Oxidation

[lanceearlhaines]

That'll be the over-excitement then?

Seriously though, how do you vigorously shake a 5 gallon primary without getting 6 of your friends to help?

Tilt it to a balance point and rock it 5 to 10 degrees you will feel the liquid slosh. go with the flow of the slosh and let the momentum and inertia keep the rocking going with minimal energy input. Practice with water. Its like pushing someone on a swing if you push or (rock) to soon or to late you'll cancel the periodic motion of the wave motion created. Go with the flow and the wave will be amplified. Don't go over board or it might get away from you. if you have glass place a folded towel underneath to prevent cracking or breakage. Seal the top to prevent overflow but vent every so often to maximize O2, remember air is only a little less than 20 percent oxygen. With this method aeration can be accomplished with minimal effort and even with one hand tied behind ones back. remember work smart not hard.

 

[NorJerseyHomebro]

How much is a helluva lot of O2? Because yesterday was my first bottling day, and I really mucked up starting my autosiphon and it let in what appeared to be two massive farts worth of air into the wart. I mean massive. All the O2 in the siphon, x2 because it did it again on my second pump. It's my first batch, and it has been my baby. I don't want my baby to be oxidized, and am slightly worried. Please console me.

 

[joydivision]

I'm bottling my first brew today. I didn't know the importance of areation and only rocked my fermented for a minute more or less. What should I expect? Can you rock it days later?

 

[SamLynchburg]

I wanted to post this here because I think oxidation is the issue. So batch #2 was (key word "was") a northern english brown ale and batch #3 was a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. Both were 2.5 gallon batches that ended up being closer to 2gal. The brown was in a 3 gal. carboy for primary and the SNPA was in a 5 gal. carboy for primary.

Both had great fermentation by appearance. I kept the light out and the temp good and steady. I decided no secondary for the brown so at two weeks out I wanted to take a gravity reading. I sanitized everything and drew some out. It tasted great and FG was good. Capped it back up and let it sit another week. When bottling day came I got everything out and ready. I opened it up and I could tell something was wrong by the smell. Tasted it. . . no real flavor just an alcohol presence. Knowing that it tasted right a week ago I figured it was ruined. Down the drain.

So feeling like I needed to do something (I gotta get better about that) I decided to rack the SNPA into the 3 gallon carboy as a secondary. I scrubbed and sanitized the 3 gal and made the transfer. Took a sample as well and it tasted great. Hop flavor and aroma very noticeable. After racking I realized there was a lot more headspace than I anticipated. I should have realized the simple math wouldn't work out. 2-2.5 gal in 3 gal carboy = too much headspace for secondary. I decided to just bottle it the next morning so I might be able to salvage something drinkable. Well when I opened it up after 12hrs. Same thing as the brown. I could tell it was off by the smell. Tasted it, no hop flavor or aroma, just alcohol-y presence. I've read the descriptions of all the off flavors but with no real experience tasting them I can't really describe what I'm tasting. I sanitize with iodine to the ppm that Palmer recommends. Could an infection set in over night or is oxidation the culprit? Pale ale down the drain too.

 

[JimRausch]

Oh Sam,Sam...
I think you pulled the dump switch too soon. Revvy started a thread a couple years ago about 'Never dumping your beer'. You should look for it and read through it.
Oxidation flavor wouldn't be apparent that soon, and I doubt infection would either. Unless you have floaters doing the backstroke, and sometimes even when you do, always carbonate and bottle(or keg) and let your beer sit for at least 3 weeks before deciding it's off. And then give it 6 months anyways before dumping. Precarbonated and conditioned beer always tastes different than it will when it's finally ready.

 

[SamLynchburg]

Jim thanks for the direction. I checked out Revvy's post. Now it seems so obvious I should have just waited. I'm still recovering from the idea that beer has to be made by professionals in laboratories with fancy and expensive equipment. I just assumed that I failed and I should just start over. I'm still wondering though, why would my pale ale taste so much different after transferring to a secondary? It really did taste good when I transferred and then really weird the next day after only 12hrs.

 

[JimRausch]

I don't know for sure, but here's my guess:
When you took the sample you drew off the top. Then you transferred it which of course mixes the beer pretty evenly. Would this make a difference? I don't know,but guess it could.