Primary/Secondary - Pitching all microbes at once

[hlmbrwng]

I know that this has been discussed before: should i rack off of trub for a long-aging sour.

I am brewing today and have been thinking about the 5 gal versus 6 gal carboys. I was planning on using a 6 gallon carboy, but that was with the idea that I would rack after a month into a 5 gallon. I am pitching sacc, brett, lacto all at the same time. Because of this, I am worried about racking to another carboy and having a lot of oxygen exposure and risk having a highly acidic beer. I have read of those doing this, went primary fermentation isn't just sacc.

If I shouldn't move to another carboy, I'm thinking I should just use a 5 gal carboy and minimize headspace. But, if it is okay to move to secondary after a month or so, when the sacc has finished its thing, then I would first use a 6 gal, allowing some room for the fermentation process, then moving to 5 gal.

Should I only use 1 carboy? Or move to secondary and just try to minimize oxygen? I suppose something to consider is that I am using glass, and so the oxygen exposure will be minimal during the aging process. So maybe the exposure when racking to secondary isn't such a bad thing?

 

[specharka]

If you're using a glass carboy for primary fermentation the risk of oxygen exposure is negligible. The risk is introduced when individuals ferment in loosely fitted vessels and leave a tremendous amount of head space when they transfer beers to secondary. I've had sours that suffered from oxidation and they were completely undrinkable due to the overwhelming acetic character.

I think you would be safe using either method. The CO2 in solution will provide some protection if you do transfer it off the trub. Just keep the head space at a minimum.

 

[hlmbrwng]

If you're using a glass carboy for primary fermentation the risk of oxygen exposure is negligible. The risk is introduced when individuals ferment in loosely fitted vessels and leave a tremendous amount of head space when they transfer beers to secondary. I've had sours that suffered from oxidation and they were completely undrinkable due to the overwhelming acetic character.

I think you would be safe using either method. The CO2 in solution will provide some protection if you do transfer it off the trub. Just keep the head space at a minimum.

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably also shoot come co2 into the headspace after transferring, if I do.

 

[sweetcell]

transfer to the smaller carboy at the tail-end of primary fermentation, while there is still a little activity left. the sacch will be finishing up, the brett will be picking up - someone will scavenge that O2. fill that secondary all the way to the very top, well into the neck.

i'm of the same school of thought as @specharka - the bigger concern is long-term headspace O2.

some styles of sour are aged on the trub, others are not. the bugs will take care of any autolysis concerns, and in fact make new flavors out of the dying cells in the cake. i've never done a side-by-side so i can't say what the contribution is, but i've aged sours on yeast cakes and the beers turned out very tasty.

 

[hlmbrwng]

I started 3 sour beers in the past couple of months using different strains for both the clean and sour microbes. My hope is to be able to blend them, if necessary, at some point. Two of the sours I racked from primary to secondary after about 2 weeks. The third one is a larger batch, since I built up a 1 gal. started from a Quetsche Tilquin. So, it's closer to 6 gal.

It sounds like from the previous responses that it is not a big deal to keep in primary. I'm thinking that the trub is minimal and it should not be much of a problem. If I transfer to a 5 gal. carboy (which is all I have left at the moment), I will like lose .75 to 1 gal. of beer. I guess I could put the remainder in a 1 gal carboy and do some sort of experiment (maybe adding dregs from other bottles), but I'm going to play it safe.

I attached a photo to show the amount of trub (and lees) and the bottom of the carboy.