First racking: lots of leftover room in carboy

[Ajmassa]

Oh you weren't around about 4 years ago (or was it longer ago) then. Folks were having carboys crack left and right. Almost every day (or so it seemed) and not from bumping, hot water, mishandling. The carboy would be sitting there full and just break.

All of them were reported to have come from China. As I remember the root cause may have been slightly thinner glass than the Italian Carboys. I don't know if quality has improved or not, but I always check and look for Italian or the older Mexican carboys.

Actually I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a Chinese carboy tbh. I know of the standard Italians, and my LHBS has a private supplier making their own (able to give great prices) and great quality, and the smooth side Italian(?).
But haven’t seen or heard of the Chinese type. Gotta check all mine to see. Any unique markings on the bottom of them?

 

[sremick]

??? You could have racked that down to a 5gal. And put the leftover in a bottle. Minimal leftover. No headspace.

I'm sorry, I guess I'm missing something here. If I was 3 bottles short of 6 gallons, then I had 5 gallons + 2 bottles (5 750ml bottles in a gallon). So I would've filled a 5-gal carboy but only 2/5ths of a 1-gal carboy, resulting in most of the 1-gal being empty so still a lot of headspace. Then dividing up the sorbate, sulfate, and 3 packages of fining agents properly would've been complicated. If I had done a 5-gal and then 2x standard 750ml wine bottles (if that's what you meant), the division for the additives would've been even more difficult.

My newbieness is clearly missing something here. Sorry.

 

[sour_grapes]

Oh totally agree I wouldnt top up that much with water! I thought you were saying you would never top up with water.

Well, I never do. Why NOT top up with wine? I, ummm, always have an open bottle of wine going, and it is not like it is going to waste!

 

[John Miller]

Add your chemicals to your not full 6 gal carboy, then rack into a 5 gal and 2 bottles. Then you don't need to worry about dividing up the chemicals. I keep some corks with a hole drilled in them that I can put an airlock in for the bottles

 

[Ajmassa]

You could do all your work in the 6 gal carboy. And then when it’s time to rack off the fining agents- rack to the 5 and 2 bottles.

It’s ok to leave the headspace during the instructions timeline. After the “secondary fermentation” (which is what, another 10 days they say?) it says to rack and set aside for a month correct?
Then degassing, clearing agents , 8 days then rack and bottle or age.

The wines full of co2 before you degas which helps protect it from o2. It’s really not until the end when you need to make sure it’s all topped up

And one quick note- if you fermented dry then you should skip the sorbate. It’s really just a fail safe in case of residual sugar or backsweetening. But with a GSM I assume will be kept dry

 

[G259]

Oh you weren't around about 4 years ago (or was it longer ago) then. Folks were having carboys crack left and right. Almost every day (or so it seemed) and not from bumping, hot water, mishandling. The carboy would be sitting there full and just break.

All of them were reported to have come from China. As I remember the root cause may have been slightly thinner glass than the Italian Carboys. I don't know if quality has improved or not, but I always check and look for Italian or the older Mexican carboys.

My first impression when I saw the words 'Chineese carboy' was 'ooo - no!', I have some 3 gal. Better Bottles. I purchased them after my brother dropped a 5 gallon carboy in our friend's cellar. LOL, I wasn't there but can imagine the outcome. I rib him from time to time about it: 'No, get your hands off my wine, I know what you are capable of!' It'll be a long time 'til that gets old.

 

[skyfire322]

Actually I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a Chinese carboy tbh. I know of the standard Italians, and my LHBS has a private supplier making their own (able to give great prices) and great quality, and the smooth side Italian(?).
But haven’t seen or heard of the Chinese type. Gotta check all mine to see. Any unique markings on the bottom of them?

IIRC, Italian carboys are just thicker and heavier. I saw a few that had "Italy" stamped on the bottom as well. Easiest way to check is by weighing them.

 

[Chuck E]

IIRC, Italian carboys are just thicker and heavier. I saw a few that had "Italy" stamped on the bottom as well. Easiest way to check is by weighing them.

I buy mine used off of Craig's list. They're mostly used Hinckley & Schmidt water carboys. They have ribs moulded into the glass. I do have one without ribs that seems pretty thin. Can't see a "Made in China" label on it though...

 

[mainshipfred]

A lot of the old water carboys didn't have ribs. I have a few and they are very heavy. I too buy mine of of craigslist and have no idea where they come from.

 

[James1955]

Do the headspace eliminators work well and can you just vacuum the air out without adding CO2? I have a small pump.

 

[jgmann67]

Do the headspace eliminators work well and can you just vacuum the air out without adding CO2? I have a small pump.

Mine works great.

 

[sremick]

2nd wine kit, same issue before after racking from pail to 6-gal carboy.

I think I'm going to have to just use my 5-gallon carboys that I was saving for my raspberry wine and use them to rack this into the 2nd time around, +2 bottles (or whatever it takes). It's still giving off CO2 so that blanket plus the insertion of some Private Preserve should protect me until then.