Nightmare racking to secondary, possible extreme exposure to oxygen

Today i racked my beer from my primary fermenter into my secondary carboy . The beer had been in the primary fermenter for 5 days, all activity had ceased within the first 3 days (dry yeast). The issue i was having is i would start siphoning the beer and the stream was solid throughout the tube for about 15-30 seconds then it would start to develop an air pocket until it would completely stop. I think what was happening was the tube was leaking around where the tube slides over the racking cane, but the thought didnt occur to me until i was done siphoning. Anyways, I had to repeat siphoning quite a few times to get all my beer out of my primary, and at one point i lifted the tubing up too high and i got lengthly air bubble blow back into my primary, disturbing the yeast. When i was done racking into my secondary i noticed a little bit of foam at the top of the carboy from what i believe was from the oxygen being pulled in from the leak around the racking cane.

Anyways, what i am getting at here is i would like some peoples opinion on what i should do with my beer at this point. Should i discard the whole batch or leave it in the secondary and hope that the beer is not effected by my mistake? I appreciate any insight at this point

Don't throw it out. Mistakes, and learning from them are all part of doing it yourself. I'd let it sit in the secondary and see how it turns out. If anything it will taste like beer and if you have an off flavor at least you can explain it and improve next time.

You will probably be just fine. In future maybe get an auto siphon?

I was told once that most of the bubbles you see in your hose during a transfer is from CO2 being released from the beer. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Even if some air did get in it's still unlikely that it was enough to ruin the whole batch.

POURING it from the fermented into the secondary or bottling bucket the way my dad used to do will really skunk it though

Your beer is fine, but I doubt it's done fermenting... why did you rack it after only five days? You should let that sucker sit for at least 10 days at a minimum. Most of the time I primary ferment for 3-4 weeks with no secondary and can't tell the difference...

It's just CO2 coming out of solution, which eventually causes an air bubble large enough to break the siphon. Relax, stop fretting, eat a hot dog.

^^ What he said ^^

Way more concerned about racking to secondary so early than aeration.
But still, probably no worries there either.

veritas524 said:

You should let that sucker sit for at least 10 days at a minimum. Most of the time I primary ferment for 3-4 weeks with no secondary and can't tell the difference...

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Veritas speaks truth (ha!) Unless you're dry hopping/adding fruit of something racking to a secondary isn't necessary. Just ads the risk of oxidization or infection .

Alright, thanks everyone. After todays experience i am sold on getting an auto-siphon. I have done several batches before this one without any issues so my only concern with not having a auto-siphon was the increased risk of contamination. As for why i racked it to the secondary so early, i dont know. I have never used dried yeast before, my previous batches have all been liquid yeast and i have always just went by when the gravity reaches a certain point and when the airlock bubbles less then every 90 seconds. with this batch, i had absolutely no activity from the air lock, even after watching it for 5 minutes. I remember reading years back that to reduces off flavors caused by the yeast its best to get the beer of the yeast cake as early as possible, but after reading a few sources today, that theory is not widely believed.

I'm thinking that worse case, the added air might add fuel to the yeast to use because I'm not sure you are done fermenting...try repitching the yeast. This way it will finish and use up the oxygen. You should take a reading to see where it is at to see if it needs more time/ a new pitch.

raptorvan said:

I'm thinking that worse case, the added air might add fuel to the yeast to use because I'm not sure you are done fermenting...try repitching the yeast. This way it will finish and use up the oxygen. You should take a reading to see where it is at to see if it needs more time/ a new pitch.

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Yeah, i was worried that the fermentation prematurely stalled. My previous batches had 1-2" sedament/yeast at the bottom when i racked to my secondary after 2-3 weeks and were a thick slurry of colors of white/brown. This batch only had about 3/4" of white that almost looked like powdered laundry soap, i understand that given the short time frame that there is quite a bit of floating sediment that has yet to fall out. On another note, when i went to bed the other night the fermentation was extremely active, my 3 piece airlock was going crazy with 3-4 bubbles a second but when i woke up it was at a dead stop.

This batch is by far the highest gravity beer i have brewed (9 lbs of liquid extract + Belgian Candi). In the past, i have noticed that the more fermentables added the thicker the yeast cake, is this usually the case? I may be just thrown off by the short fermenting time of dried yeast compared to liquid. Regardless, I need to pick up a new hydrometer tomorrow and take a reading, might as well pick-up a pack of yeast while i am there (and an auto-siphon).

Auto siphons are over rated

All you have to do is pinch the hose where it connects to the siphon when you begin siphoning. This will eliminate the air pockets. Your beer is still good with the bubbles during siphoning, though.

BrewmanCrew said:

All you have to do is pinch the hose where it connects to the siphon when you begin siphoning. This will eliminate the air pockets. Your beer is still good with the bubbles during siphoning, though.

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pinch the hose where it connects to the racking cane?

before repitching a gravity reading should be taken. As no og or sg were mentioned primary could in fact be done. I have had to restart siphon many times with tons of airbubbles going into the beer with no ill affects. Beer is quite forgiving in alot of things. As far as pinching the hose. Perhaps they ment to say put a hose clamp on it. I have to do that with the one hose i have. It does not quite seal all the way w/o a clamp on it.

my OG was 1.084 but i had an accident in the kitchen with the kids resulting in a broken hydrometer so i dont have a current reading, going to the brewshop today to get a new hydrometer to take a current reading. the yeast attenution is 71%-75%, so if its done fermenting i should be in the 1.01x-1.02x range if i am calculating correctly.

RichardShivers said:

pinch the hose where it connects to the racking cane?

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Yes