secondary fermentation with a large carboy

[demerson87]

I am brewing a peach beer and need to move my beer from primary to secondary and introduce peaches. Both my carboys are that ~6 gallon ones. Am I going to have an issue using a carboy of this size in secondary? I know people say there's an added risk because of oxygen but is it significant?

Thanks guys!

 

[airdog_47]

If thats what ya got then thats what ya got. I know some wine makers take glass marbles sanitized then add to the carboy to bring the volume up and reduce headspace.

 

[shutupjojo]

Depending on how much peach you will use and that you hopefully ended up with 5 gallons or more of beer, your level should be fine.
6 gallon carboy is what you need. If for some reason your level is low, purge it with co2 before you fill it. It will fill the head space with co2 as it ferments the peaches.

 

[stevedis]

I've only ever used a 6 gallon as a secondary, and never had any issues in the finished product. When I do use a secondary I notice that it seems to "wake up" the yeast and the air lock starts bubbling again, so it's producing enough CO2 to fill the headspace easily. Also knocks a few points off the FG.

 

[demerson87]

Awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks