Does carboy size matter

[IPANY]

I just got my first kit for my birthday. It has a 6 gallon carboy. The problem is that my wife, who got me the kit, got me the refill kits for Mr.Beer. The Mr. Beer Kit only brews 2 gallons where the kit I have brews 5 gallons I belive.

The question: If I make 2 gallons of Wort and put it into my 6 gallon carboy for fermentation, will it matter that there is 4 gallons worth of free space?

I would like to know if I can go ahead and use the refills in my kit or if i need to get a smaller carboy.

 

[mrk305]

I have never used the Mr. Beer kits but.... why not use two at once and brew four gallons in the same amount of time?

 

[ChshreCat]

If you want to get adventurous, you could post which kits she got you and someone on there could probably tell you what to get at your LHBS to add to it and make a unique 5 gallon batch of beer.

 

[IPANY]

Well does anyone with experience know if i can brew 2 gallons of beer in a six gallon carboy without wasting the effort and ingredients?

 

[Chuck_Swillery]

Short answer is Yes, you can.

I suppose the main issue could be is you're increasing risk of taking on off flavors due to oxidation. Typically you want to minimize the headspace and fermentation will naturally produce CO2 which will replace the oxygen in that headspace. I think you'll be ok as long as you have a good seal on the airlock and oxygen isn't getting back in.

Jump in, give it a try.

PS: tact... ... ...

 

[iron_city_ap]

Well does anyone with experience know if i can brew 2 gallons of beer in a six gallon carboy without wasting the effort and ingredients?

Like Chuck said, you definately can. Be extra careful not to slosh it around. Having all that extra head space will make it alot easier to oxidize than sloshing around 5 gallons in the same carboy, not that you would want to do that either.

If it were me, I'd ask around on here and see what people can come up with for you to do to end up with a larger batch, but that's just me.

 

[tamoore]

As has often been theorized and propagated:

It'snot the size of your carboy: It's how you use it.....



You'll be fine, and make beer! Enjoy the experience!

 

[IPANY]

Thanks, well i happen to have 4 Mr. Beer refill kits. 2 happen to be the same variety so i will just make two at the same time and that should bring me up to 4 of 6 gallons of used space. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a deal breaker to brew 2gal in a 6 gal carboy. Sounds like it should be avoided because who wants a bad batch of beer. Who wants to fail on their first attempt?

 

[Bremyn]

You should be fine! I often brew 2.5 gallon batches in my 6 gallon carboy. The only issue you may have is oxidation if you rack into a secondary. The oxygen should get pushed out by the CO2 in primary, but if you rack to a secondary there may not be enough fermentation left to push it all out. When I brew 2.5 gallon batches I primary in a 6 gal, then rack into a 3 gal for secondary.

 

[bizzle]

+1 on the above, I do the same.

 

[stungry]

PS: tact... ... ...

HAHAHA! That was quite tactful.