In over my head lol.

[Jared Retter]

Well. I have 3 varietals going, merlot, Viognier, and chardonnay. I thought it would be great but now I realize why barrels and large containers are used... I am at 25 carboys to manage lol. How in the world am I going to get most of these into ML? This will take forever. most of the Viognier and some of chard I wont run through ml or only part way. Then do I use potassium sorbet to stop the ml when desired? Preferred ML to buy?

 

[Boatboy24]

Do not use sorbate on an MLF wine. It will end up smelling like geraniums.

 

[jgmann67]

When your MLF is complete, rack and dose with KMeta. Let it sit for a few months and rack/dose again. Then, dose it every three months till it's clear and you're ready to bottle. Rack/dose and bottle away.

 

[askins3097]

I’m in a similar situation... too many carboys. I’m seriously considering selling some off next year and using that money to put towards a small (25ish gallon) stainless steel tank. I think that would be much better and easier to manage versus 4-5 carboys.

 

[whackfol]

My first step away from glass carboys was old SS beer kegs. You can pull the tube out of the middle and it will hold 15+ gallons. Be aware of the sources as most are the "property of" a brewery. I got mine from a brewery for the scrap value. They were being retired because of the exterior condition. There are 1/4 barrels also.

 

[CDrew]

I mentioned before that as an intermediate step, the Intellitanks are pretty cool. They take up the floor space of a carboy and hold 15 gallons. They also have sanitary fittings to really professionalize your home level wine making. I just ordered 3 more yesterday. And if/when you outgrow those, the tanks themselves will still be useful. I put a couple of pics in the Syrah/Primitivo thread.

I considered flex tanks too, but these seemed more useful overall for me.

But you have a good problem-too much wine!

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0..._s_Manual.compressed.pdf?18171772484100971021

 

[Stressbaby]

If I were you I'd get those carboys off of the concrete.

 

[CDrew]

If I were you I'd get those carboys off of the concrete.

I'll bite. Why? Breakage? Most if not all wineries I have ever been to have everything on a concrete pad.

It's seems like the concrete would help stabilize the temperature in this case.

I like carboys in milk crates to slightly decrease the risk of breakage and to provide handles to move them around. But I have set them directly on my garage floor which is concrete.

 

[Stressbaby]

I'll bite. Why? Breakage? Most if not all wineries I have ever been to have everything on a concrete pad.

It's seems like the concrete would help stabilize the temperature in this case.

I like carboys in milk crates to slightly decrease the risk of breakage and to provide handles to move them around. But I have set them directly on my garage floor which is concrete.

Risk of breakage
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/carboys-on-concrete.14640/

 

[cmason1957]

I'll bite. Why? Breakage? Most if not all wineries I have ever been to have everything on a concrete pad.

It's seems like the concrete would help stabilize the temperature in this case.

I like carboys in milk crates to slightly decrease the risk of breakage and to provide handles to move them around. But I have set them directly on my garage floor which is concrete.

I put this kind of flooring down all over my winemaking area. I once had an empty carboy slip from my grip as I moved it to clean it. It bounced, but didn't break. I don't remember buying them at Home Depot, but that's where I found them when searching for them. Many places sell these. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ottoman...ercise-Tile-Mat-6-Pack-EFM-24-Black/302692940

 

[winemaker81]

The mats are a great idea. The only downside I can see is cleanup when wine or beer gets spilled.

But I'd rather have to pull the mats up and clean them (we use cmason's model under our Bowflex, so I'm very familiar with it) than clean up concrete after breaking a carboy. The mats are very flexible; they put together and take apart easily.

I've never broken a carboy, but I cracked one. Didn't realize it at the time -- I spotted it when I looked at it the next day and saw it was down a couple of quarts ... which was puddled on the floor. :-(