carboy levels keep dropping

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boyfriend?! thankfully we aren’t at that point yet. High school starts next year tho..... yeah. can’t wait 😑

My wife, only girl, 6 brothers says her mom used to say with a son, you have to worry about one talliwacker. With a daughter you have to worry about them all.

Having two daughters, it is true.
 
I must say that when I wrote this, I figgered it was the 13 y-o. But then perhaps that is because, like you, I had a miscreant past! My brother got busted for drinking before graduation, and wasn't allowed to attend graduation. Not HS graduation -- 8th grade graduation! (St. Jerome's). I did get kicked out of a Judge football game or two for similar reasons...

And where is @Paulietivo ? Care to weigh in, Paulie! :)
 
Good thing you know construction trades. Time to build an aging enclosure with a lock on the door!

Or-You could fill a couple of carboys with Carlo Rossi, and substitute them for your good wine. Then hide the good wine where only you know where it is.

Or you could bottle, which would likely discourage further theft.
 
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Maybe it is time to make an extra gallon, when in carboys have the gallon sitting alongside with a sign that says sample here. You can always have a little sample and something to top up with. Arne.
 
About the possibility of changing volume due to dissolved gas... I am finding this much too interesting. Experience tells me that degassing wine does not change its volume to any measurable degree. A quick Google search found this:

More hunting discovered other things that support that.
  • The entire fermentation of 6 gal of wine produces about 3 lbs of CO2. Does anybody consider that source when they're complaining about cars' and cows' (and refineries') carbon footprint? The amount left in the wine before degassing would be a very, very small fraction of that. Pick a number after comparing the amount of bubbles and foam produced during fermentation to what's produced when degassing. 1% I think would be a very high guess. At 1%, that's about 15 grams. 1 tablespoon. Adding a Tbs of anything to 6 gal wouldn't raise the level measurably, much less a Tbs of something that dissolves.
  • A can of Coke has about 2 g CO2. That's about 130 g per 6 gal. And I would say judging by the feel in my mouth, at least 10 times more than my non-degassed wine, probably more. Again, very conservatively, less than 13 g.
  • The source I first quoted gives solubility of ammonia as almost 2000 times higher than CO2 (in water), and that 90 g of ammonia will dissolve in 1 L of water at 0°C. Less than 2/3 of that at 25° (room temp). So about 3/4 g CO2 per 6 gal.
  • OK, I'm satisfied. Enough time wasted. 😁
This is much more interesting than what I'm supposed to be spending my time on.
Really interesting points about the amount of CO2 in wine. As for the can of coke, most of the CO2 is stored as carbonic acid (H2CO3H2CO3). When the can is opened or shook it breaks down into CO2 and water. I guess my point is since the can of coke stores most of the CO2 as carbonic acid, the actual amount of CO2 gas in the coke at any given time (saturation) is far less than 2g.
OK, so how much CO2 can 6 gallons of water actually hold at saturation (and buy the way I'm going to assume alcohol holds roughly the same amount as water.)? The solubility of CO2 in water at 25 °C and 1 atmosphere pressure is 0.034 mol/L. To calculate the amount of CO2 at saturation in a 6 gal carboy: 23 L x .034mol/L x 44g/mol = 34.4g of CO2. Anything more than that amount and it will be bubbling out the excess.
 
Really interesting points about the amount of CO2 in wine. As for the can of coke, most of the CO2 is stored as carbonic acid (H2CO3H2CO3). When the can is opened or shook it breaks down into CO2 and water. I guess my point is since the can of coke stores most of the CO2 as carbonic acid, the actual amount of CO2 gas in the coke at any given time (saturation) is far less than 2g.
OK, so how much CO2 can 6 gallons of water actually hold at saturation (and buy the way I'm going to assume alcohol holds roughly the same amount as water.)? The solubility of CO2 in water at 25 °C and 1 atmosphere pressure is 0.034 mol/L. To calculate the amount of CO2 at saturation in a 6 gal carboy: 23 L x .034mol/L x 44g/mol = 34.4g of CO2. Anything more than that amount and it will be bubbling out the excess.
Well, it was a fun thought experiment, but I have to admit, alas, my logic was wrong. :( I believe your calculation is correct: at saturation at room temperature there would be 34.4 g of CO2 dissolved in 23 L of water, and very close to that in wine. And my statement that adding 15 ml of something to a carboy would not be measurable is false. Once the wine is into the neck of a carboy, 15 ml should change the level by 3/4". I still maintain that degassing wine produces no significant change in volume, from experience, but it must be due to the chemistry involved, and not due to the amount of CO2 involved.
 
