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bobdrob bobdrob is offline
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Default Sufficient primary headspace.

we've always erred on the conservative side; two thirds of the
primary/barrel's volume is our headspace rule. So, the low 20's would be my
belt & suspenders limit on headspace with grapes. Coming down to the
basement at 5:30 AM in my pjammies & finding "must overboard" isn't a
pleasant way to start my day... We've never just juiced it, so no experience
there. just MHO regards, bob


"Wayne Harris" > wrote in message
...
> 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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