Fermentation

[BFrog]

If I am making 5 gallons of beer in a 6 gallon plastic fermenter can I use a 6 gallon glass carbouy as a secondary fermenter?

[joejoe]

A six gallon container with five gallons of beer for primary is fine. Actually, it is preferable. The extra head space in the fermenter will allow room for the krausen and foaming that will occur the first few days. A six gallon is NOT good for the secondary as you want to minimize the air space which could cause excess oxygen to spoil the beer. If you just left it in the primary for the full 2-3 weeks it would go through the primary and secondary phases in the one container. The extra head space has no oxygen as it has been displaced with Co2. A 5 gallon carboy works great for secondary though because you can watch it clarify, it gets the beer off of the trub that is in the primary and the glass is less prone to contaminants.

[BFrog]

Thanks for the info I,ll run out and buy a 5 gal. carboy now.

[toneyc]

Keep in mind that when you're not watching it, it needs to be in a dark place or covered to keep the light out.

Along those lines, does anyone know what it is about light that causes skunky beer? Is it UV, IR, visible light? Why does it cause skunky beer?

:) Toney.

[paul84043]

Here you go Toney...

http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/light.shtml

[Richard English]

If I read that aright, it's the hops that are deteriorating.

So my next question is, why does A-B Budwesier go skunky? Do they use any hops?

[paul84043]

How can you tell if A-B superfizz goes skunky? It pretty much smells like that anyway right out of the bottle...

That's like asking how do you know when sour cream goes bad....