Avoiding oxidation when transferring from FV using a tap

[TempTest]

Hello,

Can you give any hints and tips on how to avoid oxidation when transferring from a FV using a tap? When I transferred my beer from a FV to a bottling bucket using the tap (and PVC tubing under the fluid level in the bottling bucket) I still got a lot of air being mixed in in the tubing... Almost as though the air was trying to come back up the tube.

Any idea how to remove this? I imagine it's because the inside the FV is liquid as is the bottom of the bottling bucket (priming solution) and therefore the tubing contains a column of air blocked by a liquid on both sides... That air has to get out somewhere! If this is correct what can I do to avoid this in future?

Thank you.

[Fil]

i use taps on the FV with 1/2" tubing attached to the tap via a easy hozelock connector, i use starsan sanitiser and have a 2l jug full and clean hands dipped in allow me to finger over the tube end held up above the tap level, ( 3-4ft long idealy just long enough to sit in the bottom of a keg/ 2ndary fv..).

finger on the tube end and tap open u can release ur finger to fill the tube as u drop it below the tap and into the receiving vessel..

if u have co2 a quick squirt into the bucket or keg to blanket the beer may help but any disolved co2 in the beer will be encouraged out of the beer thru movement into the 2nd vessel and should blanket the beer anyway.

as long as the FV is not sealed, and the tube attachment is tight gravity will push the beer down faster than any air could rise up. So if u get bubbles in the line it could be that the tube is too thin and co2 is released in the tube premeturly..

the 1/2" tube exits the beer quickly allowing an easy smooth quick tilt to keep the tap mouth covered close to the end of the drain while a thin slow tube makes this a longer trickier job.

imho letting air in thru the tap at the end of the drain is the real danger point..

[TempTest]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. The main points I've taken from it are:

1) Maybe my tubing is too long... I use 2m of 5/16" (as far as I remember) tubing which meant I had to coil the tubing inside the bottling bucket (think low gradient spiral).

2) Tap is a wide neck wine fermenter wine tap and the tubing is the size recommended by the store I purchased the tap from.

3) The idea of holding the tubing up with finger sealing it, opening the tap and then slowly lowering the tube is an idea I'd not considered... I can imagine there will be an initial 'splash' if the tap is on before the tubing is below the priming solution line but maybe that's not such a big issue.

Thanks again!

[Hogarth]

Are you sure it's air in the tube and not CO2? Recently-fermented beer contains lots of CO2, and racking causes some of it to come out of suspension.

[alexlark]

All I can add is make sure your tap is fully open and you have opened the lid of your FV to allow air to replace the beer as it is let out. I do this with a budget keg and as Fil says, the force of the beer coming through the tap pushes the oxygen out of the pipe.