I would relate it to a balloon under water. Think about how much pressure it
takes to hold it down. Much more than the weight of the filled balloon.
With that in mind I don't think that the blanket of C02 would be heavy
enough to hold the dissolved C02 under water/wine. The dissolved C02 would
simply push the expanded C02 out of the carboy as it rises.

I'm sure some one can give a more scientific explanation.

Thanks,

David



"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
. com...
> It is better to use an airlock. If by chance a little more fermentation
> were to take place or the pressure in the carboy increased for some other
> reason such as CO2 coming out of solution, it can blow a solid bung off
and
> then your wine can be ruined due to oxidation.
>
> But I have a question. One of the things that need to be done after
> fermentation is to get the CO2 that is dissolved in the wine out. How can
> this be done if the wine is blanketed with CO2? Wouldn't the dissolved
CO2
> just stay in solution? Partial pressure of a gas in solution is a
function
> of the partial pressure of the gas in contact with the solution and the
> partial pressure of CO2 in the blanket would be very high.
>
> Ray
>
> "news-server.triad.rr.com" > wrote in message
> . com...
> >I have an question that is not exactly on topic here but close. When bulk
> > aging is it better to use just a solid bung or a bung and airlock or
does
> > it
> > matter? I use bungs with airlocks now when I age.
> >
> > Also talking about the CO2, I generally don't worry about the head space
> > as
> > long as the lock part of the airlock if floating a little. I have never
> > had
> > any problems, am I just lucky? You all are going to scream at me but I
> > sometimes have a gallon of head space in my carboys (with the lock
> > floating)
> > but have never had an off tasting batch. The only time I thought I had
an
> > oxidized batch was the time I made wine from Welch's frozen concentrate
> > _cocktail_. I have recently tried this again with both cocktail and
> > concord
> > and realized that it was just the cocktail not having enough flavor to
> > support the wine.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> >
> > "Warren Place" > wrote in message
> > s.edu...
> >> On Tue, 23 Nov 2004, Bob wrote:
> >>
> >> > I am trying winemaking for the first time with plum wine, due to
> >> > this years great harvest. Would it have the same benefit to flush
> >> > the top of the carboy with CO2 instead of topping it off after
> >> > racking?
> >> >
> >> > Bob
> >> CO2 blanketing a large "empty" volume isn't very effective as I
> >> have learned with last years white wines. You'll still get gas
exchange
> > (O2
> >> in) when th3e carboy warms and cools throughout the day. With a solid
> >> cork, it might work fine. I'd top up the wine if possible.
> >> Warren Place
> >
> >
>
>