Moving Wort Pre-pitching?

[tjsullivan1]

I attempted to do a search for this, but all I could find were topics on transferring wort from a boil kettle to a fermenter. What I am wondering is, can I brew in one place, transfer from kettle to carboy, cap the carboy with an undrilled stopper, and then move it ~20 miles?

The reason I ask is that I live in a cold climate during winter (Minnesota), and I don't have a garage. My brewing partner does, but she doesn't have a basement sufficient for keeping the wort at a stable temperature (I do). Will this harm my wort if I brew in her garage, move to my house, and pitch once in my basement?

 

[Kaz]

Keep it sanitary and sealed up good and you'll have no problems.

 

[zeekage]

I've done the exact thing both with a carboy full and a bucket full once. The time it was the bucket, i didn't even have the lid with me . Granted I was only driving 3 or 4 miles, but still. Keep it as clean as possible and RDWHAHB.

 

[tjsullivan1]

Thanks for the answers! Can I assume the same then for moving it post fermentation? That is, keep it clean and sanitary and just be careful and all will be well?

 

[zeekage]

I don't see a problem moving it post fermentation either. You'll probably want to let it settle after though since you'll kick up all the trub.

 

[Kaz]

Post fermentation, I would be concerned with some sloshing introducing oxygen and the settling factor.

 

[LarsonLE]

post fermentation, i would be concerned with some sloshing introducing oxygen and the settling factor.

+1.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

+1.

-1. If it's in the secondary, all that is in the head of the carboy is CO2 that's been released by the beer. Even in the primary, it's all CO2.

M_C

 

[LarsonLE]

-1. If it's in the secondary, all that is in the head of the carboy is CO2 that's been released by the beer. Even in the primary, it's all CO2.

M_C

So beer sloshing around won't produce O2? Hard to believe. Even if you shake up a bottle of soda which is full of CO2, your still going to introduce oxygen, at least that's what I thought.

 

[zeekage]

How would beer "produce" O2 by sloshing? Where would the O2 come from, assuming he kept the fermenter closed? Seems to me you'd introduce more O2 racking to kegs or bottles than simply moving a closed fermenter around. Since during racking/bottling you're actually exposing the beer to open air which does contain O2. From what I've gathered, it's a pretty safe assumption that the headpsace has been displaced almost entirely by CO2 as long as the beer has been in the fermenter for a few days at least.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

So beer sloshing around won't produce O2? Hard to believe. Even if you shake up a bottle of soda which is full of CO2, your still going to introduce oxygen, at least that's what I thought.

You can't produce O2 in beer, unless you introduce it from a source (open air, O2 line in the beer, etc).

If your beer is reasonably young when going into the secondary, it will vent out some CO2 and push the O2 out along with it.

Now if you racked to secondary very late, that would be a different story as the beer would have already vented most of its CO2 out.

M_C

 

[LarsonLE]

You can't produce O2 in beer, unless you introduce it from a source (open air, O2 line in the beer, etc).

If your beer is reasonably young when going into the secondary, it will vent out some CO2 and push the O2 out along with it.

Now if you racked to secondary very late, that would be a different story as the beer would have already vented most of its CO2 out.

M_C

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[samc]

If you could produce Oxygen by shaking beer they would supply miners with beer in case of a cave in. That would be a great invention for sure.

I'd be concerned with transporting a carboy with an undrilled stopper however because I'm thinking all that sloshing around is going to cause the stopper to come flying out and having a load of wort all over the car. Might want to figure a way to secure the stopper!