Impossible to oxidise the must/wort in the carboy right?

[Husher]

This question applies to all brewing (beer/wine/mead). I currently have 2 gallons of JOAM in a 5 gallon carboy. The oranges are floating around and I'm using a SLOW wine yeast this time (OK, not exactly JOAM). Half the oranges have sunk, and the mead will clear, then I'l tip the carboy a bit and swing the sediment and oranges around (sloshing a bit), and the yeast will cloud and ferment for another weak until a few more orange slices drop.

I'm assuming that I can't oxidise the solution since the carboy should be very full of carbon dioxide. Am I correct? If the thing is FULL of CO@, then a bit of tipping and sloshing won't hurt as long as I don't 'pour' out any CO2 and let oxygen in, right? right?

 

[Yooper]

This question applies to all brewing (beer/wine/mead). I currently have 2 gallons of JOAM in a 5 gallon carboy. The oranges are floating around and I'm using a SLOW wine yeast this time (OK, not exactly JOAM). Half the oranges have sunk, and the mead will clear, then I'l tip the carboy a bit and swing the sediment and oranges around (sloshing a bit), and the yeast will cloud and ferment for another weak until a few more orange slices drop.

I'm assuming that I can't oxidise the solution since the carboy should be very full of carbon dioxide. Am I correct? If the thing is FULL of CO@, then a bit of tipping and sloshing won't hurt as long as I don't 'pour' out any CO2 and let oxygen in, right? right?

No, it's possible and likely to oxidize any beer/wine/mead/cider in a 5 gallon carboy with a 2 gallon batch.

There is never 100% of any gas inside a carboy, although during very active fermentation there is a lot and it has a fairly protective effect. Once fermentation slows, though, the protective effect is lost and the headspace is detrimental.

 

[Husher]

Alright, here's a new twist. I didn't do this but I'm wondering if it would have worked. I bought a vacuum food saver for degassing. If I accidentally oxidized the wine, and I assumed that fermentation was complete before it occurred, could I have used the vacuum to extract all gasses including oxygen? Basically, undo the damage before if can affect anything?

What I did do was rack to 1 gallon bottles with no head space, though I know the oxygen is already there and the damage is occurring.

 

[Husher]

ok, I'm bumping this one since no one answered my last question

 

[unionrdr]

Well,if you sloshed it around even a little roughly,it could've introduced some o2 into the mix. If it starts smelling like damp cardboard in a musty basement,it's oxidized.

 

[Kahless]

If it has suffered some oxygen damage then the damage is done whether the oxygen stays in the mead or is removed. Only you will know whether it's noticeable, significant or nothing to worry about (although some unusual flavours may just indicate a young mead). In general, if fermentation is shown to be stalling early (a high and non reducing hydrometer reading) an appropriate first step is to stir with a degassing wand, glass dowel, or home-made degassing wand (part of a plastic coat-hanger - what I use).

This involves moving the wand in such a way as to stir the middle and some of the bottom but not mix oxygen into the top of the brew; some people attach them to cordless drills, however, for rousing the yeast and not degassing, you don't need to stir for quite as long so the drill might be overkill. You can also use the wand to poke fruit under the surface.

It is also recommended to not use an oversized carboy to avoid oxygenation, although oxygen in the very early stages is good, especially for a mead which needs to let off a lot of CO2, but this would then require transferring or racking on day 7-10 and certainly not long after.

On a positive note; your mead may be fine, if it was quite early, and there was lots of CO2 still dissolved in it; although Oxygen can still be dissolved by swirling it through the air, lots of CO2 might have been pushing it's way out. I have gently sloshed beer in the primary this way at one, two and even three weeks to no ill effect (although these were three different beers!), although never with such a large head-space, but beer is much more sensitive to oxygen damage.

 

[JimRausch]

Alright, here's a new twist. I didn't do this but I'm wondering if it would have worked. I bought a vacuum food saver for degassing. If I accidentally oxidized the wine, and I assumed that fermentation was complete before it occurred, could I have used the vacuum to extract all gasses including oxygen? Basically, undo the damage before if can affect anything?

What I did do was rack to 1 gallon bottles with no head space, though I know the oxygen is already there and the damage is occurring.

Let's see if I'm understanding your question:
You were thinking about somehow applying the food saver to the carboy to suck out any O2? Might work, but here's a couple of potential problems:
1. It couldn't get the gasses already dissolved in the fluid, which is the the O2 that would actually be causing any problem.
2. What would prevent it from sucking up fluid?
3. As soon as you remove the suction, new air would come rushing in.
I think you did the best you can by racking to the 1G bottles w/o headspace. But any potential damage, if any, was already done.
I wouldn't worry too much. As far as I know, there's no way to remove any off-flavor from oxidation, so RDWHAHB.

 

[JimRausch]

As a hopeful point, I do tend to give a swirl to my buckets toward the end of active fermentation in order keep the yeast in suspension for a little longer. I've seen it recommended as a technique plenty of times. But, I don't go crazy, and I sure don't have the 3 G headspace you did.
Good luck!