Fermenting Rose

[rebusify]

I have a 50 gallon stainless steel fermenting tank. The question I have is about the amount of juice that will be in it for fermenting. I'm only going to have about 15 gallons of juice that I'll be fermenting. Is this going to be an issue since there will be more air in the tank? I will have a lid on with bung/airlock but curious if the air in it will be an issue. Thank you for your replies.

 

[Johnd]

I have a 50 gallon stainless steel fermenting tank. The question I have is about the amount of juice that will be in it for fermenting. I'm only going to have about 15 gallons of juice that I'll be fermenting. Is this going to be an issue since there will be more air in the tank? I will have a lid on with bung/airlock but curious if the air in it will be an issue. Thank you for your replies.

That’s a pretty hefty amount of airspace, and color is critical on whites / rose’s, I’d be more inclined to use three 6 gallon carboys or a 20 gallon fermenter, just to be safe.

 

[rebusify]

Thanks for the reply. Couldn't I somehow pump the air out? I'm trying to avoid buying a 20 gallon fermenting tank.

 

[Johnd]

Thanks for the reply. Couldn't I somehow pump the air out? I'm trying to avoid buying a 20 gallon fermenting tank.

Technically, once fermentation starts, the CO2 will “blanket” and protect the wine from oxidation, but that much air space would make me concerned about air mixing in. Some folks do use inert gas like CO2 or argon and slowly bleed it into the container, for aging with headspace, I suppose you could do that if you can’t get a little smaller vessel.
A 20 gallon Brute will suffice as a fermenter for pretty cheap.

 

[rebusify]

I just picked up 2, 15 gallon food grade containers so I'll use those for fermenting. My vineyard is newly planted (1 month ago) so it won't be ready for a couple years so I've bought 200lbs of grapes from a local vineyard that I will work with this fall. I figure that with 200lbs I'll get around 30 gallons so I could divide those into the two 15 gallon containers and ferment away. Thanks again for your reply.

Got a good step by step instruction for making Rose? I've been piecing together some stuff from the Internet but not 100% sure if the steps are right. Not sure if I can post those in another post I suppose.

 

[Newlyretired]

You are correct about the CO2 acting as a blanket against oxygen. The effectiveness or concern would be based on the exposed surface area, if the tank is small in diameter oxygen should not be a concern, if the tank has a large diameter, exposed surface, than O2 would definitely be a concern

 

[jpwatkins9]

My Rose’ is still ticking along, been 10 days since I pitched the yeast. Smell great and looks good. S.G. is almost down to first racking, just below 1.000. I like my Rose’ on the dry side, so will let it go a few more days.

 

[sour_grapes]

You are correct about the CO2 acting as a blanket against oxygen. The effectiveness or concern would be based on the exposed surface area, if the tank is small in diameter oxygen should not be a concern, if the tank has a large diameter, exposed surface, than O2 would definitely be a concern

This comment is not necessarily aimed at you, but I don't want later readers to get the wrong idea. Just to be clear, the protective effect @Johnd was referring to is only operative during the active fermentation, when copious amounts of CO2 are evolving from the wine.

For longer times, i.e., during storage, there is no "blanketing" effect, regardless of vessel diameter. Gases mix freely on the timescale of a few minutes. Absent any newly evolved CO2 to push the headspace volume up from the bottom, any oxygen in your headspace will have access to your wine.