Question about my transfer to secondary

well today i transfered my 3rd batch of beer over to my secondary fermenter and i had a bunch left over because i have a 6 gallon primary and 5 gallon secondary. Now I hate to see that extra beer go to waste so what i did was leave the extra in the primary and rigged up a airlock on that will this be ok? i mean if not no big deal its just a bit but might as well try to make it useable right.

Heres what i did. The glass has sanatizer in it.

The problem I see is the oxygen that is now trapped in your primary will affect the flavor of that beer, ala cardboard.

I would transfer it to a smaller container such as a juice bottle.

If you plan to mix the two at bottling then you could boil up a small amount of sugar, cool it, and add that to your primary bucket. This would start a second fermentation that could push out the oxygen, allowing you to keep it in the bucket.

Personally, I would just use a sterilized juice bottle this time and get a larger secondary for next time.

You should be able to fit all of a 5.5 gallon batch into a 5 gallon carboy. The last half gallon is for trub, etc. In the future, you'll want to make sure you have no more than 5.5 gals in primary, even if you have enough space for 6. Otherwise you water down your beer, as I'm guessing your calcs were done for a 5.5 gallon batch or something thereabouts.

I keep large wine bottles around just for this purpose- if you have a bung that fits, it can be another small carboy. Or, the cheap Carlo Rossi wine jugs that hold 4 liters and use a #6 bung.

If you have to keep it in the bucket, then you have to. But I would definitely try to get it off the trub and into another container with a smaller headspace.

Edit- looking at the picture, you have lots of room in your carboy for some of the beer. You can rack some if into the carboy, almost right up to the bung.

Yooper Chick said:

I keep large wine bottles around just for this purpose- if you have a bung that fits, it can be another small carboy. Or, the cheap Carlo Rossi wine jugs that hold 4 liters and use a #6 bung.

If you have to keep it in the bucket, then you have to. But I would definitely try to get it off the trub and into another container with a smaller headspace.

Edit- looking at the picture, you have lots of room in your carboy for some of the beer. You can rack some if into the carboy, almost right up to the bung.

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YC, it's not necessary to use the word "cheap" when referring to Carlo Rossi wine... (we already know)...

I think I would bottle the extra you have in the bucket and then when it's all done and ready to drink, you'll know what is better. More time in the carboy (clearing) or more time in the bottle. Or at least get to see if there is any difference.

well i have had it like that for a few hours now and it is bubling like crazy into the glass of sanitizer. soo i would say all the o2 has been pushed out. anyone have any input?

drumike102 said:

well i have had it like that for a few hours now and it is bubling like crazy into the glass of sanitizer. soo i would say all the o2 has been pushed out. anyone have any input?

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Get yourself a 2Qt plastic apple juice bottle (ala Edworts Apfelwien), drill a hole in the plastic lid and attaché a blow off and use it as a mini secondary.

You want to get that remaining beer off the yeast cake to: A) Harvest that yeast cake for future use. B) Prevent that extra beer from taking on any off flavors from prolonged exposure to so much yeast.

Then just add it to your bottling bucker with the other batch when it’s time to bottle.

These come in handy for short term yeast storage and beer overflow.

You want to get that remaining beer off the yeast cake to: A) Harvest that yeast cake for future use. B) Prevent that extra beer from taking on any off flavors from prolonged exposure to so much yeast

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I'm new to the whole process of harvesting yeast, acctully to homebrewing! But how do you harvest the yeast and how do you storeit, and finally how do you pitch the fresh yeast?

g

I would get a few more ingredients and add to your primary some fresh wort. You have one hell of a starter there! In the mean time you could maybe................. get another carboy! I see this as a great opportunity to add some new ingredients and between the two you will be able to tell exactly what effect those ingredients had. Good Luck either way!

smoke76 said:

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I'm new to the whole process of harvesting yeast, acctully to homebrewing! But how do you harvest the yeast and how do you storeit, and finally how do you pitch the fresh yeast?

g

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Do a search on washing...this subject has been discussed many times...