Cold crashing and oxidation

[Steve Urquell]

Just had this happen. 2 quarts of sanitizer into the conical. 1/2" line that is 30" long (5.9 cuin). Drained the bucket of those 2 quarts. Damn it!!!!

Will still keg and try it though

This is why I switch to an "S" type airlock after fermentation subsides. No suck-back(no homo)

[Stinkfist]

Just had this happen. 2 quarts of sanitizer into the conical. 1/2" line that is 30" long (5.9 cuin). Drained the bucket of those 2 quarts. Damn it!!!!

Will still keg and try it though

This is why I switch to an "S" type airlock after fermentation subsides. No suck-back(no homo)

I think you may be confused or in denial lol

[Steve Urquell]

I think you may be confused or in denial lol

Shh, I live in Arkansas. Gotta keep the brewing equipment in the closet. Gnomesain?

[crashlann]

Im trying to figure out why cold crashing would cause a large amount of air to be sucked into the carboy?? Are we saying Boyle's Law causes this? I think it is a very small amount of air movement and oxygen contact, especially compared to the transfer of the fermented beer to bottles or a keg.:

Just had this happen. 2 quarts of sanitizer into the conical. 1/2" line that is 30" long (5.9 cuin). Drained the bucket of those 2 quarts. Damn it!!!!

Will still keg and try it though

Ok, but if the beer is sitting in the carboy unsettled in a cooling device (fridge), the air that is being sucked back in theoretically is only going to touch the surface of the beer, this should not cause much of an oxidation effect, thats why we have to agitate and stirplate wort in our starters...right? Should this really cause an oxidized off taste? Do you think two liters of sanitizer came into the carboy as a result of a siphon effect? This would not be the case with air I think.
Please correct me if Im off base with these theories, just thinking out loud...

[gwk453]

This is why I switch to an "S" type airlock after fermentation subsides. No suck-back(no homo)

I think Spiderwrangler got me to change over to the simple "S" type. When the fermentation slows, I pull out my blow out tubes, and switch to the "S" type, No problem cold crashing!

[dogismycopilot]

Ok, but if the beer is sitting in the carboy unsettled in a cooling device (fridge), the air that is being sucked back in theoretically is only going to touch the surface of the beer, this should not cause much of an oxidation effect, thats why we have to agitate and stirplate wort in our starters...right? Should this really cause an oxidized off taste? Do you think two liters of sanitizer came into the carboy as a result of a siphon effect? This would not be the case with air I think.
Please correct me if Im off base with these theories, just thinking out loud...

We've all tried an oxidized beer from a bottle, right? That head space is pretty small, but still can absorb enough O2 to ruin a beer.

Sure, a starter without agitation will pick up a little oxygen, but we're trying to maximize it, at that point.

I think the sanitizer being pulled into the beer is more of a vacuum effect, than a siphon effect. The end of the hose in the fermenter is most likely above the end in the sanitizer.

[Kbar]

Charles' Law. The volume of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature. Keep volume constant, change temperature, in my case, go from 62F to 34F, and the pressure will change. Pressure drops in the carboy, the pressure in the blow-off bucket is atmospheric and higher, thus the sanitizing fluid moves into the carboy.

The Oxidation can occur from transfer of the air to the beer, or in my case, oxidized sanitizer into the beer.

My $0.02

[Afterlab]

Ok, but if the beer is sitting in the carboy unsettled in a cooling device (fridge), the air that is being sucked back in theoretically is only going to touch the surface of the beer, this should not cause much of an oxidation effect, thats why we have to agitate and stirplate wort in our starters...right?

The thing with chemical reactions and attractions between atoms is that atoms will find the atoms they want whether they're on the top of the beer surface, the middle of the carboy or the bottom. If an Oxygen molecule is introduced into your beer it will find the necessary molecules it wants to attach to, disassociate or oxidize as Trans-2-nonenal.

When you crash in the carboy you're sucking that CO2 gas blanket back into the beer. The colder the beer the more gas it can hold, which means there is a diminishing amount of CO2 blanketing you're beer. My tip is to keg warm for a few days with a priming sugar solution to create CO2, to allow the yeast to wake back up and diminish any newly created diacetyl from the decarboxylation of 2-acetolactate and more importantly to scavenge any O2 molecules created from the transfer.