Short term storage.

[Cosyden]

I’m very new to all this so please excuse me if I’m on the wrong path here.

I’ve got the chance of a load of new food safe 5ltr plastic jerry cans. Is any one using similar for storage (short or medium term). I’m building up my equipment but there’s a good chance I’ll be making wine quicker than I have storage for.

As a point aside, I’m also wondering how long the wine would stay fresh in one once the first glass is taken. Would it be a day, a couple of days, a week etc? We go away in the camper van a fair bit. I’m thinking I could use these Jerry cans in the camper but it would take us at least a week to drink 5ltrs.

Thanks.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Very much depends on temperature. Have you seen the vacuvin bottle stoppers? They come with a pump handle, a check valve in the stopper allows a vacuum to be pulled on the bottle. Can you rig up a rubber stopper, maybe a universal stopper, to allow using the vacuvin? It might give you a few more days.

 

[Cosyden]

Thanks Bob, I haven’t come across vacuvin but I’ll have a look.

 

[BigDaveK]

I use the grolsch flip top bottles for half of my batches of skeeter pee and dragon blood. Seems a waste to use a bottle and cork for just a month or two or three.

I also save and use plastic soda bottles for my hard seltzer. Haven't used for wine, though.

There's also collapsible water bottles. Perhaps that's an option for your trips.

As far as how long it will last once opened? I've never had an opened bottle last more than 2 evenings so I don't know.

 

[Rice_Guy]

The first question is what type of plastic is the Gerry can made out of?

The plastic camping containers I have are LDPE which has an oxygen permibility coefficient of 100 to 140. In comparison PET (Better Bottle/ many juice bottles) and EVOH (wine bag liners for box wine) are rated as <1. Glass is best with 0 oxygen transmission per day.
I use LDPE close to bottling for short term storage and for freezing must/ juice. My one test with wine in a cubitainer for six months accomplished slow oxidation producing a sherry like flavor, ,,, and I won’t do that again.
Some fermenters are HDPE which has an oxygen transmission rating of 50. If early as first racking and still out gassing I would use it, ,,, but not for months of storage. Small surface areas don't transmit much so we use them even though the rating per square meter is bad, example silicone as burper corks are rated at 40,700 cubic centimeters oxygen per square meter x day.

Look for the type of plastic and then hunt out “oxygen transmission coefficient” for it.

Fresh question? If you are dealing with a large volume 5 or 10 liters consider a bag in box set up with no head space. For smaller 750 ml containers the vacuum pump with rubber check valve noted above is excellent (ex. VacuVin/ Metrokane/ Sharper Image/ Head Space Eliminator). IF you are 25% air/ 75% wine you probably will taste the difference in a month with country wine/ white grape but red grape has antioxidants so it should survive the month.

 

[Cosyden]

Interesting stuff @Rice_Guy. Another wormhole to get lost in.
I’m going to assume the Jerry cans are HDPE but won’t know until the weekend when I can pick them up. They are conveniently the same volume as a 1 gallon demijohn which I plan to store my wine in long term. So, when we pack up the camper I was thinking I would just dump a demijohn of wine into a plastic Jerry can and throw it in with the camping gear. I think that will work.
From what you’ve said, medium /long term storage in plastic is probably worth avoiding.
Thanks.

 

[Rice_Guy]

For commercial accounts where one has the specification of the film structure, plastic is growing market share. For retail distribution it costs less and performs as well. Some functions are better than glass, ex EVOH bags work better for holding the variable quantity of wine used to top off barrels every month or they meet UN specifications for emergency foods distribution.
A reasonable assumption to make is that reusing the bag from bag in box wine or reusing the PET bottle from liquor has barrier properties so it will work well on your camper. . . . I don’t avoid plastics. I have fermented in flexible films/ rigid plastics and will again.

From what you’ve said, medium /long term storage in plastic is probably worth avoiding.

 

[jswordy]

I use the grolsch flip top bottles for half of my batches of skeeter pee and dragon blood. Seems a waste to use a bottle and cork for just a month or two or three.

I also save and use plastic soda bottles for my hard seltzer. Haven't used for wine, though.

There's also collapsible water bottles. Perhaps that's an option for your trips.

As far as how long it will last once opened? I've never had an opened bottle last more than 2 evenings so I don't know.

Yep, I have bottled in beer bottles with metal caps, too. I have 40 of those Grolsch bottles a guy gave me when he went to kegs, and this might be a good use for them. I prefer glass. I have six or eight (I forget) plastic carboys, too, that I've never used.