Racking home brew into larger carboy OK?
David G asked:
I made a 3 gallon batch of beer that I need to move to a secondary – is it OK to move from a 3 gallon carboy to a 5 gallon carboy? Just thinking that since there is more headspace (is that the correct term?) it might not be as favorable as moving to another 3 gallon carboy? I could buy another 3 gallon carboy today, but I have an empty 5 gallon carboy I could use.
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I made a 3 gallon batch of beer that I need to move to a secondary – is it OK to move from a 3 gallon carboy to a 5 gallon carboy? Just thinking that since there is more headspace (is that the correct term?) it might not be as favorable as moving to another 3 gallon carboy? I could buy another 3 gallon carboy today, but I have an empty 5 gallon carboy I could use.
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Comments
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There are a couple problems that could come up if you do this. Due to the excess headspace in the carboy, you run the risk of not only oxidation, but also infection. If the brew is no longer actively fermenting, then the CO2 pillow that was protecting it in the primary will no longer be there in secondary.
One option many homebrewers use is to fill the bottom of the larger carboy with sterilized glass marbles to make up the headspace, but for 3 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy, that’s a lot of marbles. If you can pick up another 3 gallon carboy, I would strongly recommend that.
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that extra headspace may cause oxidation to occur giving your brew off flavors. Depending on how long the beer has been in the primary (2-3 days), this may not be an issue because there should be enough yeast still in suspension to ward off effects of oxidation. Also, you could skip the secondary stage. As long as you are not lagering the beer or keeping the beer on the yeast slurry (cake) for more than 10-14 days, you need not worry about ill effects on the beer in a primary.
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Oxidation could be a problem, you could put C02 in the 5gal carboy before racking. But I think the best thing to do is get another 3 gal carboy
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