Oxidation Concerns

[Normans54]

Hey everyone,

I am in the process of brewing a Golden Strong Ale and after I rack to secondary in a 5gal carboy, I was planning on lagering it. My concern is that my lagering freezer is downstairs while my fermentation chamber is upstairs in my house. As a result, I am somewhat concerned about moving it because doing so will necessarily cause some splashing, thereby increasing the chances of oxidation. As a result, I was wondering if these concerns are merited or if the limited headspace in the carboy would prevent any oxidation during the move. If the concern is merited, is there anything I could do to reduce the risk of oxidation (e.g., flushing the carboy with CO2 before racking) or is it unavoidable? Thanks so much!

 

[BrewerBrad82]

If you have not opened the fermentor since fermentation has subsided, all the air space in there will be CO2 from the active fermentation. No worries to move it. If you are really concerned about it, remove the stopper and purge with CO2 and put the stopper/airlock back it.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Oops, I misread your original post....

Since you have already racked it, just purge with CO2 before you move it.

 

[iijakii]

You mention CO2, so I assume you keg -- transfer to the keg and lager in it. Easy.

 

[philosofool]

Hey everyone,

I am in the process of brewing a Golden Strong Ale and after I rack to secondary in a 5gal carboy, I was planning on lagering it. My concern is that my lagering freezer is downstairs while my fermentation chamber is upstairs in my house. As a result, I am somewhat concerned about moving it because doing so will necessarily cause some splashing, thereby increasing the chances of oxidation. As a result, I was wondering if these concerns are merited or if the limited headspace in the carboy would prevent any oxidation during the move. If the concern is merited, is there anything I could do to reduce the risk of oxidation (e.g., flushing the carboy with CO2 before racking) or is it unavoidable? Thanks so much!

If it isn't too late, move the primary and rack in your storage room rather than racking first and moving the secondary. If you have already racked, let the CO2 that's coming out of solution after racking finish to reduce as much air in the carboy as possibile, be as gentle as you can while moving the secondary and you will probably not experience problems.

If you feel like being crazy, you can add an ounce of priming sugar to the secondary and wait two weeks for the yeast to eat that, pushing out the air in the process, and then move it.