Secondary carboy space/how long is safe?

[Stimmers]

So I just racked to secondary, wasting almost nothing in the process, but it left a load of space in my 5gal secondary carboy. Below is a pic after transfer:

Does this look right? It was around 5.25gal in primary, could some evaporation have occurred? It's spent three weeks in primary and the latest gravity reading is close to the recommended FG.

Is that empty space going to cause me problems? Should I get it out of there asap? Can I keep it in there for a few days to take gravity readings?

 

[joelsbrew]

i asked the same thing and it turns out tha when you rack you beer over it kinda wakes some of the yeast up and makes a blanket of c02 wich will protect your beer,wont hurt anything as long as its not in there over a month or so

 

[certaut]

what are you brewing ? how long did you ferment? what yeast?
On a lighter note;
it appears that you still have yeast swimming around so the co2 pushes the air out
you should be ok

 

[Stimmers]

It's a Two Hearted clone. It's been in the primary for three weeks now. Nottingham yeast, no starter. I heard oxidation can occur with too much head space. Every other pic I've seen of secondarys had waaaay less space up top.

 

[Huff360]

As long as you still have a bit of fermentation going to create some CO2 up there, you should be fine. If not, you could gently shake it to release some of the CO2 that is in solution. That may help clear out the headspace.

In the future, if you run into this problem again, you can sanitize some plain ole glass marbles and put them in the secondary to fill up the empty space.

 

[Stimmers]

Thanks for the advice! I just gave it a little rock back and forth which brought a little bit of life back. I'll check it again in the morning to make sure it's ok.

 

[Stimmers]

I just checked and all signs of life have disappeared. There's a good 4-5" between the liquid surface and the neck of the carboy, and there's no airlock activity. It still looks very opaque to me, almost like milky tea, but it still smells fine. Going to take another gravity reading at lunch.

I don't have access to any marbles so I'm not entirely sure what the best course of action is. Add filtered water? Is it safe to shake it gently again?

 

[PVH]

RDWHAHB. Fermentation was still going after you transfered, and is still going on. If you take a gravity reading, you'll let in the air you're so worried about. I would just let it sit for a couple weeks.

 

[Stimmers]

RDWHAHB.

It's funny how much effect that acronym has on your sanity. Thanks

 

[bwomp313]

I just checked and all signs of life have disappeared. There's a good 4-5" between the liquid surface and the neck of the carboy, and there's no airlock activity. It still looks very opaque to me, almost like milky tea, but it still smells fine. Going to take another gravity reading at lunch.

I don't have access to any marbles so I'm not entirely sure what the best course of action is. Add filtered water? Is it safe to shake it gently again?

Definitely don't add extra water. If you hit your gravity about where you wanted it then you would be diluting it and making your beer weaker.

 

[Stimmers]

I have another n00by question, sorry.

How transparent/opaque should the beer be after a week-and-a-half in secondary? I know this still has at least three weeks in the bottle, but I thought it would've cleared a little in the carboy by now. Pic below, you can't even see my fingers through the flask.

My latest gravity reading is a 1.011, from a 1.078. If that's right and I haven't screwed this up, that's surely a strong little brew, no?

 

[earwig]

It is strong and looks good to me. Once you bottle it and it sits in the refrigerator it will clear up a bit more as any residual yeast/trub will fall to the bottom.

 

[JNye]

read up on gelatin and cold crashing, this combo works ridiculously well.

 

[Huff360]

I would expect it to be a little bit clearer after 4.5 weeks, but that may be all it is going to do on it's own.

If you have a way to, I'd throw your sample tube in the fridge for a day and see if it clears up any. That would tell you if cold crashing would do any good. If you can't get the carboy in a fridge somehow though, there's no real point in testing that.

Here's the important question - How'd it taste?