"A blanket of CO2"

[AnOldUR]

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Nice! The only thing I'd show different is the smaller size of the secondary and its conical shape at the top that allows it to be filled to the neck reducing surface area. In theory there shouldn't be any O2 in there, but it's better to be safe. If you cold crash before you keg you'll probably get some suck back.

Wonder if anyone has ever put a balloon on one of the stems of a carboy cap and forced CO2 into the other to blow it up. As the beer cooled from cold crashing it'd only suck in CO2.

I know! OCD at its best.

 

[makomachine]

Nice! The only thing I'd show different is the smaller size of the secondary and its conical shape at the top that allows it to be filled to the neck reducing surface area. In theory there shouldn't be any O2 in there, but it's better to be safe. If you cold crash before you keg you'll probably get some suck back.

Wonder if anyone has ever put a balloon on one of the stems of a carboy cap and forced CO2 into the other to blow it up. As the beer cooled from cold crashing it'd only suck in CO2.

I know! OCD at its best.

I'm not debating that oxidation happens. Remember I said that. Not picking on you but this is the perfect example of how we as home brewers will create a problem to fret about. If you had proposed a clean room filled with CO2 for your bottling and fermentation operation, someone would bring up the fact that your air hose on your Air Tank is oxygen permeable plastic so the beer is exposed to oxidation.

 

[muse435]

Nice! The only thing I'd show different is the smaller size of the secondary and its conical shape at the top that allows it to be filled to the neck reducing surface area. In theory there shouldn't be any O2 in there, but it's better to be safe. If you cold crash before you keg you'll probably get some suck back.

Wonder if anyone has ever put a balloon on one of the stems of a carboy cap and forced CO2 into the other to blow it up. As the beer cooled from cold crashing it'd only suck in CO2.

I know! OCD at its best.

I know the pic isn't great but i maid it quick in paint.

My plan to avoid suck back on my current batch is to attach a CO2 line (@ 2 psi) to a drilled stopper, cold crash for two days at 39 deg f, then transfer using the above design. Hopefully this will minimize any O2 that will come into contact with the batch.

One other advantage of a forced transfer will be that I wont have to reliy on gravity to siphon, I will be able to leave the primary in my keezer.

 

[rexbanner]

If 1/3 of all homebrews are oxidized, I think this might just be symptomatic of a larger problem...a lot of homebrewed beer might just really suck. I've only judged one competition and I am not certified but I was amazed...1/3 of the beers I had were literally undrinkable they were so horrendous, and all the rest had serious flaws ranging from slightly bad tasting to just plain weird. Sorry if I sound snobby, but why the hell would you enter your cascade hop bomb in an English mild comp? You're not going to pull a fast one on a judge and win.

I remember when I first got into brewing I talked to quite a few people who had stories of trying wretched beer made by friends, too.

 

[muse435]

Since none of my friends brew I have only ever tasted my own home brew. So what does oxidized beer taste like? I have only read that o2 is bad for the beer so I have tried to minimize the exposure. Everything I have said is based on my education. Does oxidized beer taste "undrinkable"?

 

[AnOldUR]

 

[Homercidal]

Since none of my friends brew I have only ever tasted my own home brew. So what does oxidized beer taste like? I have only read that o2 is bad for the beer so I have tried to minimize the exposure. Everything I have said is based on my education. Does oxidized beer taste "undrinkable"?

Possibly at a certain level. Usually it's just a stale, cardboard taste. Almost a feeling rather than a flavor. It may be easily detectable if someone were looking for it, but still not strong enough to keep someone from drinking the beer.

 

[LVBen]

Possibly at a certain level. Usually it's just a stale, cardboard taste. Almost a feeling rather than a flavor. It may be easily detectable if someone were looking for it, but still not strong enough to keep someone from drinking the beer.

Oxygen reacts with a very wide range of substances. Depending on what is in your beer, it can have very different flavors.

Hoppy beers (like APAs) get muted hop and malt flavors, and smell and taste like cardboard. They can also taste watered-down. I've had APAs that had oxidation. They were made with Simcoe, Cascade, and Centennial. They lost all of the citrus hop aromas and tasted very minty and piny. Many people could not tell that there was oxidation. They just thought I made a low-malt APA with spicy hops even though I used very citrusy American hops. I stopped bottling and switched to kegging, because I don't like losing my hop flavors and aroma.

Lightly hopped, low malt beers (American Lagers, cream ales) get very watered down and have a very pronounced cardboard flavor and aroma.

Very Malty beers (like barleywines) get muted hop flavors and sherry-like flavors. Not a problem for English barleywines since this still fits the style, but you really do lose the big hops flavors that are desired in American strong ales/barleywines.

Also, oxidation takes time to affect beers. The amount of time depends on how much oxygen got into your beer. A beer can taste awesome for a few weeks and then slowly start tasting worse and worse. Many people may not even notice the off flavors until it is very pronounced. Usually not a problem for many homebrewers, because we tend to drink the good beers way before they go bad.