Headspace question??

[NeverSatisfied]

I plan to rack half of my 5 gal. batch over to a secondary to add fruit, leaving the other half in the primary bucket. Will the extra head space in the primary cause a problem if i let it sit for another week or so before bottling?

 

[ArcLight]

I plan to rack half of my 5 gal. batch over to a secondary to add fruit, leaving the other half in the primary bucket. Will the extra head space in the primary cause a problem if i let it sit for another week or so before bottling?

I would NOT do that. When you open the fermentor and remove half the liquid the empty space is replaced with air thats 21% Oxygen. If you have to do it that way, then flood the Carboy with CO2 before racking to it, and also flood the primary with CO2 after racking.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I really don't know if it was a smart thing to do, but I've added just a little bit of sugar in such situations to re-created a blanket of CO2. Maybe it's an ingenious solution, or maybe it's totally stupid.

 

[slym2none]

Sounds ingenious, to me.

 

[Sammy86]

I'm going to third the not a good idea thing...if we three of us say the same thing it must be true

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Would racking the 5 gallons into two seperate 3 gal. carboys be a better option? Is a half gal. of headspace too much in a secondary ferment? Or should I just scratch the idea of doing half with fruit and half without, and just do one secondary?