questions about bulk aging in a cornelius keg

[jazzibear]

All of my carboys are full and I need to rack my wine. I was planning on going out to buy a couple more carboys, but I don't think I'll ever again be doing this much wine at one time (26 carboys), so I don't feel good about buying more. Then I got thinking about using our corney kegs for bulk aging. We have them for beer, but we haven't been making much beer lately. I did find that several people on here use them for bulk aging. All we have for gas is CO2, no nitrogen. If I do need to use gas for this, I would like to avoid having to buy nitrogen. If it's necessary, I will, but I want to avoid it. I'm not planning to keg and tap the wine in the end, I will be bottling it. I'm really just thinking of it as a stainless steel carboy. Here are my questions:

1. For bulk aging, is there a problem with just filling the keg up to the top and sealing it as usual, but without gas? I'm thinking the rubber gaskets should be at least as good as the silicone bung I would use in a carboy. I've read things about needing to add gas for pressure for a true seal, but I don't think I was getting that with the silicone bungs anyway. If I need to use gas, is there a minimum amount of CO2 I can use that won't put more CO2 in the wine?

2. Does anyone have any other thoughts or input on this?

I thought I had several questions, but it really just boils down to the basic question about the need to use gas or not. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Also, these wines are just finished fermenting, I still will need to rack a few times along the way. I'm just thinking of it as a carboy.

 

[jazzibear]

Well, I was all worried about it, but I ended up doing it anyway. I decided to try it with the wine I have the least invested in, 10 gallons of Catawba. When I was sanitizing the kegs and running sanitizer through them, I found that 5 psi of the CO2 gave it enough pressure to seal the lid. My husband is the primary brewer and I'm the primary winemaker, so I haven't done much with the kegs. Anyway, it should be sealed enough and I really don't think it will carbonate with that amount of CO2. Anyway, 2 free carboys is enough to be able to rack the other wines now, so it should be fine. I over analyze these things...but it all usually turns out fine. After looking at so many different thoughts about these things online, (not just one winemaking talk, but also elsewhere on line) it can get confusing.

 

[ILWIIA]

Older thread and I noticed nobody ever responded - can you provide insight on bulk aging in corny kegs? It seems to be the right move if you're trying to limit oxidation and ease in transfers (using inert gas to push the wine around). Can you provide insight into how it's gone for you? Why wouldn't aging in kegs be a good thing, even if you don't have enough to fill a full 5 gallon keg? Can you flush the headspace with argon and leave it in the keg with argon filling headspace? On certain websites it says wine will only stay good 1 - 3 months in a keg that is tapped, but if it's being replaced by argon, wouldn't it presumably stay fresh indefinitely as it's not being exposed to anything but inert gas?

 

[Johny99]

Shouldn’t be an issue as long as the gas is maintained. I know pros that use such a setup for their topping wine.

 

[balatonwine]

argon filling headspace

Or CO2 or N2. Both are inert to wine, and are cheaper.

And, no, contrary to popular opinion, argon does not "blanket wine" better because it is heaver. Gravity does not work on gases quite that way, because molecular diffusion is far more important.