Leftover beer from primary

[brewbies]

I just transferred five gallons of oatmeal stout from primary to secondary over 30 oz of coffee. This displaced about 30 oz of beer that will not fit in to the secondary and honestly I'm having some trouble just tossing it down the drain. Any suggestions what to do with this? I thought about leaving in a covered nalgene bottle for a week or so and then bottling it, or maybe even just drinking it flat. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[jmo88]

I'd drink it. You drink your hydro samples right? Same thing, only a lot more.

 

[Hopmunky]

Just bottle it without a secondary.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Drink it flat! It's only 30oz! Either that or put it in that nalgene bottle and add some yeast and a wee bit of sugar water and carb that sucker. lol

It's a stout. Drinking it flat wouldn't be to far off the ol' times anyway.

 

[SumnerH]

Just bottle it without a secondary.

+1 on this.

2 12-oz bottles, and drink the other 6oz.

Or a couple grolsch bottles full.

 

[brewbies]

I decided to just drink it rather than cutting open the one bag of dextrose I have. Pretty tasty even this early, I can't wait to see how the coffee fuses with it. Thanks all for the suggestions.

 

[oms1981]

not really related to what you should do with the extra beer, but that is precisely why I started using a 6.5gal for my secondaries. It's worth it to not lose any volume if you are making additions

 

[SumnerH]

I decided to just drink it rather than cutting open the one bag of dextrose I have. Pretty tasty even this early, I can't wait to see how the coffee fuses with it. Thanks all for the suggestions.

For future reference, regular cane sugar works just as well for priming.

 

[Grinder12000]

You drink your hydro samples???? wow - someone is desperate for alcohol LOL

 

[Homercidal]

For future reference, regular cane sugar works just as well for priming.

+1 You can get away with table sugar for priming if you want. There isn't enough volume of sugar to create off-flavors.

 

[jmo88]

You drink your hydro samples???? wow - someone is desperate for alcohol LOL

Ha. Not desperate. But it's a great way to understand the evolution of your brews.

 

[jmo88]

not really related to what you should do with the extra beer, but that is precisely why I started using a 6.5gal for my secondaries. It's worth it to not lose any volume if you are making additions

I was told by fellow homebrewers not to use 6.5 gls for secondaries because the extra head space may cause oxidation.

 

[Hopmunky]

I was told by fellow homebrewers not to use 6.5 gls for secondaries because the extra head space may cause oxidation.

That is the main reason people don't. I personally would rather have to drink a few ounces of leftover than risk the whole batch.

 

[IrregularPulse]

You drink your hydro samples???? wow - someone is desperate for alcohol LOL

Ha. Not desperate. But it's a great way to understand the evolution of your brews.

Exactly.
Most people on the forum drink them. It's a good way to understand how the beer evolves. Some batches I'll drink the entire sample, other I'll have just 3-4 small swallows then dump.

 

[jds]

I routinely taste everything in the whole process. I chew up some of my grains. I taste yeast starters. I taste the wort before the boil. I taste the wort after the boil, I taste hydrometer samples, I taste spent grain, and I've even been know to chew on hop leaves after the boil. Learning how the beer tastes throughout the entire process helps one learn what's really going on with any particular beer or mead. Some of those tastes are more pleasant than others (kegging hydro sample vs. oxidized unhopped yeast starter), but they all have their uses.

OP, 2 liter bottles make a great storage spot for extra beer that won't fit in your secondary or keg. Since I keg, I just put the extra beer into the bottle, put a carbonator cap on it, and carb it up in the fridge, but you could just as easily prime with a bit of table sugar.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

If the beer is fermenting and co2 is escaping how are you going to get oxidation?

 

[jmo88]

If the beer is fermenting and co2 is escaping how are you going to get oxidation?

My beers are pretty much finished fermenting before they go in the secondary. No co2 is bring produced = possible oxidation.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Well the beer is full of co2. and the act of transferring will release enough.

 

[Gosassin]

Well the beer is full of co2. and the act of transferring will release enough.

I agree; I think the act of transferring will release CO2 out of suspension; since CO2 is heavier than oxygen, it will sit on top of the beer and protect it from oxidation just fine. My .02