Topping off

bein_bein · Feb 6, 2008

Hi all,
Just got done with the first racking of a raspberry/blackberry blend from the primary. I was making a 3 gal batch and I slightly oversized my batch so I would have a little extra for topping off my carboys as I rack off the lees. Turned out I had about 2 liters after filling my 1 gal carboys. After some thought I came up with a neat little mini-carboy setup that I thought I'd share. It consists of 2 2 liter bottles and a 12" piece of rubber tubing. I drilled a hole in the cap to be used on the "mini" carboy, inserted the tubing. Then filled the other 2 liter with water and put the free end of the tubing in that bottle. Viola...a mini carboy with it's own airlock so the topping wine doesn't spoil.

Here's a pic of what it looks like.

scubaman2151 · Feb 6, 2008

Very nice. How did you make the seal actually hold? Some type of sealent?

Scuba

bein_bein · Feb 6, 2008

No, I just used a drill bit that was the next size smaller than the tubing and then press fit the tube in the hole. The tube is flexible enough that it will seal itself. I could tell it was working because by the time I got my camera there were already bubbles coming out of the tube in the water bottle.

scubaman2151 · Feb 6, 2008

Very nice indeed.

Scuba

cpfan · Feb 7, 2008

Nicely done, yes.

But bein' sorta simple minded, I would have just found my #3 bung, stuck an air lock in it, sanitized the contraption, and stuck it in the first bottle.

Stve

bein_bein · Feb 7, 2008

That would have been the ideal situation,i agree. However when it's 9:00 at night and you just got done racking the wine after you have been fighting the snow storm outside for 1 1/2 hours clearing snow (note the window in the background), the roads are treacherous at best, you don't HAVE a #3 bung and another airlock and the nearest store is a 30mile round trip....well you have to use what you have on hand.....