Ok, so this is my second attempt at brewing beer. First time was about 10 years ago and the internet was not as up and going as it is now. And I made a huge mistake and had to dump my beer. Now I have read a bit and this is my second go at it. But here is where my problem lies.
So I have read a lot about pros and cons of secondary fermenting but I decided I would give it a go since time wasn't really a factor for me and I am pretty patient at this. I have a friend who has a keg shell and I was planning on using that as a secondary fermenter since it was stainless steel and could be plenty dark.
I had my beer in primary for about 3 weeks, longer than I wanted but things came up. Then I removed the stem from the keg shell, oxycleaned it over night then racked the beer from primary to my new secondary vessel. I put aluminum foil over the top and rubber banded the foil to seal it up. I have ran across a couple threads today, that said its a huge mistake using a secondary fermenter with a huge head space. Did I just make a big mistake, is it salvageable to just bottle tonight after 5 days of secondary?
Also, I have been very careful sanitizing everything, however, didn't sanitize keg shell just oxycleaned overnight. I know I am an idiot just realized that today. How do I know if beer is contaminated?
Any thoughts for this newbie would be great.
Thanks in advance.
So I have read a lot about pros and cons of secondary fermenting but I decided I would give it a go since time wasn't really a factor for me and I am pretty patient at this. I have a friend who has a keg shell and I was planning on using that as a secondary fermenter since it was stainless steel and could be plenty dark.
I had my beer in primary for about 3 weeks, longer than I wanted but things came up. Then I removed the stem from the keg shell, oxycleaned it over night then racked the beer from primary to my new secondary vessel. I put aluminum foil over the top and rubber banded the foil to seal it up. I have ran across a couple threads today, that said its a huge mistake using a secondary fermenter with a huge head space. Did I just make a big mistake, is it salvageable to just bottle tonight after 5 days of secondary?
Also, I have been very careful sanitizing everything, however, didn't sanitize keg shell just oxycleaned overnight. I know I am an idiot just realized that today. How do I know if beer is contaminated?
Any thoughts for this newbie would be great.
Thanks in advance.