Transporting beer that's finished primary fermentation

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by NYHopWarrior, Apr 8, 2020.

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  1. NYHopWarrior

    NYHopWarrior Initiate (0) Apr 8, 2020

    I have a nut brown ale that I brewed a few weeks ago at my parent's house that I now need to transport back home (2 hour drive) for bottling and secondary fermentation. I'm planning to put half of the 5 gallon batch through a secondary fermentation and the other half is going to be bottled. I've read on forums that transporting beer in its fermenter after fermentation has completed will most likely cause the beer to oxidize and it is recommended to either bottle or keg before transport.

    I was wondering if I purge with CO2 prior to transport if it will be fine during the trip? I don't have the option/accessibility to a keg and I will not be able to bottle before transporting (plus if I did bottle, it would only be half the batch because I am putting the other half through secondary).

    Thanks!
     
    #1 NYHopWarrior, Apr 8, 2020
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Personally, I would try to avoid transporting finished beer that's still in the fermenter. You're going to stir up the trub, putting things back in suspension that are not particularly good for flavor or for shelf life.

    Also, why are you going to do a secondary on half of it?

    Yes, jostling this beer around is probably going to accelerate oxidative reaction opportunities. Are you sure you can't bottle in place? That way at least, some of the O2 introduced would be used by the yeast (during bottle conditioning).

    Well, if you can truly purge, that would be better than not purging, I suppose. But if you're talking about opening up the fermenter and "flooding" the headspace with CO2, I'm not sure there would be much of a net benefit.
     
    #2 VikeMan, Apr 8, 2020
  3. NYHopWarrior

    NYHopWarrior Initiate (0) Apr 8, 2020

    I am running an experiment on maple syrup/crystal addition rates. I have eighteen different trials I'm running so half of the beer is going to go through secondary with a maple addition and the other half is going to be bottled using maple syrup/sugar to prime. I'm trying to think of alternative options now for bottling before transport but I was just curious if purging with CO2 would be an OK alternative if that wasn't possible.
     
    #3 NYHopWarrior, Apr 8, 2020
  4. PortLargo

    PortLargo Pooh-Bah (1,831) Oct 19, 2012 Florida
    Pooh-Bah

    I have never heard that. OTOH, I've never heard that it wouldn't oxidize. However, your headspace is virtually pure CO2 and keeping it all intact would be the lesser of evils. If transportation is mandatory I've move the whole kit and caboddle in the primary, then transfer to secondary (with a good CO2 purge) followed by bottling.
     
    #4 PortLargo, Apr 8, 2020
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