Staggered bottling

[Stoutbrewingstouts]

Strange question, but I would appreciate the feedback. I am using a bottling bucket as a secondary for a "barrel aged" (ie. oak chips) stout. It's been sitting about a month--the recipe calls for two--and I am getting impatient. I also just got a UKeg 64 pressurized growler. My question is: can I drain 64 ounces into the growler and leave the rest in the secondary to continue conditioning? I won't need to take the lid off (so there shouldn't be any oxygen) and I'm not adding priming sugar so I think it should be ok, but I've never seen any thread on this one way or another.

Thanks for any help!

 

[z-bob]

what do you think is going to fill the empty space at the top?

 

[Stoutbrewingstouts]

Fair point. Maybe an empty vacuum? I take your point. Figured it was too easy.

 

[MaxStout]

Even though you won't be taking the lid off, something has to displace the liquid that's removed--air. This may cause some oxidation to the beer that will remain in the bucket for the rest of the conditioning.

Is that 64oz you want to take now worth the trade-off for having the rest become oxidized? Seems like a waste of good aged stout that you no doubt put some time and money into.

If it were me, I'd let it ride out the entire time untouched and drink some other beer in the meantime.

 

[TwistedGray]

Can oxygen sneak into beer if it's not disturbed?

 

[MaxStout]

Can oxygen sneak into beer if it's not disturbed?

If there is air above the surface, yes.

 

[LittleRiver]

There's already air in your fermenter (bottling bucket), and there is a blanket of heavier CO2 at the top of your beer. If you pull a gravity sample from the tap some more air will come in. People do this all the time. The world continues to turn, and the beer turns out fine.

Same if you pull enough to fill your new growler. Some more air will be pulled in, the world will continue to turn, your beer will turn out fine, and in a few days you'll get to enjoy some beer you force carbonated in your growler. Go for it.

 

[MaxStout]

There's already air in your fermenter (bottling bucket), and there is a blanket of heavier CO2 at the top of your beer..

Except that the OP is doing this in a secondary. Not much of a blanket of CO2 on that.

 

[Jtk78]

I have not made any oak additions to a beer....yet. I have researched it a fair amount.

That said, 3 months seems like a long contact time on chips from what I've seen. Have you taken any samples yet to see how the flavor is? I suspect it's time to bottle all of it, and will likely take a few more months to mellow and round out.