Racking to same size carboy

Hi,
I am brewing a nut brown (first-time brewing). This morning (day 6), I racked the 5 gallon batch from my 6.5 gallon glass carboy to another 6.5 gallon glass carboy (using an auto-siphon, etc ...). I used the bigger carboy because I wanted to keep my 5 gallon carboy for a batch of amber that I am brewing this weekend (I would like to use a blow off-tube to get rid of krausen). Have I potentially ruined the beer from oxidation? Is there anything I can do about it? Thanks for your help.

As long as you sanitized and since you auto siphoned you should be just fine. Oxidation only occurs when you splash the fermenting wort. The extra headspace in the 6.5 gal secondary will not cause it to oxidize. RDWHAHB.

Sanitize the who now? Jes Kidding. I appreciate the confidence. I think the beginner FAQ has saved me from asking about 1000 questions until this one, but I should have anticipated the answer. Thanks again.

noisy123 said:

Hi,
I am brewing a nut brown (first-time brewing). This morning (day 6), I racked the 5 gallon batch from my 6.5 gallon glass carboy to another 6.5 gallon glass carboy (using an auto-siphon, etc ...). I used the bigger carboy because I wanted to keep my 5 gallon carboy for a batch of amber that I am brewing this weekend (I would like to use a blow off-tube to get rid of krausen). Have I potentially ruined the beer from oxidation? Is there anything I can do about it? Thanks for your help.

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Why would you use a blowoff tube to get rid of krausen? A nutbrown doesn't necessarily need to be put in a secondary, you could have left it in the primary for 3 weeks then bottled or kegged. I would only use the 6.5 carboy for fermenting, and the 5gal for clearing/secondary.

I am assuming that he didn't mean get rid of the Krausen but just to keep it from blowing off the airlock and making a mess.

Using the same size carboy doesn't present an issue. I wouldn't recommend using a 5 gallon carboy as a primary though. Use an Ale Pail or a 6.5 for primary, then rack to secondary of your choice.

I was also confused by the 'get rid of krausen' statement.

wildwest450 said:

Why would you use a blowoff tube to get rid of krausen? A nutbrown doesn't necessarily need to be put in a secondary, you could have left it in the primary for 3 weeks then bottled or kegged. I would only use the 6.5 carboy for fermenting, and the 5gal for clearing/secondary.

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Hi,
I was going to do an amber with the blow-off tube. However, because of the low O.G. of both the nut-brown and the amber, I suspect neither needs racking but, it is hinted in Papazian that racking can reduce ill-flavors associated with prolonged contact (> 14 days) with the trub.

Also in Papazian, is a suggestion that an undersized carboy (5 gallon for a 5 gallon batch of wort) be used as a primary with the blow-off tube. The reasoning is that the krausen is topped with scum and nasty resins which contain fusel oils and the undersized primary allows these to be intentionally blown-off. I guess you lose a little wort this way, but the removal of fusel oils sounds like a nice goal.

I am interested in hearing the feedback of the forum on Papazian's assertions.

The ill-flavors will not be present after 14 days on the trub. Most people will tell you it takes much longer for that to happen. Palmer says more then three weeks could possibly cause an issue but the jury is still out on that.

A tip : I used to rack from large carboy primary to another large carboy secondary, BUT I would flood the secondary fermenter carboy with CO2 before transferring.

At that same time, you could in theory use CO2 to push the beer from one carboy to the next (might be tricky), therefore avoiding any exposure to O2 / air.

Same was when we flooded the 20bbl fermenters and bright beer tank with nitrogen prior to transferring the wort/fermented beer (we had inline oxigenation for the wort and a carb stone for the beer). Might have been futile, but every little helps to avoid a spoiled brew for a small brewery on an even smaller budget.

Be careful not to go overboard though

Question : why not use the 1st 6.5 gal primary you just racked out of for the primary on your next brew?



Cheers,
Awfers

noisy123 said:

it is hinted in Papazian that racking can reduce ill-flavors associated with prolonged contact (> 14 days) with the trub.

Also in Papazian, is a suggestion that an undersized carboy (5 gallon for a 5 gallon batch of wort) be used as a primary with the blow-off tube.

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Im still an AG n00b, but in the 10 batches i've done, they have all sat for 3 weeks in the primary with no ill effects.

As far as the second thing about the smaller carboy it sounds like hogwash to me.

Ok, this may sound stupid, but how do you flood a carboy with CO2? I couldn't find any info on this.

Don't fear the krausen, it will drop and will not mess with the taste for months. I do all of my primary's in a 6 1/2 carboy or plastic bucket, and use my 5 gal's as secondary, or a 5 gal keg.

boater29 said:

Ok, this may sound stupid, but how do you flood a carboy with CO2? I couldn't find any info on this.

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5 pound CO2 tank?