Carboy yo Keg - Concern with Last Transfer - Question

[Jiffster]

I normally use the spigot in my carboy to connect to the outlet on a corny keg via QD. I open the relief valve and let the beer transfer gently down the outlet tube.

My last transfer stopped before finishing because I didn't keep an eye on it.

I tried to start the siphon action again to transfer the remaining gallon of so but I couldn't get it going.

So I opened the corny lid, took the hose directly from the spigot on the carboy and let it drain into the top.

Do you think I may have introduced oxygen and ruined this beer?

I'm looking for a more robust, easier, fails safe method to transfer from carboy to keg.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[kh54s10]

If the tube was submerged in the keg you probably did not introduce too much oxygen. If it was dropping from the lip of the keg to the level of the beer below, it is probably oxygenated. If so, force carb and drink it quickly.

I use an Autosiphon and a long length of tubing to reach the bottom of the keg.

 

[Jiffster]

It dropped some... a distance of maybe 4" ....?

I'm force carbing it now. It's for a party in June 18th.

 

[55x11]

I normally use the spigot in my carboy to connect to the outlet on a corny keg via QD. I open the relief valve and let the beer transfer gently down the outlet tube.

My last transfer stopped before finishing because I didn't keep an eye on it.

I tried to start the siphon action again to transfer the remaining gallon of so but I couldn't get it going.

So I opened the corny lid, took the hose directly from the spigot on the carboy and let it drain into the top.

Do you think I may have introduced oxygen and ruined this beer?

I'm looking for a more robust, easier, fails safe method to transfer from carboy to keg.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

No you did not *ruin* the beer, but there are ways to reduce oxygen amount in a keg, beyond what you probably have there now.

Generally, as your #1 goal - you just want to avoid splashing, as that mixes oxygen into the beer and over time will cause oxidation.
So if your other side of the tube was inside the beer and transfer wasn't too turbulent (smooth flow), you are fine!

At the next level, you may want to do the following - fill keg to the top with starsan (you need to do this anyways), push all of it out with CO2.
Fill the keg with beer through the out port using QD (through dip-tube, so it fills from the bottom - no splashing) while leaving the "in" port open so CO2 can escape or if you use ball lock style lid, use pressure relief ring in open position (or else flushing repeatedly). You can do this using spigot on your plastic carboy or auto-siphon - I like stainless steel siphon that you blow into through a filter (or use low CO2 flow) - no moving parts, and does not disturb the trub. I always stay and monitor transfer, as you want to lower the siphon towards the trub a bit, and I also start with a carboy tilted a bit (shove some towels under one side) to get more beer out. But I like to still leave a quart or so of clean beer in the carboy.

Some people insist on flushing the headspace of carboy with CO2 prior to transfer and pushing the beer out using CO2 but I think it's overkill. If there is little splashing, you are minimizing contact with air over fairly small surface for a period of just a few minutes.

Oxidation takes long time anyways, so if you still have some residual air in the headspace of the keg, flush it a few times with CO2. Each flush with say 14psi (atmospheric pressure) will reduce amount of residual oxygen by a factor of 2. So if you flush 10 times, you reduce it by a factor of 1,000.

 

[IslandLizard]

If the tube was submerged in the keg you probably did not introduce too much oxygen. If it was dropping from the lip of the keg to the level of the beer below, it is probably oxygenated. If so, force carb and drink it quickly.

I use an Autosiphon and a long length of tubing to reach the bottom of the keg.

^ right!

Do you do a 100% Starsan pre-purge of the kegs before transferring through the out-QD? If not, you should do so.

 

[Jiffster]

The tube wasn't submerged but it didn't splash much. More of a trickle that fell a few inches. Is that bad?

I sanitized the kegs with Starsan through the out tube via CO2, splashed it around and let it sit under pressure until ready to use.