Sufficient primary headspace.
Well, I just invested in four 32-gallon Brute barrels that will serve
as my primaries.
Today i am testing my new diaphram pump from Morewine, and marking my
barrels for volume.
And generally playing in my wine cellar. :-)
My plan was to use them to hold 25 gallons of juice each. But in
filling them with 25 gallons of water, I noticed that i only have
about 6 inches of headspace. The barrel is about 20 inches in
diameter. I would esitmate that the proportion of wine in the barrel
is about 85% full. This gives me only 4.3 cuft of headspace.
Depending on fermentation rates, 80% full 5-gallon buckets can get
full when full-on fermentation.
Having never fermented this large of a batch, i don't know what to
expect.
Is this too little headspace? Should i back it down to 20 gallons?
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