Too much head space? Big trouble?

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I typically wouldn't worry about it with most beers, but since it's a barleywine and will be in the secondary for quite some time, it may be an issue. With that said, I still probably wouldn't worry about it.
 
awesome, another new issue I didn't know about... someone enlighten me, why does this matter?
 
You need to realize theres only so much surface area that the oxygen can touch.

In a bit (basically when you see airlock activity) there's minimal O2 in there anymore.
 
awesome, another new issue I didn't know about... someone enlighten me, why does this matter?

If you fill your carboy up to the neck, then you are minimizing the volume of air and the surface area of the beer that is exposed to it. This will minimize any oxidation of your beer. Not much of a concern in primary as the fermentation process pretty much forces out all of the oxygen. Likewise, in the secondary, not much of a concern because of the typical timelines involved. But when you're aging the beer in the carboy for an extended period of time, such as eon's barleywine, oxidation becomes a concern.
 
I know you said not to worry but if it will help I can buy a smaller carboy and transfer it. If it was any other beer I would just forget about it and wait. This beer is going to age for 6 months, so that's why I am concerned. What do you think, Buy another carboy or let it be for 6 months? Thanks!

*EDIT* just some more info. It was in primary for 4 weeks. Now I want to age it for 6 months. Bottle it, age for 6 more months. Drink!
 
Maybe age it in bottles for 10 months instead ? Unless you are oaking, adding fruit or inocculating with something else, a few weeks in the secondary might be enough bulk age and would minimize the risk of further oxidation due to head space.
 
Well, unless anyone else has more suggestions I think I'll go with jfr1111's suggestion. I'll keep in this secondary for 2-3 weeks and then bottle for 10 months or however long.

Thanks everyone!
 
Again, I'm not an expert on barleywines. Maybe pick up a bit more yeast than normal when bottling to make sure you have enough to do the clean up duties during the aging phase in bottles and the carbing. Or give the bottles a gentle swirl once in a while to get the yeast back in suspension doing their job. One of the cons of bottle aging is that you can't be sure everything conditions in the same, uniform way. That and you might be tempted to crack one open when it isn't done to check carbonation or other such nonsense.
 
Hmmm..You are right. Maybe it would be easier if I just bought a new carboy. I can get a three gallon one shipped to my house in like 5 days. Do a transfer and then forget about it. That way I don't have to worry about the issues you just talked about. Although, there is oxidation risk in moving it again to a smaller carboy, I think this would be the best way to go.
 
I've heard of people putting a tiny bit of sugar in the beer when they transfer from primary to a long secondary so that the renewed fermentation will recreate a good CO2 blanket. Probably not necessary if you get a 3 gallon carboy though. The beer will gas off on its own due to the transfer knocking CO2 out of solution.
 
I've heard of people putting a tiny bit of sugar in the beer when they transfer from primary to a long secondary so that the renewed fermentation will recreate a good CO2 blanket. Probably not necessary if you get a 3 gallon carboy though. The beer will gas off on its own due to the transfer knocking CO2 out of solution.
This sounds like a really good idea.
 
As others have said, you could put CO2 over the top. As it is heavier than O2 it will help with oxidation concerns.

If you don't have CO2 or even if you do, you might go get one of those bottles of wine saving Private Preserve. It is intended to preserve unfinished bottles of wine by preventing oxidation, the same thing you are guarding your beer against. It has a blend of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, and Argon that displace O2 and does not react with wine (or beer). They cost about $10 at Total Wine, BevMo or many other wine shops.

If it were me, I would do that before I would go buy another carboy and then transfer the beer. Good luck. :mug:
 
Hey Jollytoper, So I just get that stuff and spray it into my carboy? How much would I spray? Also, I plan on aging in the carboy for 6 months. Do you still recommend using that private preserve stuff?
 
Hey Jollytoper, So I just get that stuff and spray it into my carboy? How much would I spray? Also, I plan on aging in the carboy for 6 months. Do you still recommend using that private preserve stuff?

You would need to use it periodically at which point it is cheaper to buy a welding tank of argon (or c02 which you can use to carbonate things too).

You can also put something heavier than beer in to displace volume and fill the carboy. Marbles are popular.
 
Hey Jollytoper, So I just get that stuff and spray it into my carboy? How much would I spray? Also, I plan on aging in the carboy for 6 months. Do you still recommend using that private preserve stuff?

Yes, you would just spray it into the carboy. I just read a bottle that I have and it says to do one long (1/2 second) and four short bursts for a bottle of wine. A 5G carboy has quite a bit more surface area--probably like 10x. I would give it a good 10-15 seconds to play it safe. You'll still have a lot left over for any wine you may drink. :)

I haven't done this so my recommendation is theoretical. The theory is the same as letting it sit safely under a blanket of fermentation produced CO2 (without sitting on a yeast cake). It is the same thing wonderbread23 was suggesting if you had a CO2 system. That said, after reading the reviews on Amazon, it is not a perfect solution. The wine eventually turns to vinegar after all. I don't know as much about wine as beer so the results may not apply.

Bottom line...I suspect you'd see little difference doing nothing especially if you aged it on the cool side. Using this Private Preserve would be even better than RDWHAHB but I'm anal about my brewing and I guess I would probably go buy the 3.5G carboy and take my chances with aeration. But I want a couple of small carboys anyway!

Hopefully I didn't confuse things for you but rather maybe gave another option. Good luck! :mug:
 
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Honestly even though there might be some risk for oxidation, I think the easiest thing would be to just transfer it to a smaller carboy. I'm no expert but I think it will be ok. I mean I won't be drinking it for a year or more so I might be ok. Thanks for all your help!
 
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