Transferring Full Fermenters In The Car

[kyleg]

So ive put down my second brew last sunday, a 46L batch of a rogue shakespeare stout clone, all grain. I only recently moved out with my girlfriend to a small villa/apartment. I had left my brewing stuff at home and brewed this batch at home. The fermenters are sitting on a towel in my old room. Its been fermenting for one week now, and im going to rack half the batch to a secondary fermenter and bottle condition the other half. But im going to condition in the secondary for at least a month and i need to get it to my new place. So im thinking of taking the full fermenters in my car and taking them to my new place, its about a 20 minite drive.

Im just wondering if the drive will cause too much splashing and possible oxidation? So i can then rack to secondary at my new place and it can condition there and get out of my mums house. Or if the drive is going to cause damage then i guess ill just have to let it condition at my mums place.

 

[dkaos]

So ive put down my second brew last sunday, a 46L batch of a rogue shakespeare stout clone, all grain. I only recently moved out with my girlfriend to a small villa/apartment. I had left my brewing stuff at home and brewed this batch at home. The fermenters are sitting on a towel in my old room. Its been fermenting for one week now, and im going to rack half the batch to a secondary fermenter and bottle condition the other half. But im going to condition in the secondary for at least a month and i need to get it to my new place. So im thinking of taking the full fermenters in my car and taking them to my new place, its about a 20 minite drive.

Im just wondering if the drive will cause too much splashing and possible oxidation? So i can then rack to secondary at my new place and it can condition there and get out of my mums house. Or if the drive is going to cause damage then i guess ill just have to let it condition at my mums place.

I would personally just leave it until primary is done, and if you're desparate then transfer it to secondary and transport it. If you can squeeze the cube and get rid of the air though, it won't be splashing around really so I would be much more confident in transporting it that way.

Cheers,

Clint

 

[michael_aussie]

i find walking and carrying is hard enough not to let them slop everywhere.. and this lifting from the top .. which tends to dampen out a lot of the movement.

transporting in a vehicle.. no matter how gentle you drive .. will be like a giant mix master....

leave it where it is and then bottle/keg ..... or if you 100% must move it early ... i guess a cube is the best option.

 

[kyleg]

Thanks people, guess ill just wait until ive bottled to transport.

 

[yum beer]

Stick it in bottles to condition and move on.....transport the FV empty and fill it with new brew at the new place.

 

[bignath]

Stick it in bottles to condition and move on.....transport the FV empty and fill it with new brew at the new place.

Yep. Or Keg if you've got em.

Worry about doing the long condition on the next batch, get this one sorted in one way or another where it is currently sitting.

 

[keifer33]

Dont risk it mate, it will be either be 46L of oxidised beer or almost 46L spread through your car...it will end up like this

If you need ive got a spare keg that needs filling...will account for half the beer.

 

[newguy]

Buy a used child car seat. They hold a full carboy perfectly, and you can even belt them in to keep them from rolling around.

...Don't ask me how I know this. B)

 

[seravitae]

if you squeeze all the airspace out of the carboy first it will not slosh around. You might need a friend to help you squeeze the carboy while you close the the lid again. Failing that if there isn't much headspace it might be easier to fill to the top with water, although I'm likely to be castrated for suggesting that you dilute your precious beer!

 

[bignath]

Buy a used child car seat. They hold a full carboy perfectly, and you can even belt them in to keep them from rolling around.

...Don't ask me how I know this. B)

The are also extremely convenient for "safely" storing a couple of filled 9kg gas bottles back to the brewery home on brewday!

 

[donburke]

i wouldnt worry about oxidising the beer,

you have been fermenting for a week and your headspace is all co2, there is no oxygen left in there

go ahead and move them, i have successfully moved full fermenters


front seat of the car with a seat belt on will do the trick, and take it easy

the only caution is that you have a good seal, and this is not a time for the "glad wrappers" to chime in

 

[kyleg]

thanks for all the suggestions everyone,

i think i'll just leave it be to finish here and i'll do my next brew at my new place. don't want to risk it!

i now have a fermentation question, in my recipe (using brewmate, and recipe from a magazine) my OG and FG targets were 1.067 and 1.017 respectively. My actual OG was 1.061, and i just check the gravity after 8 days in the ferment and its sitting at 1.021 .

My question is, is the gravity likely to drop if i leave it for a few more days, getting it closer to my target? Would racking to my secondary make any difference to the ferment? i.e would it continue to drop the gravity in the primary but not drop any more if i rack to secondary?

Or would adding more yeast help get it going a bit more?

Also would the low OG that i got be because of bad efficiency?

This is only my second brew so thanks for all the help!

Edit: Used 4 x Wyeast 1056 for 46L (slightly less), 2 packets per fermenter.

