Is this too much headspace?
- Thread starter Jchamb
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McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
It's more space than ideal, but if you purged it with some piped in CO2 and kept a solid bung on there, it should be alright. If you haven't purged it, you can do it now. One other option would be to introduce a small amount of priming sugar, let it ferment, and attach an airlock to allow venting. The amount of additional sediment should be insignificant.
In any case, avoid opening the carboy again until you are ready to transfer.
In any case, avoid opening the carboy again until you are ready to transfer.
What he says. ^
Keep in mind, secondaries are not needed in 99.99% of all brews. It's old verbiage in kit instructions that was never removed. To avoid potential oxidation and increased risk of infection, I would omit secondaries unless you're brewing something that actually benefits from using one. None of those are beginners or straight forward beers.
IOW, leave your beer in your primary until ready to package (bottle or keg).
Start racking/siphoning from the middle of your fermenter, about midway between the trub layer and the beer surface. Lower the cane as the beer level drops, keeping it above the trub at all times. Toward the end, tilt the fermenter to keep the well you're siphoning from deep, and stop the transfer when you start sucking up trub.
Use one of those inverter tippies on the bottom of your cane/siphon.
Keep in mind, secondaries are not needed in 99.99% of all brews. It's old verbiage in kit instructions that was never removed. To avoid potential oxidation and increased risk of infection, I would omit secondaries unless you're brewing something that actually benefits from using one. None of those are beginners or straight forward beers.
IOW, leave your beer in your primary until ready to package (bottle or keg).
Start racking/siphoning from the middle of your fermenter, about midway between the trub layer and the beer surface. Lower the cane as the beer level drops, keeping it above the trub at all times. Toward the end, tilt the fermenter to keep the well you're siphoning from deep, and stop the transfer when you start sucking up trub.
Use one of those inverter tippies on the bottom of your cane/siphon.
So that is too much eh? I've only done 2 batches of beer and I'd say both times I had about that level in my carboy... first was a Lime Cream Ale and I was very happy with how it turned out. Although my second SMASH batch became oxygenated I'm sure... really didn't turn out like i expected... Not sure if it was from the headspace or an issue in my bottling process.
McKnuckle
Well-Known Member
Headspace is only benign when the beer has been fermenting in the same sealed vessel, thus filling said headspace with CO2. Once you transfer the beer, any headspace in the new vessel will be filled with oxygen... unless you actively purge it with CO2.
Is it terrible to have that amount of headspace? Can you not brew a tasty beer that way? Well, of course that's not the case. But it's not what would be considered a best practice, either. You can get away with a lot in brewing, but it's still worth knowing the potential ramifications of your choices.
Is it terrible to have that amount of headspace? Can you not brew a tasty beer that way? Well, of course that's not the case. But it's not what would be considered a best practice, either. You can get away with a lot in brewing, but it's still worth knowing the potential ramifications of your choices.
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