secondary after in primary for 2 weeks

[CrixusOfCapua]

Greetings! I am making Northern Brewers Dragons silk, found here: https://www.northernbrewer.com/dragons-silk-imperial-stout-extract-kit

I am doing a 2.5 gallon batch of it and have a quick question. My 2.5 gallon batch has been in the 5 gallon primary for 2 weeks. Oups! I was supposed to transfer to my 3 gallon secondary after 4-7 days and add my bourbon and oak cubes that have been soaking for a few weeks. At that point the yeast was still rumbling hard. Is it still safe to transfer to secondary? Id like to not add bourbon and oak cubes to primary since the there is a lot of head space. If I transfer to secondary, should I add more yeast? I was told to get those little glass vase fillers to shrink the room in the secondary to create as little head space as possible. Thoughts?

 

[jekeane]

you can and probably should secondary with that much head space. I would rack and not fuss with beads. You can add a small amount of sugar when racking and that will produce a bit of co2 to blanket you beer in secondary.

 

[CrixusOfCapua]

Will that change the taste of the beer? How long should I leave in the secondary?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Will not change the flavor. Will only help prevent oxygenation.

 

[CrixusOfCapua]

How much sugar should I add? Tablespoon?

 

[jekeane]

Will that change the taste of the beer? How long should I leave in the secondary?

Kind of depends on how much bourbon flavor you want. I personally don't like much bourbon so I would just add the oak and save the bourbon. I would sample 4-5 days after racking and see if it is to your liking. If its where you want it I would move on to bottling. You can also add back some of your reserved bourbon if you want more flavor.

A small amount of sugar won't change your beer I'm talking about ..25-.5 oz or so just enough to produce some c02

 

[CrixusOfCapua]

Should I boil the sugar first or just add the sugar to secondary.

 

[Nebraskan]

I offer another alternative. If you have, or know someone that has, a "Soda Stream" carbonator for making carbonated (sparkling) water, just use a nice good blast of that CO2 into the secondary before adding. Allow the CO2 to settle a the bottom and rack from bottom to top, and don't worry about sugar or another fermentation. You don't even have to completely fill the secondary either, just have enough CO2 that it will overfill the top as the liquid rises. OR find a grocery store that has dry ice and add a small bit of that to the secondary, wait until it is evaporated and there will be CO2 in the secondary. Either way, it is a nice alternative to keeping oxygen away from wine or beer.