 

[mr_tyreman]

I've done it, back when i first started, not sure if it was lack of experience or dodgy practices or the aeration, but these beers never turned out great.

 

[bignath]

Or would adding more yeast help get it going a bit more?

Edit: Used 4 x Wyeast 1056 for 46L (slightly less), 2 packets per fermenter.

Ummm, NO.

Lemme get this straight. You used in total 4 x Wyeast 1056 american ale liquid yeasts for 46Lt of beer?

Holy **** that's a lot. It's also very expensive....If this is in fact how much you used, you've massively overpitched.

Read up on pitching rates. Those wyeast packs are enough to ferment a batch of beer each. Assuming nothing too crazy gravity wise.

 

[Mitcho89]

Ummm, NO.

Lemme get this straight. You used in total 4 x Wyeast 1056 american ale liquid yeasts for 46Lt of beer?

Holy **** that's a lot. It's also very expensive....If this is in fact how much you used, you've massively overpitched.

Read up on pitching rates. Those wyeast packs are enough to ferment a batch of beer each. Assuming nothing too crazy gravity wise.

Holy yeast! You better save your trub from this batch mate, enough yeast to last you many, many batches

 

[mkstalen]

My question is, is the gravity likely to drop if i leave it for a few more days, getting it closer to my target?

Possibly. Have you checked the gravity over a few days? Is it still dropping? If it's been consant over 3 days it's unlikely to drop any further, however you could bump up the temperature and give the fermenter a little jiggle to rouse the yeast which may get it to drop a few more points.

Would racking to my secondary make any difference to the ferment? i.e would it continue to drop the gravity in the primary but not drop any more if i rack to secondary?

Shouldn't make much difference at all.

Or would adding more yeast help get it going a bit more?

As said above you pitched shed loads, so you don't need any more.

Also would the low OG that i got be because of bad efficiency?

Maybe, you havn't said what your recipe/method was, so a bit hard to say.

 

[felten]

Ummm, NO.

Lemme get this straight. You used in total 4 x Wyeast 1056 american ale liquid yeasts for 46Lt of beer?

Holy **** that's a lot. It's also very expensive....If this is in fact how much you used, you've massively overpitched.

Read up on pitching rates. Those wyeast packs are enough to ferment a batch of beer each. Assuming nothing too crazy gravity wise.

Mr malty reckons for 46L at 1.061 you need 514 billion cells, each packet contains 100 billion when fresh, so 4 packets is not as out of this world as you might imagine.

 

[bignath]

Mr malty reckons for 46L at 1.061 you need 514 billion cells, each packet contains 100 billion when fresh, so 4 packets is not as out of this world as you might imagine.

OK i'll admit i didn't put the figures through a calculator, but in the real world, if you don't have access to a stir plate, or aren't at the stage in brewing when your reading up on starters or growing yeast, and just pitched the smack pack fresh into the wort, wouldn't spending $40 on yeast alone for a double batch seem excessive to most brewers?

There's been brews when i haven't stepped them up, and have just smacked the pack, pitched it (after swelling) straight into the wort (around 1.055) and had quick and healthy fermentation.

Mr Malty may tell me to use 4 packs of yeast, but in reality it's certainly possible to have done the entire double batch with half that amount of yeast.

I am in no way having a crack at you Felten, as i'm aware you are considerably more experienced than myself, just stating my experiences with pitching rates and the big discrepancy i obviously see in that mr malty figure. :icon_cheers:

Nath

 

[kyleg]

Mr malty reckons for 46L at 1.061 you need 514 billion cells, each packet contains 100 billion when fresh, so 4 packets is not as out of this world as you might imagine.

Yeah i did check my pitching rate with john palmers book, dont have it on me rigbt now but i recall 4 packets was oretty close, because i was also aiming for 1.067. And by the calculation you got from mr malty, maybe i was under the pitching rate needed? Although the smack packs say 'at least 100 billion cells'. Also one bag didnt fully inflate, but i used that in the fermenter with probably 20 litres.

Also the wyeast smack packs say something like 'suitable for 5gallons (19l) of wort up to 1.040 or something. So i thought 23L at 1.067 probably will need 2 packs.

 

[kyleg]

Possibly. Have you checked the gravity over a few days? Is it still dropping? If it's been consant over 3 days it's unlikely to drop any further, however you could bump up the temperature and give the fermenter a little jiggle to rouse the yeast which may get it to drop a few more points.

Um no yesterday was the first time i checked the gravity so i'll check it again over the weekend and go from there i

Maybe, you havn't said what your recipe/method was, so a bit hard to say.

Yeah grain bill was

10kg pale malt
1.6 crystal
1.6 chocolate
.220 kg roasted barley
1.5 flaked oats (used instant oats from a freah provisions type shop)

Biab single infusion 64degrees 90 min mash. Did have a bit of temperatjre fluctuation, not massive though.