Too much air in secondary

[Will b]

I just racked to secondary and could not fill the carboy totally. There is a pretty good amount of empty space. I am concerned about oxidation but don't want to top off with water either. Any ideas?

 

[mr x]

Have you got access to any co2? I purge the headspace in my carboys.

 

[Will b]

How would I go about that?

 

[strangecarr]

I just racked to secondary and could not fill the carboy totally. There is a pretty good amount of empty space. I am concerned about oxidation but don't want to top off with water either. Any ideas?

I had the same problem in a 1 gallon demi-john (I did a two gallon batch). I was dry hopping. The beer tasted great, no problems with oxidation.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you don't have CO2, you're likely still OK because there will be a bit of CO2 coming out of solution during the racking process. If there's any question, you can always throw a teaspoon of corn sugar in which will promptly be converted to CO2 for you.

 

[Will b]

Corn sugar idea sounds good, maybe I'm just over thinking this.

 

[mr x]

I was thinking you might have a bicycle tire inflator that takes C02, or know somebody who has one. I don't think it would be too hard to rig it up to purge out the air. But the given advice above is probably better.

 

[Jester369]

I second Bobby_M's comment that you don't really need it. Enough CO2 will come out after racking to reblanket the beer.

 

[malkore]

plus, you need some surface agitation to really facilitate gas exchange, which would lead to aeration and then oxidation.

so as long as you move it gently, the headspace shouldn't matter all that much, plus the fact that bobby is right and it'll still burp some CO2 to act as a barrier from normal air.