Head space CO2 spray and air locks.
 

My first batch of wine has fermented in the plastic bucket, racked to a 5
gallon bottle with air lock, and racked to a 4 and a 1 gallon bottle both
with air locks. It is coming up to a month and getting ready to be racked
again. Most of the solids in the wine has dropped to the bottom. The wine
looks very much cleared.

When I rack this next time I will have less wine than I do now. I am
planning on topping the 4 gallon bottle up from the one gallon bottle.
Should I refrigerate what is left from the one gallon bottle to keep for a
topoff for the next rack? If I refrigerate, do I need to find a bottle that
will fill to the top and drink the rest?

Or should I find a bottle that will fill to the top and just cork it until
the next rack.

Will I still need to but the air lock on the 4 gallon bottle?

Should I use CO2? If so what is the best way to apply it?

Roy

"Roy Boy" > wrote in message
...
> My first batch of wine has fermented in the plastic bucket, racked to a 5
> gallon bottle with air lock, and racked to a 4 and a 1 gallon bottle both
> with air locks. It is coming up to a month and getting ready to be racked
> again. Most of the solids in the wine has dropped to the bottom. The wine
> looks very much cleared.
>
> When I rack this next time I will have less wine than I do now. I am
> planning on topping the 4 gallon bottle up from the one gallon bottle.
> Should I refrigerate what is left from the one gallon bottle to keep for a
> topoff for the next rack? If I refrigerate, do I need to find a bottle
that
> will fill to the top and drink the rest?
>
> Or should I find a bottle that will fill to the top and just cork it until
> the next rack.
>
> Will I still need to but the air lock on the 4 gallon bottle?

You'll want to rack to carboys so you have the least headspace. Depending on
what you have on hand for carboys, you may be able to rack to a bucket, mix
in the 1 gal, then back to the 4 gal container, leaving about 1" headspace.
Rack remaining wine in the bucket to a smaller bottle, like a 750, or 1.5ml
whatever is left...

Steve

> Should I use CO2? If so what is the best way to apply it?

"Steve Thompson" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Roy Boy" > wrote in message
> ...
>> My first batch of wine has fermented in the plastic bucket, racked to a 5
>> gallon bottle with air lock, and racked to a 4 and a 1 gallon bottle both
>> with air locks. It is coming up to a month and getting ready to be racked
>> again. Most of the solids in the wine has dropped to the bottom. The wine
>> looks very much cleared.
>>
>> When I rack this next time I will have less wine than I do now. I am
>> planning on topping the 4 gallon bottle up from the one gallon bottle.
>> Should I refrigerate what is left from the one gallon bottle to keep for
>> a
>> topoff for the next rack? If I refrigerate, do I need to find a bottle
> that
>> will fill to the top and drink the rest?
>>
>> Or should I find a bottle that will fill to the top and just cork it
>> until
>> the next rack.
>>
>> Will I still need to but the air lock on the 4 gallon bottle?
>
> You'll want to rack to carboys so you have the least headspace. Depending
> on
> what you have on hand for carboys, you may be able to rack to a bucket,
> mix
> in the 1 gal, then back to the 4 gal container, leaving about 1"
> headspace.
> Rack remaining wine in the bucket to a smaller bottle, like a 750, or
> 1.5ml
> whatever is left...
>
> Steve
Do I still need the air lock?

Roy

There is no harm in the airlock, it's cheap insurance. As the seasons
change the volume will too, a solid bung can loosen. I actually keep
less than an inch airspace, more like 1/2 at worst.

You should try to get a spare carboy, double racking exposes the wine
to more air. Just rack gently for now if you are using a bucket. Are
you talking imperial gallons? I have never seen a 4 gallon carboy.

Joe

I have some 1/2 gallon glass carboys for exactly that problem. I go ahead
and rack off some clear wine off the time into a spare 1 gallon jug, then do
the rest of the racking. Then I use the clear wine to top up. Any left and
it is put in the fridge, not for topping but for drinking. I doesn't hurt
to sample some young wine.

Ray

"Roy Boy" > wrote in message
...
> My first batch of wine has fermented in the plastic bucket, racked to a 5
> gallon bottle with air lock, and racked to a 4 and a 1 gallon bottle both
> with air locks. It is coming up to a month and getting ready to be racked
> again. Most of the solids in the wine has dropped to the bottom. The wine
> looks very much cleared.
>
> When I rack this next time I will have less wine than I do now. I am
> planning on topping the 4 gallon bottle up from the one gallon bottle.
> Should I refrigerate what is left from the one gallon bottle to keep for a
> topoff for the next rack? If I refrigerate, do I need to find a bottle
> that will fill to the top and drink the rest?
>
> Or should I find a bottle that will fill to the top and just cork it until
> the next rack.
>
> Will I still need to but the air lock on the 4 gallon bottle?
>
> Should I use CO2? If so what is the best way to apply it?
>
> Roy
>