And where is @Paulietivo ? Care to weigh in, Paulie! :)
Wow, I think my first wine was over my grandparents house and they would pour us all some in a shotglass, lol.
Then in another life I was an alter boy. One would be the lookout and the other would pound right out of the bottle. We had responsibility of filling the priests little glass jars before mass. 😆
High-school forgettaboutit. A friend of mine was puking in St. Huberts bathroom during one of their dances. He refused to tell the priests and nuns his real name. He told them his name was "Frank Rizzo". Yes he was a former mayer of Philadelphia but also the name used by the phone pranksters the jersey Boys. Someone passing by recognized him and gave the nun his phone # but not the name. They called his house and asked for Frank Rizzo! Lmao. Best part was that his mother knew it was her son because he would always prank call people and use that name.
I also had my share of puking in Judges bathroom during dances. It wasn't wine that did me in but rather 40s of St. Ides because its all we could get.
Crazy times !
 
Wow, I think my first wine was over my grandparents house and they would pour us all some in a shotglass, lol.
Then in another life I was an alter boy. One would be the lookout and the other would pound right out of the bottle. We had responsibility of filling the priests little glass jars before mass. 😆
High-school forgettaboutit. A friend of mine was puking in St. Huberts bathroom during one of their dances. He refused to tell the priests and nuns his real name. He told them his name was "Frank Rizzo". Yes he was a former mayer of Philadelphia but also the name used by the phone pranksters the jersey Boys. Someone passing by recognized him and gave the nun his phone # but not the name. They called his house and asked for Frank Rizzo! Lmao. Best part was that his mother knew it was her son because he would always prank call people and use that name.
I also had my share of puking in Judges bathroom during dances. It wasn't wine that did me in but rather 40s of St. Ides because its all we could get.
Crazy times !

The Frank Rizzo story was pretty funny!

Yes, the least familiar part of your story to me was "St. Ides." I had to google it, because they didn't start making it until 6 years after I graduated! (Yes, I am old...) But the rest never changes!
 
Back to the box wine-my wife is always picky about the wine she likes. Likes the "good" Sauvignon Blanc as opposed to the "cheap" Sauvignon Blanc. If I buy the Bota Box Sauvignon Blanc I get the look of disapproval. But same deal, we had people over (back when you still could) and the ladies were chatting inside and the guys were outside by the fire drinking red wine and planning our Alaska trip. The "good" white wine ran out and the Bota Box of Sauvignon Blanc was just fine-no complaints were heard.

And BTW the Bota SB is pretty darn good in my opinion(I used it to top the storage vessel of the SB I made) and a lot better than a lot of other inexpensive Sauvignon Blancs.



The memory of high school boyfriends is still fresh in my mind, even though daughter is now through College, married and living in LA. Tricky navigation for sure. Good luck, glad it's you and not me.;)
Bota Box wine to top off is exactly what I use or whatever is on sale. I did just find these box wines produced from Chateau St. Michelle in Washington State. Not bad at all for top up or sipping.
 

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The Frank Rizzo story was pretty funny!

Yes, the least familiar part of your story to me was "St. Ides." I had to google it, because they didn't start making it until 6 years after I graduated! (Yes, I am old...) But the rest never changes!
I never touched that malt liquor again! Lol. You know at that age you get what you can, salute!
 
I never touched that malt liquor again! Lol. You know at that age you get what you can, salute!

My dad (93 years young), now that I am older and make wine had told me why he almost never drinks wine. It is basically that same story, except sweet strawberry wine, this would have been about 1940 or so. He still can't stand the smell of thought of any kind of wine. Now a wee nip of Scotch ever so often.
 
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