With all the talk about oxidation in a thread or two lately, I read this article recently on Mitch Steele’s blog. It’s pretty informative for a newer brewer, good reinforcement for experienced brewers :
Deeeeeeecent. Thanks for posting.
Yea, good stuff, but it makes me wonder if I need to try to rig up something for a CO2 push to move beer from the primary to keg. Also re-thinking the auto siphon and whether that is injecting O2 when starting the siphon…
I’ve always wondered that, too.
Have you ever had an oxidation problem?
I’d guess it is. But the question is, has it caused a problem?
LOL, you all have oxidation problems.
I don’t feel it has, Denny. But if I compared it to a totally closed transfer system I guess I might feel differently. My beers don’t show the obvious effects and have great aroma though.
Not terribly at least not recently, but I am thinking about when I bottle from keg on those few occasions (gift beers, comp beers, and other stored beer situations. I don’t always keep an extra sampler beer for those purposes, so I never know if the beers hold up well in the packaging…just thinking out loud and trying to come up with a justification to my wife for the conical, maybe?
Here’s what I know - I push everything with CO2 and go into fully purged kegs and can store a 5% beer for 2-3 years and have it taste lovely and fresh. So anecdotally speaking - it matters if you’re going for the long term.
And you don’t? How do you know we all have oxidation problems? Define a problem. Geez, man, tone it down.
I don’t think he can.
lulz…it’s too much sometimes.
I doubt it’s a problem in the short term, but yeah, maybe for longer aging. I doubt the autosiphon adds that much oxygen when starting the siphon. Sure it might me some right at the start, but it seems negligible. For my smaller batches, I ferment in kegs and push to fully purged kegs with co2. I really really like doing that.
They’re super easy to build. Just a stainless racking cane, a purple carboy cap, and a male MFL fitting. Mine is here.
You’ve gone hi-tech compared to my ghetto set up. I use my regular old plastic racking cane and use a pneumatic air gun attachment to inject CO2 through the other port of the carboy cap. I suppose your system is more closed than mine, but I worry more about the O2 in the container I’m racking into than the air that gets drawn into the fermenter as it empties.
What PSI do you push at? I use BBs so I don’t get worried about them exploding, but the punt on the bottom will push out a bit if the pressure is too high.
Ip only use 2 psi or less.
No, I don’t.
Show me your dissolved o2 readings…
if you placed them tiered-full carboy above empty vessel, wouldn’t you only need to turn co2 on to get it started and gravity takes over…no worries of over pressurizing?
suppose that’s a slower transfer than continuous co2 pressure
Yes, but for it to continue transferring in this scenario you need to open the port and allow air in. Then it’s no longer fully closed. Which is what I typically do.
Unless I’m misunderstanding you.
I close transfer all my beers from primary into a keg just like Amanda does. Easy to do, and I only use 2 psi to push. It does take a bit more time, but it gives me peace of mind knowing that I have done all I can do minimize oxygen pickup.
PS- I cannot stand oxidation in a beer and employed this method because of it.