# How many bottles do you get from 6 gal. carboy?



## Gekko4321

I bottled my first batch yesterday and had my recommended 30 bottles cleaned, santized, and ready to go. I left about a bottle behind due to sediment and then proceeded to spill the equivalent of a bottle on the floor thru various mistakes. Somehow I still filled all 30 750 ml bottles and had enough left over for a 375 ml! This is a good problem to have but now I need to rethink how many bottles I need. Have you had a similar experience?


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## robie

Same. Used to get only about 28, but got better at salvaging more otherwise wasted wine at racking time.


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## Runningwolf

Typically 30 bottles to 6 gallons but the new carboys are bigger than 6 gallons


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## Gekko4321

That is what I am wondering. I notice much of the equipment I have acquired never really specs out to the precise measurements. It is much harder to gauge with the 6 gallon carboys. I wonder how this affects things and also wonder if that explains why I had to pour 4 bottles to top off!


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## Brent2489

I usually prep 32 bottles. Can always put them back in the rack!!!


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## Gekko4321

Yes Brent, no doubt! It is not a bad problem to have. George tells me the 6 gallon carboys he sells are usually 6 gallon + 1 liter. FYI.


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## Bartman

Topping off can be tricky when you rack between different caboys (especially Better Bottle and glass), because the volumes are a little different. After a few kits/rackings, you get a feel for which carboys are slightly larger and which ones are smaller (as long as you keep the total number of carboys under 15-20 or so!).
That's one more reason I prefer to use glass marbles/beads to top off/displace air at the top of the carboy - with enough marbles, you can accommodatethe different carboys and the different kits. Some kits have a little more sediment/volume early on, so you might start off in your largest carboy and rack down to the slightly smaller size as more sediment falls out and isleft behind. You still end up with 29-31 bottles, but early on, the total volume is more like 32-33 bottles (~6.5 gallons). Another 'trick' that I use that is not really widely accepted (I think) is to hold out some of the water from the start on the lower end kits, because they tend to finish a little 'thinner' than your higher-end kits. So, instead of adding exactly enough water to 7 liters of concentrate to get to the 23 liter mark on the fermenter, I hold out some of the water at the outset so it's about 22 liters or a little more. It usually improves the lower end wines a little bit, but also makes for trickier racking from the outset, because the kit never fills my smallest 6 gallon carboy by itself.


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## robie

That's why I love my slightly smaller 3 Mexican carboys. They are a little smaller, so like Bart suggested, I rack into the larger carboys from primary, then rack from those larger ones down to my smaller Mexican carboys after clearing.


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## Gekko4321

Brilliant! Unfortunately I bought both my carboys from George and they are identical! The marbles idea is a great one though. I thought of buying a 5 gal., a 1 gal., and a 1/2 gal. but realized I was getting a little out of control early on (still am in other ways though). The tip on straightening thinner wines makes logical sense to me (although purests may object). Always great things to learn here.


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