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Gemütlichkeit
As a newbie (6 batches) with an insatiable desire to fiddle, finagle, and generally mess with my fermenting beer (a cardinal sin I know but I just can't resist), I have some questions about contamination just so I know what I'm risking.
First question is pretty straightforward: What alcohol content must beer have to fend off most bacterial contamination?
Second question requires a preface. I use 6 and 6.5 gallon carboys for primary and use aggressive blow off (fill wort to the very top and attatch a large hose around the top of the carboy) to remove as much brown hefe, oils, nastiness etc. What usually remains is just some residual brown hefe. Hence, I have constructed a brown hefe extractor using a vacuum cleaner, 2 inch rubber couplings, surgical tubing, and a racking tube. The device works quite well at removing the brown hefe so that I can just drop the hydrometer into the carboy and watch the specific gravity drop (as a way to allay desires to otherwise tamper). When, I'm sucking the brown hefe out, oxygen is being sucked into the airspace above the beer. Could the oxygen that enters during this process lead to problems with oxygenation? When I did this last, there was still some fermentation in progress, so I hope the CO2 pushed out the oxygen. But some input on the risks of oxygenation would be appreciated.
Thanks for any help,
Prost auf Gemütlichkeit
First question is pretty straightforward: What alcohol content must beer have to fend off most bacterial contamination?
Second question requires a preface. I use 6 and 6.5 gallon carboys for primary and use aggressive blow off (fill wort to the very top and attatch a large hose around the top of the carboy) to remove as much brown hefe, oils, nastiness etc. What usually remains is just some residual brown hefe. Hence, I have constructed a brown hefe extractor using a vacuum cleaner, 2 inch rubber couplings, surgical tubing, and a racking tube. The device works quite well at removing the brown hefe so that I can just drop the hydrometer into the carboy and watch the specific gravity drop (as a way to allay desires to otherwise tamper). When, I'm sucking the brown hefe out, oxygen is being sucked into the airspace above the beer. Could the oxygen that enters during this process lead to problems with oxygenation? When I did this last, there was still some fermentation in progress, so I hope the CO2 pushed out the oxygen. But some input on the risks of oxygenation would be appreciated.
Thanks for any help,
Prost auf Gemütlichkeit