Will reracking my beer create oxidation issues?

[msa8967]

I grabbed the wrong size carboy and racked 5 gallons of beer into a 6.5 gallon carboy. Upon discovering too much head space to use for a secondary vessel I decided to rerack the beer to a 5 gallon size carboy for dry hopping. I didn't wat to have all of the empty space at the top of the bigger carboy due to potential oxidation but now I wonder if if racking a second time in a span of a hour might create a problem. Any thoughts?

 

[estricklin]

While I do hold with the idea you should always secondary beer in as small of vessel as possible, I don't obsess with it. I've secondaried 5 gallons in 6.5 gallon containers before. Racking, if done correctly isn't going to introduce a ton of air into your beer. I think your going to be fine either way.

 

[JimRausch]

I'm thinking that you would be more likely to potentially introduce more O2 by reracking than you would by leaving it with more headspace. Plus, the slight chance of introducing a contaminant. I'd leave it.

 

[msa8967]

Next time I will just try to relax and not woory too much about excess headspace and i will leave the beer alone to do its thing. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Nuggethead]

i'm thinking that you would be more likely to potentially introduce more o2 by reracking than you would by leaving it with more headspace. Plus, the slight chance of introducing a contaminant. I'd leave it.

spot on..

 

[govner1]

If you have the capability you can inject a layer of CO2 in the empty headspace above your beer.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Allergic2hops]

My understanding is that if you allow the beer to splash into the vessel when racking, that is the oxidation that is the biggest concern. If you rack and let the tube swirl the beer at the bottom you are doing minimal harm. Doing it twice will probably introduce more O2 into the beer but with it sitting for another 7-14 days it should settle out just fine.