# Same size carboys are a must!



## winesnob (Jun 29, 2006)

I racked off my Santa Ynez Syrah last night into the final stage before bottling. I had a little taste and it's going to be yummy. Since I only had 2 6 gallon carboys (one has the Sonoma Dry Creek Valley Chard. and the other had the Syrah), the only other carboy I had was a 6.5 gallon glass carboy I used for beer making. OOPS!! Since the level of the wine should be 2 inches from the bottom of the bung, I had to add to the wine. There is no way I was going to add water to this clear, fruity, tannic Syrah, I looked in my wine cellar to see what I had to add. To keep the cost low, I added a Columbia Crest Shiraz (6.25 bottles to be exact).

I hope the combination will do well for an end product.


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## maize (Jun 29, 2006)

Boy - That sounds like a lot of topping! The half gallon would be less than 3 bottles (2.25L)! That leaves 3 more liters. I know I usually need to add 1-2 bottles total when making a crushendo. The plus side, is you should now come out with about 33 new bottles of your wine when you get to that point.


Next time you might consider racking to the bucket, then cleaning the 6 gallon carboy and racking the bucket back into that.... Or just order more carboys from George (that is what I have done)!


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## winesnob (Jun 29, 2006)

Funny, I would have thought I would only have to add around 3 bottles. Maybe my glass carboy is more than 6.5 gallons. When I racked off the Syrah, I only left about a bottle of sludge on the bottom. I guess I'll have to order more carboys.

My wife asked me last night what I'm going to do when both my wines are aging. I guess I'll have to make more wine.






She is a bit embarassed about all the clutter now in the dinning room (wine equipment, carboys, chemicals, corker, etc.) though.


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## pkcook (Jun 29, 2006)

Winesnob,


You need a basement!



I have a small room in the back of mine that is "ALL MINE." Actually, the only place in my house that I can say that about



.


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## winesnob (Jun 29, 2006)

I have a basement, quite large in fact. 1/4 belongs to the wine cellar, 1/4 belongs to the kids play room, 1/4 is the media room, and 1/4 storage (which is quite full of toys, and other crap). I can store my wine equipment down there (unfinished storage part), but not the wine in the fermenting stage because it gets too cool and humid. Maybe with the dehumidifier going, it will warm it up. I'll have to look into that.


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## grapeman (Jun 29, 2006)

Is it possible the 6.5 gallon carboy is actually a 7 gallon carboy. I borrowed a carboy from my brother-in-law earlier this year. It was a 7 gallon carboy he had gotten from an estate auction. I checked it and it did hold 7 gallons. I have also gotten 1 gallon jugs that held 6 full 750 ml bottles. Moral of story is- get a few more carboys and brew up a storm of new batches.


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## pkcook (Jun 29, 2006)

Winesnob,


My 10 X 14 wine room is actually the sump pump/circuit breaker room I separated from my recroom when I designed/finished my basement.


Believe it or not, I run adehydrator on low while I'm in the fermentation stage. It will bring the temp to exactly70 degrees; without the dehydrator the temp dips to 65, which is fine for bulk aging. I tapped into a duct in the ceiling and installed an adjustable register to regulate in the winter months.


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## winesnob (Jun 30, 2006)

I cleared out a 6x8 section of the unfinished basement. With the dehumidifier going (it's been realy humid in there), the temp is up to 68. I think I'll keep the dehumidifier going for a few more days to dry it out in there. I have it set to 60%, but I've still had to empty out 3 gallons of water a day from the unit. I don't want any mold growing on my equipment. I will have to wire some lighting there as it is pretty dark in that section.

My wife seems happier with the prospect of cleaning up the dinning room.


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## pkcook (Jun 30, 2006)

When the wife is happy everyone is happy


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## winesnob (Jun 30, 2006)

We have a sign in our family room that I follow. I'm trying to teach the kids to follow it too "Happy wife, happy life".


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## pkcook (Jun 30, 2006)

Words of wisdom!


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## OldWino1 (Jun 30, 2006)

how do you get a happy wife Mine says my wine gets her to drunk.
I tell her to stop after 2 glasses. And I cantno get her to drink any
red at all. WHich does not botter me I like red white
blush sparking and still.


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## PolishWineP (Jul 1, 2006)

I love to see such wise men!


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## blongusa (Jul 1, 2006)

I have heard that you can put marbles (just make sure their sanitized) in your carboy to fill up space. However in your case it would be alot of marbles. I am also doing the Chrushendo Syrah and will be doing my final racking on the 4th. I had to top up with a half bottle of Tablas Creek Syrah on the last racking and am thinking of using the marbles in the last one. I'll let you know how it goes.


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## pkcook (Jul 1, 2006)

PWP,


My wife likes sweet wine and only sweet wine. I prefer dry, but at least half my wine is sweet



. She is the Queen of the castle and what the Queen likes, I provide as best I can. Makes the atmostphere around here much better



.


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## PolishWineP (Jul 2, 2006)

blongusa,


Yes, the marbles will work, and yes, it can take a lot of marbles. We have a full ice cream bucket and another container of marbles. They're kind of like a lot of other wine making equipment, it takes time to work up a good collection.


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## paubin (Jul 4, 2006)

Good call on the marbles blongusa! And like PWP says "a lot of them".



My wife also loves the sweet wines, such as concord or any
Lambrusco type wine. It's nice because if I am buying them due to a low
stock currently, they are cheap as heck! The nice part is she knows
they are cheap and doesn't care! As said above, A happy wife is a happy
home!



Pete


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## Bill B (Jul 4, 2006)

Winesnob, The best method I have found is to get a can of( Wine Preserver) ts an can of inert gas just lift the the airlock slightly insert the small tube that comes with the can, give a couple of 1 second sprays and that's it. This works by laying a layer of inert blanket of inert gas on the surface. Wineries have been using this for years.


Bill


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## winesnob (Jul 6, 2006)

All great suggestions. I'll keep those in mind, but I will need more carboys reguardless to make more wine.


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## bj4271 (Jul 31, 2006)

Bill B,


Where do you get the inert gas?


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## Wade E (Jul 31, 2006)

My wife only drinks my Sweet fruit wines. I started making wines
because we went to a winery in Ct. called Jones's Winery and they had
two desert wines. One was raspberry and yhe other black currant. She
loved so much that we had to go there twice a month and buy some. They
were both *$13.50 for a .375 size bottle.* If I didn't learn how to make these fast we were going to be in the poor house with an unhappy wife also.




She now likes my black currant even better. But now she wants more and more and more.


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## Danny (Aug 1, 2006)

Have a 5 gallon carboy I'd used for beer. Plan on using it to bulk age down the road (and bottle the rest). Stopped making beer, so don't have any other use for it.


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