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I always store my beer at 2c in my fermentation chamber with just some foil over the top of the carboy while i wait for some space to open up in my kegerator. I've been brewing a lot lately and now have 5 carboys siting in my ferm chamber and they could be there for a some time. Now I'm wondering if a extended cold conditioning could cause oxidation due to air being sucked back into the carboy during the initial chilling of the beer. I've read a lot on the net about this possibly being an issue but haven't found anyone that has any real life experience on the topic. Anyone here had any problems/successes with long cold conditioning in a carboy?

Could purge airspace with co2. And probably should use a solid cork instead of tin foil

flushing with co2 after the temp has dropped would get rid of the air before it has a chance to do any damage.... good suggestion!

Using a foil cover would still allow air exchange inside / outside the fermenter. How about an S type air lock? Once it's cold crashed there wouldn't be any more air exchange.

Purge with CO2, Saran Wrap and a couple of rubber bands around the neck. Not pretty but works.

all good stuff guys but has anyone had oxidation with just the foil?

I haven't but it seems quite plausible. I tend to either leave in a carboy with an airlock at room temp, or in a keg at low temp. I'm much more likely to have no beer kegged than I am to have more beer than kegs available. G

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:I haven't but it seems quite plausible. I tend to either leave in a carboy with an airlock at room temp, or in a keg at low temp. I'm much more likely to have no beer kegged than I am to have more beer than kegs available. G

Ditto. When doing any long term aging in the past though I've used an airlock. Just kept it topped up with star San or cheap vodka in case it gets pulled back in due to the pressure differential.

I've heard the s-type airlocks work well in both directions, so suckback isn't a problem. Just have to worry about evaporation then

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:I've heard the s-type airlocks work well in both directions, so suckback isn't a problem. Just have to worry about evaporation then

I haven't done this yet but my idea for lagering in my carboy is to fill a balloon with CO2 and attach it to the carboy via a short piece of tubing. I have a lager fermenting at the moment so I will find out how this works in about a week.

Thats a cool idea Mike

Why fill a balloon with CO2? (Ignore my ignorance)

GasMD30 wrote:Why fill a balloon with CO2? (Ignore my ignorance)

It is so that when the gas in the headspace contracts it will pull in the CO2 in the balloon instead of oxygen through the S-type airlock.