[leprecaunjon]

 hello all, I am in my 2nd year with a 3 year renewal here at the AHA, proudly home brewing since 2014! I am currently Brewing a sweet stout based off of a custom recipe i made up. what i am looking to do is bottle 4 gallons of the 5 gallon batch just the way it is. I planned on just bottling out of primary but prefer to rack into secondary, however i would like to age 1 gallon of the batch over some oak chips, is there any recommendations on how to go upon this? i dont really have access to Co2 so racking 4 gallons into the secondary leaves a lot of head spaced poses a risk from what i understand. could i rack the 5 gallons into secondary, bottle 4 gallons and rack the other gallon into its own 3rd stage for flavoring? would i lose to much yeast?

thanks for any help or insight

[mbarnaby]

I do this all the time, I love being able to compared the exact same beer but a gallon of it with something different (ie wood, fruit, etc) without having to commit an entire batch to an experiment.  I rack a gallon into a 1 gallon carboy and that other four into a 5 gallon carboy from primary.  the yeast is still making enough CO2 to fill the deadspace.  then proceed to bottling as usual.  this ways prevents have to have the 3rd racking. 

[leprecaunjon]

I do this all the time, I love being able to compared the exact same beer but a gallon of it with something different (ie wood, fruit, etc) without having to commit an entire batch to an experiment.  I rack a gallon into a 1 gallon carboy and that other four into a 5 gallon carboy from primary.  the yeast is still making enough CO2 to fill the deadspace.  then proceed to bottling as usual.  this ways prevents have to have the 3rd racking.

awesome, thats what i thought, but i wanted to clear things up before i risked a batch of the good stuff i was planning on bottling the 1 gallon with a little bourbon or rum too for added flavor and kick.

[Steve Ruch]

 Rack the one gallon that you plan to add stuff to and bottle the rest. There's no real reason to secondary most beers.