OK here's an idea. use a large latex balloon, and put it over the
mouth of the bottle . using the crevice tool of the vaccuum suck the
air out, and the balloon will collapse inwardly to the surface of the
wine (carefully time it so you don't suck wine out). Now put your
argon in, and you will be assured that there is very little O2 in the
bottle. I do this for 55 gallon primaries when I want to to extended
maceration. Only I use a trash bag, and I repeat the purge after the
argon is in the barrel, and then flush with argon again. So I
sacrifice one volumes worth of argon. It works wonderfully, however,
I've never tried it on a carboy scale. In fact, it may be easier to
use a regular shopping bag or a bread bag instead of a balloon which
will want to keep shrinking back on you. Let me know if it works.
Marc



On Feb 20, 6:39*pm, "news.bresnan.net" > wrote:
> I use glass marbles to take up space in the bottom.
>
> Shane
>
> "Wayne Harris" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> > OK, *I need some opinions.
> > (First a bit of background.)
> > I have some 5 gallon test batches ready for secondary fermentation.
> > I have only 6.5 gallon carboys.
>
> > As you can see, i will have a lot of headspace with no extra wine to
> > "top off" with.
>
> > But, *I have access to plenty of Argon gas and a regulator with a flow
> > meter so i can apply VERY slowly.
>
> > Instead of "topping off" my carboys, can i apply a good thick blanket
> > of argon?
> > Then apply the vapor lock as per normal.
>
> > Thoughts?
> > -Wayne- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -