Many times I see advice on this forum, to not worry about oxidation and leaving beer in the primary for months because of this "co2 blanket" that protects the beer.
It's been many years since my school classes, but if I remember the Ideal Gas Law and other physics principles, it's never 100% co2 that is in the fermenter and of course the co2 dissipates. If it didn't, we'd all die in our sleep from c02 poisoning.
But when I pointed that out, I was told that of course the oxygen is gone from the fermenter (that's why it's fine to swirl the fermenter to rouse the yeast) because of this "co2 blanket".
I know that there are other gasses in a fermenter, and I know that co2 will dissipate as it searches for equilibrium (hence the airlock bubbling). But can some of our great brains give a better explanation of this? It really bothers me when other brewers say not to worry about oxidation due to the co2 blanket that seemingly would hang around forever.
It's been many years since my school classes, but if I remember the Ideal Gas Law and other physics principles, it's never 100% co2 that is in the fermenter and of course the co2 dissipates. If it didn't, we'd all die in our sleep from c02 poisoning.
But when I pointed that out, I was told that of course the oxygen is gone from the fermenter (that's why it's fine to swirl the fermenter to rouse the yeast) because of this "co2 blanket".
I know that there are other gasses in a fermenter, and I know that co2 will dissipate as it searches for equilibrium (hence the airlock bubbling). But can some of our great brains give a better explanation of this? It really bothers me when other brewers say not to worry about oxidation due to the co2 blanket that seemingly would hang around forever.