FYI... here is Tom's previous thoughts on the false sense of
security...
BTW - have not heard the impurity rationale before...

More options Nov 20 2000, 1:00 am
"Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote in message

...
> I made an apple "jug" wine that I want to keep in a demijohn instead of
> bottle. I'd like to blanket it with an inter gas to protect it. I'm
> leaning to argon, but don't know for sure.
> Nitrogen can have an odor.
> Carbon Dioxide can be absorbed and carbonate the wine.
> Argon ???????
> Anyone have experience with this?


First thing you have to do is get that concept of "blanketing" out of
your
head. It can give you a false sense of security. If you have ANY
oxygen
present in your headspace, you have it _everywhere_ in there!
Spoilage
organisms are _micro-aerobic_, and if you provide them a little air,
they'll
ruin your wine.
IOW, to effectively gas a container of wine, you have to completely
purge
the headspace and seal the container airtight.
I don't recommend using CO2 for this purpose. It is too soluble in
wine,
and will affect the flavor as long as it is present in the wine.
Nitrogen is the cheapest of the three, and generally the most widely
used
commercially for this purpose. If it is pure, it is odorless and
tasteless.
Same goes for Argon, but it is a lot more expensive.
Your safest alternative is to simply break the wine down to smaller
containers. I use stainless steel beer kegs, carboys, gallon jugs and
liter
bottles (glass) for that. Then you can top all the containers
completely
and sleep easy. Simply drink anything left over that is less than a
liter!
Tom S

On Jul 23, 4:21*pm, mail box > wrote:
> On 7/22/2008 4:00 PM, wrote:
>
> > Spent the last day or so reviewing all the previous posts on the use
> > of inert gases for top-up, and wine transfer.
>
> > I understand the caveats that Tom S raised about a false sense of
> > security.
>
> My newsreader (Thunderbird) seems to be unable to search on sender. *
> * When I try to search I get an error "NNTP: aborted by user" error
> message and no results. And so I can not find the posts by Tom S you
> refer to. *