Racking everything (including yeast cake) to secondary

I'm wondering how dumb of an idea this is...

I have everything I need to brew today, except an empty primary. I just bottled something last night so I have a free 5 gal carboy. I have two 6.5 gal carboys that are both full and I don't think either one is done fermenting yet. One of them might be but even if I take a reading today I won't really know for sure.

So I was thinking I could rack the almost done beer to secondary and rack the yeast with it just to make sure it finishes out. Then I'd have a free primary.

Any reason to not do this? If it's ok to leave it in primary for a couple weeks I'm wondering why it would be a problem to just move it all to a different container. Risk of oxidation? Too much dead yeast back in suspension?

 

So yeah, you have the same concerns you always have when racking, oxidation and contamination. I personally wouldn't think you'd have any issues with re-suspending dead yeast, cuz they're just going to settle back out quickly anyways. But I also can't say for sure because I've never done it.

Personally, if I were in your situation and felt that I absolutely had to brew, I would brew a 4 gallon batch and throw that in the 5 gallon carboy.

 

I mean I don't have to brew. But I kinda do. What else am I gonna do?

I guess I could go pick up another 6.5 gal... LHBS is open until 5 today.

 

Just get another primary. I ONLY rack mead as part of its process (every few months). Almost all of my beer batches just stay in primary until going to bottles/kegs. The only time I'll rack a beer to another vessel is when it makes 100% sense to either get it off the yeast (for flavor additions) or when I need to stop one flavor addition before adding another. So a small/tiny percentage of my brews.

This is why I have five vessels to be used as primaries (all sanke kegs). Even going several weeks (for bigger brews) I have enough primaries to brew at least every other weekend.

I would also add that racking the yeast cake over is a very bad idea. If the batch needs more time, leave it the F alone. Get another primary if you want to brew before you empty one out (after the brew is ready). I would also say to NOT try and rush your batches.

 

You might be better off running out to your LHBS (if possible) and picking up another 6.5G carboy. I don't use secondaries but I would think you're just going to risk oxidizing your beer unnecessarily.

 

There is a chance that you could rack with no major ill effects, but if that batch did end up infected/oxidized/etc from racking then you've effectively sacrificed that batch for the new one. Considering the time, effort & cost that goes into each batch it would be a shame if it didn't turn out well. Risk vs reward, i suppose.

I'd pick up the extra carboy, you'll never regret having another fermenter.