Purging excessive carboy headspace with some sugar

[Alchemywunderkid]

I'll chalk this situation into the "good problem" column.

Due to a healthy brewing schedule, I'm all out of bottles (well, empty bottles at least... I've got a dozen cases of 22's in various stages of readiness). Unfortunately though, I had to rack my Cascadian Dark Ale/Black IPA/whatever-you-wanna-call-it off of the dry hop into a 5 gal glass carboy as I had no where else to put it and I wanted to get it off the hops.

The issue is this... some heavy hop absorption and a really difficult kettle-to-fermentor transfer left me with only 4 gals in the 5 gal carboy. I won't be able to get it out of the carboy for at least a week and am concerned about the excessive headspace and the oxidative effect I assume it may have on my brew.

Is this oxidation something I even have to worry about? I'm keeping it in a bit of a warmer environment than when it was dry-hopping in hopes of coaxing a bit of fermentation to get a layer of CO2 over the batch. It's 17 days out from the start of fermentation with a rise of ~4-6ºF post-dry-hop.

If this oxidation is something to worry about, can I pitch in a small amount of boiled and cooled sugar solution to kick start a bit of fermentation to purge the headspace? I was thinking just an ounce or so in a 1/2 cup of water?

Now granted, the best solution would be to purge with actual CO2, but that is in the future as I am saving every dollar I can towards my soon-to-be awesome kegging system, so I'd love to see if anyone's done this... or even if it is a necessary or misguided step.

Thanks!

[brewinhard]

Some will say not to worry about the oxidation. Depending on how fast you plan on drinking this one up, then I see no problem with adding some DME or sugar (preboiled) to create a mini fermentation and drive out the oxygen in the headspace. Just be aware that this will create more yeast/trub on the bottom of your carboy and could lead to autolysis if left too long (ie many weeks at high temps). I think it is a good idea to avoid oxidation at all costs to make a better beer. Although, the dry hops probably will cover up any off aromas in the beer at least for a bit.

[maxwell]

If you're lacking a proper CO2 cylinder, you can always use a CO2 bike tire inflator to purge head space. A 16g cartridge should give you about 8L of CO2. I imagine that you could also drop in some dry ice pellets without any adverse effects.

Max

[huskerbrew]

Wouldn't a mini fermentation drive off some of the hop aroma from the dry hops?

[ApresSkiBrewer]

Wouldn't a mini fermentation drive off some of the hop aroma from the dry hops?

I think it would some, definitely. Probably very little... but something to think about.

I think a very small amount of a sugar addition isn't a bad idea. Create a little layer of CO2 over the beer.... give it a shot. Better than doing nothing, I think. I wouldn't go overboard though and kick up a really active fermentation though, because of Huskerbrew's point.