"Roy Boy" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Steve Thompson" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > "Roy Boy" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >> My first batch of wine has fermented in the plastic bucket, racked to a
5
> >> gallon bottle with air lock, and racked to a 4 and a 1 gallon bottle
both
> >> with air locks. It is coming up to a month and getting ready to be
racked
> >> again. Most of the solids in the wine has dropped to the bottom. The
wine
> >> looks very much cleared.
> >>
> >> When I rack this next time I will have less wine than I do now. I am
> >> planning on topping the 4 gallon bottle up from the one gallon bottle.
> >> Should I refrigerate what is left from the one gallon bottle to keep
for
> >> a
> >> topoff for the next rack? If I refrigerate, do I need to find a bottle
> > that
> >> will fill to the top and drink the rest?
> >>
> >> Or should I find a bottle that will fill to the top and just cork it
> >> until
> >> the next rack.
> >>
> >> Will I still need to but the air lock on the 4 gallon bottle?
> >
> > You'll want to rack to carboys so you have the least headspace.
Depending
> > on
> > what you have on hand for carboys, you may be able to rack to a bucket,
> > mix
> > in the 1 gal, then back to the 4 gal container, leaving about 1"
> > headspace.
> > Rack remaining wine in the bucket to a smaller bottle, like a 750, or
> > 1.5ml
> > whatever is left...
> >
> > Steve
> Do I still need the air lock?

Yes! Get a stopper to fit a wine bottle and a tripple bubbler... better yet,
buy a few :)

Steve

Thanks to all for your help

This may be a stupid question but remember that im newer than a
new-bie...haven't even made my first batch yet. Could you just add
some sanitized marbles or something glass like that to make up the
volume lost from racking in the 5 gallon carboy to minimize the
headspace?

Hap

Hap, Sure, the marble thing can be done & it's a great idea, but you might
be surprised at how many marbles it takes. Due to that, I gave up on the
marble idea & just top off w/ either storebought wine, water (if the volume
of airspace is low) or ideally some extra wine that I made up & saved in a
smaller container just for the purpose of topping up carboys.

Robert


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> This may be a stupid question but remember that im newer than a
> new-bie...haven't even made my first batch yet. Could you just add
> some sanitized marbles or something glass like that to make up the
> volume lost from racking in the 5 gallon carboy to minimize the
> headspace?
>
> Hap
>

Marbles will work. But remember that when marbles stack, they have about
30% space between the marbles. So if you have one gallon of space to fill,
you need about 1 and 1/3 gallons of marbles. That is a lot of marbles.

Then there is the problem of racking. Normally any sediment will settle to
the bottom and then you rack off of it leaving it behind. With marbles, it
will settle all over the marbles so you cannot rack the wine in between the
marbles without disturbing the stuff you are trying to rack off of.

Ray

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> This may be a stupid question but remember that im newer than a
> new-bie...haven't even made my first batch yet. Could you just add
> some sanitized marbles or something glass like that to make up the
> volume lost from racking in the 5 gallon carboy to minimize the
> headspace?
>
> Hap
>

Those are some good points about using marbles. I did some pricing on
marbles and it don't look cheap either. I've read a little about using
CO2 to displace the oxygen. What about using argon? Its a gas readily
availble from welding supply shops (used in TIG welding to displace
oxygen over the welding arc) and since its a noble gas like neon and
helium and wont mix with other gases I would GUESS it would not cause
any off taste because of that. Also it's got a higher specific gravity
than air so it should stay in the carboy well even when opened. Does
anybody have any experience with using it or CO2?

Just trying to figure out a clean way to keep the batched together.

Maybe I'll just get a couple of 1 gallon jugs and various size bottels
to start off with and experiment later.

Hap

Argon would be better than CO2 for several reasons. One is that CO2 is
reactive and the other is that Argon is heavier than air. Just be sure
there are no contaminants in the source.

Ray

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Those are some good points about using marbles. I did some pricing on
> marbles and it don't look cheap either. I've read a little about using
> CO2 to displace the oxygen. What about using argon? Its a gas readily
> availble from welding supply shops (used in TIG welding to displace
> oxygen over the welding arc) and since its a noble gas like neon and
> helium and wont mix with other gases I would GUESS it would not cause
> any off taste because of that. Also it's got a higher specific gravity
> than air so it should stay in the carboy well even when opened. Does
> anybody have any experience with using it or CO2?
>
> Just trying to figure out a clean way to keep the batched together.
>
> Maybe I'll just get a couple of 1 gallon jugs and various size bottels
> to start off with and experiment later.
>
> Hap
>