I have a question regarding the threat of oxidation during transfer. I’ve spoken to several fellow brewers and read a few articles regarding the threat of oxidation while transferring from fermentation vessel to keg. In each conversation/article, the threat of oxidation is always a major concern and people are downright anal about not oxidizing their beer while kegging. Over the past few years, I’ve gone as far as to rack my beers under CO2 (I ferment in a keg with tri-clamp adapter for 10 gallon batches) and remove O2 from my corny kegs by pushing sanitizer with CO2 until the corny is empty. It tedious and time consuming but apparently the “right” way to do things. However, I still ferment most of my 5 gallon batches the typical way. I ferment in 6 gallon carboys and use a racking cane to transfer into the corny with a blanket of CO2 at the bottom of the keg. A lot of brewers will tell you that the carboy/racking cane method has a high risk of oxidizing your beer because you will inevitably pick some O2 in the transfer.
Here’s my question: I’ve brewed close to 70 beers over the past 5 years and not once have I had an oxidation problem using either method. Is the issue of oxidation more hype than reality and has anyone ever done a study/experiment using various transferring techniques to see if one is better than another in reducing oxidation? I ask only because I’d love to save myself some time and energy if the data shows CO2 transfer isn’t really necessary.
