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Date: 23 Jun 2006 06:56:04
From: Kidder
Subject: Will secondary fermentation drive off potential oxygen?
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I racked an oatmeal stout to secondary last night and it appears it's
not finished fermenting. SG was 1.018, OG was 1.048. Will any air that
was introduced during racking (not much at all) be displaced from the
secondary fermentation? I imagine the CO2 will displace the oxygen, if
any, out through the airlock.
I tried a new method of siphoning this time, and I'll probably stick
with it. I used a turkey baster and regular racking cane, squeezed the
bulb, inserted onto hose, released bulb, hose filled with brew, clamped
off, removed baster, insert hose into carboy, and released clamp. Only
thing that made me upset was the beer initially rushed into the carboy
faster than I expected. I should've clamped the hose a little more to
restrict flow. I doubt this will have any adverse oxidizing effects. I
did clamp it for the rest of the racking.
So....considering that I can expect some more fermentation to occur,
will this drive off potential oxygen in the beer? I would think the FG
will be around 1.012 or so. The stout tastes great. Every time I rack I
worry about oxidation, I know I shouldn't but I do. I find this method
of siphoning easier than using the auto-siphon so I'm sticking with it.
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Date: 23 Jun 2006 14:24:47
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Will secondary fermentation drive off potential oxygen?
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On 23 Jun 2006 06:56:04 -0700, <traviskidder@yahoo.com > wrote:
> I racked an oatmeal stout to secondary last night and it appears it's
> not finished fermenting. SG was 1.018, OG was 1.048. Will any air that
> was introduced during racking (not much at all) be displaced from the
> secondary fermentation? I imagine the CO2 will displace the oxygen, if
> any, out through the airlock.
If oxygen is in the headspace of the carboy it will get displaced due to
fermentation activity (even just racking a completely fermented beer will
knock some residual CO2 out of solution). If you seriously aerated the
beer while you racked then oxidation reactions may occur before the O2
is either consumed or pushed out. If significant oxygen has been absorbed
into the beer, I'm not sure you can definitively say that CO2 production
will scrub all of it out of the beer. However, normal racking should
not cause serious aeration, so this shouldn't really be a problem.
> I tried a new method of siphoning this time, and I'll probably stick
> with it. I used a turkey baster and regular racking cane, squeezed the
> bulb, inserted onto hose, released bulb, hose filled with brew, clamped
> off, removed baster, insert hose into carboy, and released clamp. Only
> thing that made me upset was the beer initially rushed into the carboy
> faster than I expected. I should've clamped the hose a little more to
> restrict flow. I doubt this will have any adverse oxidizing effects. I
> did clamp it for the rest of the racking.
I doubt it caused any adverse effects too.
> So....considering that I can expect some more fermentation to occur,
> will this drive off potential oxygen in the beer? I would think the FG
> will be around 1.012 or so. The stout tastes great. Every time I rack I
> worry about oxidation, I know I shouldn't but I do. I find this method
> of siphoning easier than using the auto-siphon so I'm sticking with it.
Relax, don't worry, etc. Unless you're really doing something wrong, racking
should not cause significant oxidation.
John.
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