# ITALIAN CARBOYS



## NorthernWinos (Nov 11, 2008)

I ran into town very early this morning to grab some vittles and made a quick stop at the Health Food/Home Brewing Store [with a few winemaking things]....

All they had on hand was Italian Carboys....they have ridges on the sides....

They look smaller than the Mexican Carboys with smooth sides....

Questions....





Will it hold exactly the same volume as the smooth sided carboys...




When racking will I have to be on my toes watching incase there is a small overflow....




*Edited by: Northern Winos *


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## Dean (Nov 11, 2008)

Italian carboys with ridges are not made the same as the mexican carboys! I should know as I have a lot of both (way too many at 30+). At any rate, I usually bulk age in the mexican and use the italian for secondary. They usually vary in volume from 23L all the way up to 24.5L, which can be a pain. I've **never** seen them less than a full 23L. You usually have to give these ones a quick twist back and forth while clearing every week or so, as sediment tends to stick to the ridges. These are all handmade and while I've broken a few mexican ones, I've never had an italian one break on me, even with bumps, taps, and other not so nice handling procedures.

Just be aware that they make take more wine to top up than most, hence why I use mexican for bulk aging and italian for secondary.


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## NorthernWinos (Nov 11, 2008)

It said 23L on the box....but you never know.

Even the Mexican [smooth] ones we have, we notice one of them is slightly bigger, maybe half a bottle....It's okay siphoning into it, but siphoning out of it into the smaller ones can get messy. Next time we are siphoning to or from it I am going to mark it....

We have some 5 gallon ones that have the ridges...not sure where they were made...I do see the sediment cling onto those ridges....so figured this one would do it too. 

Guess we will all have to get use to the ridged ones now.

Anyone know why Mexico quit making them???? They use them a lot down there for their bottled water...Surely they won't buy them from Italy.


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## jobe05 (Nov 11, 2008)

Northern Winos said:


> Anyone know why Mexico quit making them????



Well..........................

Nope...... Not gonna do it............

Was gonna make a joke about them all moving here and no one left there to make them.....................

But I won't.....................


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## NorthernWinos (Nov 11, 2008)

jobe05 said:


> Northern Winos said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone know why Mexico quit making them????
> ...



Suppose????


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## Scott (Nov 12, 2008)

I heard the ones from Italy are ridged for the wines pleasure.






Jobe started it.


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## JimCook (Nov 12, 2008)

My personal volumetric tests have had the Italian 23L carboys up by a bottle over the Mexican 23L carboys. If you have both and don't want to do extra topping up, it might be best to run a secondary fermentation in the Italian carboy and bulk age/clear in the Mexican carboy. 


- Jim


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## Rocky_Top (Dec 13, 2008)

I am with Jim, I rack from primary to 6 1/2 gallon carboy. this leaves space at the top. Then I rack to an Italian carboy then to a Mexican carboy. You do not have to top off. ( It can get messy but you get to drink the extra.)


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## NorthernWinos (Dec 13, 2008)

Rocky Top said:


> I am with Jim, I rack from primary to 6 1/2 gallon carboy. this leaves space at the top. Then I rack to an Italian carboy then to a Mexican carboy. You do not have to top off. ( It can get messy but you get to drink the extra.)



I have one 6 gallon carboy that is a little bit smaller than the others....by about 1/2 bottle...Sometimes....If I wanted to drink the extra it would be off the floor...





I still have to remember to mark that one....


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## Rocky_Top (Dec 13, 2008)

After the first few times I put a catch pan under the carboy that I am racking to . Not to say that I am too good to lap it up off the floor.


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## NorthernWinos (Jan 2, 2009)

Racked from the Italian Carboy and....Yes...it is a tad larger than at least one of the other 6 gallon carboys.

I had a good idea it would be as when we racked into it we had to add a little extra wine.

I put a hose clamp on the siphon hose and it worked great to stop the flow.

Also marked the other 6 gallon carboys as to which ones are larger than the other...That should lessen the surprises in the future.....


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## grapeman (Jan 2, 2009)

NW instead of the hose clamp which could be a bit slow to stop flow, I use one of these sized to the hose I use.

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<T>
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<TD =#ffff00>Item Number</TD>
<TD>4860</TD></TR>
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<TD =#ffff00>Description</TD>
<TD>


Tubing Clamp Large, fits 1/2


Large, fits 1/2" tubing





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<TD =#ffff00>Current Price</TD>
<TD>$1.99</TD></TR>
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<TD =#ffff00>Status</TD>
<TD>Stocked</TD></TR>
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<TD =#ffff00>Order</TD>
<TD>Order</TD></TR>
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They just pinch the tube and make the flow stop right away.


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## NorthernWinos (Jan 2, 2009)

That is what I used....It worked pretty good.

My hoses are getting pretty stiff with age...time to cut off some new pieces from the roll.


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