Ninkasi70
Member
I'm trying to get my brain wrapped around the hazards of too much headspace during time in secondary. I did a search and have been reading a lot of the old threads.
Q1: What's the problem with headspace?
It seems like the reason to avoid excess headspace is to avoid oxidation.
Is this simply the risk of ending up with cider/wine that has a "slice of cut apple that turned brown" flavor? Or is there something beyond that?
Q2: Why does adding more juice not cause a problem?
For the solutions. It seems like one answer is topping off with fresh juice. Doesn't this restart fermentation, and how does it not destroy your target sugar levels?
Q3: Would Nitrogen work as well as CO2?
The second solution is to lay down a layer of CO2. I found the picture of the gadget CvilleKevin uses to sink CO2 into his carboys. I don't have one of those, but I do have one of those whipped cream makers that takes the same kind of cartridges.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is inert, so why wouldn't I use the nitrogen?
I'm curious because I only have buckets at this point, so any thing that sits in secondary is going to have a bit of headspace until I decide what I'm going to do about carboys.
Thanks for any ideas you might have about this topic.
Q1: What's the problem with headspace?
It seems like the reason to avoid excess headspace is to avoid oxidation.
Is this simply the risk of ending up with cider/wine that has a "slice of cut apple that turned brown" flavor? Or is there something beyond that?
Q2: Why does adding more juice not cause a problem?
For the solutions. It seems like one answer is topping off with fresh juice. Doesn't this restart fermentation, and how does it not destroy your target sugar levels?
Q3: Would Nitrogen work as well as CO2?
The second solution is to lay down a layer of CO2. I found the picture of the gadget CvilleKevin uses to sink CO2 into his carboys. I don't have one of those, but I do have one of those whipped cream makers that takes the same kind of cartridges.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is inert, so why wouldn't I use the nitrogen?
I'm curious because I only have buckets at this point, so any thing that sits in secondary is going to have a bit of headspace until I decide what I'm going to do about carboys.
Thanks for any ideas you might have about this topic.