racking to secondary

[bazooka]

HI, I am about to transfer beer to my secondary, and am wondering if it's OK to take off the plastic lid on the fermeter, or I should I siphon the beer through the opening where the bung and airlock is??? I'm not sure if taking the lid off will spoil the beer due to contamination.

[airyk]

i don't have a real answer, but I took the lid off my bucket the first time I did it, and the beer turned out fine. I think the fact that most of the fermentation is done at this point reduces the chances of bacterial growth (but if I am wrong about that please someone correct me :) )

Something else to keep in mind is to make sure that you don't aerate the beer while you are racking it...you don't want to aerate the beer at all after it starts fermenting

[iowabrewer]

Like Charlie says, "relax, don't worry, and have another homebrew." Go ahead and take the lid off your primary. Just dont' drop anything in it! If you are using a racking cane, make sure you have a good connection where the plastic tube meets the cane. If you are going from a plastic primary with a valve at the bottom, just hook up your plastic tubing and let it flow. Have a good time doing it and don't sweat the small stuff. :D

[paul84043]

I always wipe all of the surfaces that could potentially add stuff into my beer down with sanitizing solution before I pop things open. That gives me a little piece of mind. Try not to lean over your fermenter, you'd be amazed at how much stuff falls off your body constantly.

You are correct in your assumption that after the primary, there is some resistance to bacteria, but that does not mean that you can't infect the brew if you try really hard...

I have thought about cutting a small hole in the side of one of my lids for my bottling bucket, just to keep things mostly covered while transferring. I don't really see a downside to it and I would feel alot better...
There's nothing worse than being in the middle of a transfer, and having the kids, or even the dog come blasting through your work area...I shudder to think of the trail of bacteria that they leave behind..

[S.F.B.]

You can do either. I leave the lid on and syphon through the hole because I do most of my brewing activity in na unfinished garage. You should see some of the stuff that falls from the ceiling.

[bazooka]

thanks for the suggestions guys, my beer seems to have stopped "burping", so I'm ready to transfer now....this is my second batch, and first time using the Brew House beer kits (they are made in Canada, but I'm not sure if they are local to the U.S. as well) . Cheers.....