Question about racking

[Charlietuna]

I have 2 fermenting buckets & a bunch of empty carboys right now. I have an apple that the SG is 1.030 & a concord that is 1.01 in the buckets. I have a kit I want to start today & some skeeter pee also.

Both recipes say to ferment dry in primary & rack. A lot of recipes say ferment to 1.0?(2-5) then transfer to carboy.

Will I hurt either of these batches by racking to a carboy so I can use the buckets? I would normally leave these in the buckets until the strong fermentation stopped 5-7 days & sg of 1.000 or less, but I'd really like to use the buckets for these batches.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[ffemt128]

I would say the 1.010 bucket would be okay to transfer, I would give the other a little more time. Pee doesn't take that long. Remember patience is the key.

 

[Charlietuna]

I completely agree with patience. & I'm sure that gets easier as your cellar fills. I just have very limited time & happened to have a few free hours today & really wanted to get these started. Luckily, I found an old beer fermented that worked fine. I also like to do 2 batches at once. The hardest part of wine making(other than patience) is sanitizing. Making a second when everything is clean & ready to go saves me time & effort.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Lurker]

I completely agree with patience. & I'm sure that gets easier as your cellar fills. I just have very limited time & happened to have a few free hours today & really wanted to get these started. Luckily, I found an old beer fermented that worked fine. I also like to do 2 batches at once. The hardest part of wine making(other than patience) is sanitizing. Making a second when everything is clean & ready to go saves me time & effort.

Thanks,
Brian

Charlie, what you say makes sense and I understand your thoughts, however, if you go to the carboys too early, you will run into fermentation that is too heavy for the bottle and it will overflow into your lock and wherever else. Your choice.

 

[Charlietuna]

I only made the one. thanks for the advice. I left the apple & concord in the buckets for a few more days. I have a busy plan for the fermentation buckets & have stocked up on supplies. I'm doing 2 skeeter pee's, one black berry cab, a niagara along with the apple & concord in there now. After that I may buy some kits I've not made just to try something new. I really want to stock my cellar over the winter.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[CB750]

6 gallons of wine in a 6 1/2 gallon carboy should never present any blow off problems that beer brewers experience. Once fermentation stops or you stop it and no CO2 is being produced then must be aged in the proper size carboy or topped off to the bottom of the neck.

When I brew beer I use a large 1" diameter hose right in the neck of the carboy and duct tape it in place and put the end in a small bucket of water. Most of the time a lot of crud and hops get blown off the first few days and it is a good thing to get it out of the beer. However, I have never had that kind of activity when I frerment wine in a carboy.

 

[docanddeb]

You can also transfer it to the carboy and just put a clean towel over it held by a tie around the neck until the ferment settles a bit. Unless it's been an unruly ferment, it should be OK.

Debbie

 

[CB750]

You can also transfer it to the carboy and just put a clean towel over it held by a tie around the neck until the ferment settles a bit. Unless it's been an unruly ferment, it should be OK.

Debbie

Why take chances with possible contamination when safer alternatives (bung, or plastic tube from Home Depot are available. Even if you are making a low cost welchs type wine you still have and investment in time and money that should be preserved.

 

[docanddeb]

If one is bent on early transfer, then you can treat it like a fermentation bucket and leave the towel on as you would over the bucket for a couple more days.... then put it under airlock. My guess was that they weren't going out to buy more stuff to make a blow off tube... so make do with what you have. When the SG drops a couple more points, then continue as is the usual custom.

Debbie

 

[Julie]

if you are racking to a carboy and your wine is down between 1.020 - 1.010 add an airlock to the carboy, you will be fine.