Oxidation: racking warm vs cold

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bigbeergeek

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Hi brewers! This year marked my 10th year of homebrewing and this forum was instrumental in those first years!

Couldn't find an answer via the googles, and I'm a better biology student than a chemistry student: is beer more prone to oxidation if racked warm or cold? Example: would it be better to cold crash a fermentor of beer before racking it to the keg or would racking warm beer to the keg be better from an oxygen absorption standpoint? Or is there no difference? Just something I pondered recently. Thanks for any insights!
 
Makes sense! Thanks for the link! I'll continue to cold crash before racking, then!
 
Unless you are cold crashing under co2 pressure, you are doing a LOT more oxidation than racking warm. Cold crashing sucks in oxygen, and cold beer will absorb a lot more gas than warm.
 
The above two posts represent the two sides of the argument in my mind.

Assuming an open transfer, which oxidizes the beer more? Warm beer is more reactive in an oxidative reaction, but cold crashing draws in some air and beer can absorb more gas at lower temperatures.

Which is best?
 
The ideal is to rack warm into a co2 purged vessel, then crash cool under co2 pressure. If you are racking into a co2 purged vessel and keeping o2 away from the beer when you rack, it does not matter if the beer is warm or cold.
 
The ideal is to rack warm into a co2 purged vessel, then crash cool under co2 pressure. If you are racking into a co2 purged vessel and keeping o2 away from the beer when you rack, it does not matter if the beer is warm or cold.
Right. But assume for a moment that I'm too lazy for purging, because I often am. The question is how to minimize oxidation while optimizing laziness.
 
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