Disappointed!

[Ohio Bob]

Thank you, I will let my husband know your opinion and ask why he had left this much headspace.

So I assume you are the brains of the operation and he is the labor?

 

[Musissa]

So I assume you are the brains of the operation and he is the labor?

He is the labor and brains and provides finances for this project. I am only allowed to ask questions here on the forum and share with him interesting and useful information. Sometimes I am allowed to ask him questions about the decisions he makes .

 

[Ohio Bob]

He is the labor and brains and provides finances for this project. I am only allowed to ask questions here on the forum and share with him interesting and useful information. Sometimes I am allowed to ask him questions about the decisions he makes .

So kind of similar to my wife, borderline interest but definitely holds veto power.

 

[WineHombre]

We got our own 8+lbs of Frontenac, 1+lbs of Cab Franc and 10+lbs of Cab Sauvignon of destemmed grapes, pure berries only. We also received 18 gallons of must from CA. After the primary fermentation has ended there are 11.5 gallons of wine-to-be. My husband thinks there should be more liquid. 5-gal carboy on the left has free run liquid, others have pressed one.

Nope. That's not correct. I had 230lbs (23 gallons) of fresh Cab Sauv grapes and yeilded 13 gallons. You got a good yeild from what you had.

 

[Musissa]

Nope. That's not correct. I had 230lbs (23 gallons) of fresh Cab Sauv grapes and yeilded 13 gallons. You got a good yeild from what you had.

Thank you, good to know that everything is fine.

 

[GSMChris]

I agree with Ohio Bob - too much headspace. I also think your airlocks are overfilled. There should be a max fill line on the side of the airlock to tell you when to stop adding liquid.

On the subject of yield, the normal expectation for Cabernet grapes is 60% conversion. If you have 5 gallons of must, you can expect 3 gallons of wine. Rhone and Zin yields are higher - around 70%. So 11.5 is much higher than expected - the traditional metrics suggest 9 gallons.

 

[winemaker81]

We got our own 8+lbs of Frontenac, 1+lbs of Cab Franc and 10+lbs of Cab Sauvignon of destemmed grapes, pure berries only. We also received 18 gallons of must from CA. After the primary fermentation has ended there are 11.5 gallons of wine-to-be. My husband thinks there should be more liquid. 5-gal carboy on the left has free run liquid, others have pressed one.

I'm the outlier on this one.

During the first few weeks, post-pressing, the headspace is not a problem. The wine is heavily outgassing so the headspace is full of CO2. While the emitted CO2 mixes quickly with the air in the headspace, the air at the top of the headspace is pushed out by simple displacement. Over the course of a few days, the headspace is primarily CO2.

How long does this situation hold true? I have no certain answer. I typically do no more than 3 weeks.

However, folks on this forum doing EM have wine setting for 6+ weeks with no problems, so I'm probably overly cautious. At the same time, once oxidation starts, it's too late to fix, so I'll stick with my personal comfort zone.

In a normal carboy, I typically go with the wine 2" to 3" below the bung. I've tried smaller spaces and had the wine blow through the airlock when I had a temperature increase in the cellar.

I also consider the volume of the headspace vs the volume of the wine. I add K-meta at each racking and every 3 months during bulk aging, and that addresses O2.