I'm in the middle of my first beer(blonde ale). Had 5.5 gal in primary to allow for some lost at racking. When i racked into my pyrex carboy i forgot it holds 5gal and 2ltrs. Should i be worried about head space? Im hoping that the racking rejuvenated the fermentation and is driving the oxygen out. Its filled over the 5gal mark that i measured but there is still quite a bit of head space.
Pyrex Carboy Headspace
- Thread starter gannon
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Natethebrewer
Well-Known Member
Good call for a first beer, btw.
What were your gravity readings? both before and after. That will let you know about how far through fermentation you are.
It is possible you roused some yeast, especially if you siphoned some up.
If you started at 1.050, and when you racked are down below 1.020, you still have a ways to go to finish (at say 1.012) but should create enough co2 to prevent oxidation or infection, but as well you don't have to worry about the fermentation blowing out through the airlock.
What were your gravity readings? both before and after. That will let you know about how far through fermentation you are.
It is possible you roused some yeast, especially if you siphoned some up.
If you started at 1.050, and when you racked are down below 1.020, you still have a ways to go to finish (at say 1.012) but should create enough co2 to prevent oxidation or infection, but as well you don't have to worry about the fermentation blowing out through the airlock.
How much headspace exactly? I assume the Pyrex is your secondary based on your explanation, but I'd be surprised if you lost more then a quart from your original 5.5 while racking to secondary. Therefore, there really shouldn't be more then a quart of headspace right?
When I rack to secondary, A) I try very very hard not to get any O2 into the suspension, and B) I VERY carefully move it to a room temp (72ish) space unitl I get some bubbling in the airlock for 24 hours. At that point I assume the o2 has been pushed out of the headspace and replaced w/ c02, and then I carefully move it to the fridge for cold crashing. You generally don't want much headspace in a secondary, but I've done it with up to 2 quarts of headspace before, and being careful with it, it conditioned just fine without oxidation.
Of course, for many of my beers they're gone before subtle O2 effects can yield offtastes, but then again that's a perfectly acceptable way to combat oxidation too (drinking it!).
When I rack to secondary, A) I try very very hard not to get any O2 into the suspension, and B) I VERY carefully move it to a room temp (72ish) space unitl I get some bubbling in the airlock for 24 hours. At that point I assume the o2 has been pushed out of the headspace and replaced w/ c02, and then I carefully move it to the fridge for cold crashing. You generally don't want much headspace in a secondary, but I've done it with up to 2 quarts of headspace before, and being careful with it, it conditioned just fine without oxidation.
Of course, for many of my beers they're gone before subtle O2 effects can yield offtastes, but then again that's a perfectly acceptable way to combat oxidation too (drinking it!).
ChessRockwell
Well-Known Member
You should be fine, like you said the racking probably will have knocked enough co2 out of solution to form a new blanket of protection. How long was it in primary and how long are you planning to secondary?
og was 1.038. when i racked it was a 1.004. it was in primary for 7 days. i guessing by the spaceing i did have about 1quart of headspace. when i make wine i always top off. how long can i leave in the secondary? can i bulk age like wine but say for 4 weeks instead of months? there was some bubbling in the airlock and there is a fine lees inthe bottom of the secondary. when you cold crash are you bottling or kegging the final product?
Natethebrewer
Well-Known Member
with an og of 1.038 I'd leave it there for a week and bottle (or keg) it. should be drinkable and carbed up 2 weeks after that, maybe 1 week if you can't wait 
Natethebrewer
Well-Known Member
patience is important, I wouldn't let is sit around too long. Ales like this are pretty good pretty young.
