This is most likely a stupid question but I’m new to this so please bear with me. I want to buy another carboy to use as a secondary fermentor so I can have two batches going at the same time. I was thinking that I might go with a 6.5 gallon plastic big mouth bubbler for those IPAs’ that require more room for dry hopping. But can I also use it as a secondary unit for the typical 5 gallon bathes as well or will all that additional air space up top adversely affect secondary fermenting? Like I said, it’s probably a stupid question because I don’t believe there’s an issue here but I want to be sure before I make the purchase. Thank you.
It’s not a stupid question at all. Conventional wisdom says that you should minimize headspace while doing a secondary, because CO2 creation will have slowed and you risk oxidation. I agree with the conventional wisdom. The beer might turn out unharmed, but oxidation is such a significant problem that I would not take the chance personally.
The good news is that you do not usually need to use a secondary. Dry hopping is one instance where I have found it helps to rack the beer off the yeast cake. I dry hop in a keg, but would do it in a 5 gallon carboy if I was still bottling.
Thank you so much for your response. I will take your advice and go with the 5 gallon carboy. One question though. I want to brew the Pliney IPA but its a 6 gallon recipe because of all the hop additions. Will I lose some beer if I dry hop in a 5 gallon carboy or will the volume reduce when transferring from the primary? Sorry to bother you with this but I want to get it right. Thank you
If you are like the rest of us this will not be your last carboy. I now have three 6 gallon and three 5 gallon carboys, of course my son and son-in-law brew with me but you will find you need more flexibility as you progress in the hobby. The more fermentation vessels you have the more beer you can drink! I mean make!
I just brewed the Pliny last week. I followed the instructions and got 6 gallons into one of my 6.5 gallon glass carboys. Use a blowoff tube for this bad boy! Someone correct me if i’m wrong please, but the additional volume is to account for trub/dry hop loss so you will probably get a little more than 5 gallons from the primary before you dry hop. You could always skip the secondary and dry hop in the primary also.
I just brewed the Pliny last week. I followed the instructions and got 6 gallons into one of my 6.5 gallon glass carboys. Use a blowoff tube for this bad boy! Someone correct me if i’m wrong please, but the additional volume is to account for trub/dry hop loss so you will probably get a little more than 5 gallons from the primary before you dry hop. You could always skip the secondary and dry hop in the primary also.[/quote]
Thats correct we brewed the Off the Topper and it is along the same lines. We just transferred from the primary to the secondary and barely got 5 gallons into the secondary. Still one more dry hopping to occur on this one. It tasted great and was at about 8.4% abv.
Excellent information and advice, thank you all, you’ve been a great help.
