Beer Geek

I have recently come up with an idea that should qualify me for a Beer Geek license if there is one. It's a modified version of something I heard the other day on a podcast, same overall principle, but different approach plus one. The facts are these (ref): the less time your beer is in contact with oxygen after fermentation begins, the better off you will be. Fact. Oxygen is a beer's worst enemy at that point causing off flavors in the finished product. Handling your beer as little as possible is the rule to stave off any chance of splashing or swirling around your beer and dissolving oxygen. Conversely, carbon dioxide is great for your beer. It is actually a very important part. Who wants to drink flat beer? I have taken these things into account and devised a way that my beer can ferment, be transferred to a bottling bucket, primed, and bottled with virtually no oxygen interference at all. See the picture below.You start by hooking a hose to one of the ports on your carboy cap and hooking the other end to the spigot of the bottling bucket. Place the air lock on top of the sealed bottling bucket and all of the CO2 produced during fermentation will travel through the hose, into the bucket, and drive all the oxygen out the top of the air lock. Now we have a carboy full of beer and CO2 and a bucket full of CO2. When fermentation is complete, and the yeast has settled sufficiently, it's time to prime and bottle you beer. Simply take the hose off the spigot and connect it to the top of the bucket where the air lock was, and connect a second hose from your racking cane to the now free spigot. Once the siphon begins, the beer will transfer through the lower hose, into the CO2-filled bucket, forcing the CO2 out and across the top hose, down into the carboy again, forcing the beer up the racking cane. Now we have a carboy full of CO2 and a bucket full of beer and CO2. They just traded places, without oxygen. Next, disconnect the hose from the racking cane, attach your bottling wand, and you're ready to start filling bottles. Once the beer starts flowing into the bottles, the empty space from the exiting beer will be replaced with, you guessed it, the CO2 from the carboy. Cap the bottles and you'll be ready to drink in no time. Is this necessary? Absolutely not. You can't certainly make great beer without going to this much setup. But it's fun to come up with geeky contraptions and experiments while brewing. That's part of the draw for me. That and, well, good beer too. I plan on trying out my method on my wheat beer this weekend. Wish me luck.