
791
Corey22
C
hilljack13
"new" CO2 tank dial in red already
Replies
11
Views
462
homebeerbrewer
homebeerbrewer
A
Problems Keeping O2 out of NEIPA (I think)
Replies
13
Views
599
Dog House Brew
Dog House Brew

Latest posts

Back
Top