Topping up Carboy?

[vacuumpumpman]

I took this from the website =

the vacuum indicator for suction. If it is collapsed you know that you have more than 10 inches of vacuum. If the bulb is inflated then you have less than 10 inches of vacuum.

I tried headspace eliminator and the snot sucker collapsed way before 20 inhg, so the ball is more useful as an oh crap indicator.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I found that a vacuum gauge will leak over time. That is the only reason I went with a sealed bulb design.

Has anyone tried replacing the ball with a pressure gauge, or (better yet) making their own with a one-way valve and pressure gauge?

 

[Bill Pet]

Tell me if this makes sense. I use a harbor freight hand vacuum pump to degas after adding clarifyer and stabilizing. When the wine is degassed and the vacuum holds at between 10 and 15 inches I just leave the carboy with the negative pressure until the wine had fully clarified. I don't worry about the head space because I figure most of the 02 has been flushed out by the vacuum degassing and no more can come in because the carboy is sealed under a vacuum.

 

[NorCal]

I had the same idea you had sremick , being a retired auto mechanic I worked with one-way vacuum values and vacuum gauges and made my own headspace eliminator . All of my carboys are under vacuum , one has a small leak but the other ones have zero leakage . I found that a silicone stopper works better than a hard rubber stopper for sealing .

I like @ksw style! I too found that I couldn't leave my cheap eBay gauge on, because they leaked. @ksw looks like he found a good solution by sealing the gauge with silicone as well.

 

[sremick]

sealing the gauge with silicon as well.

That would be very difficult, as silicon is a brittle metal used to make computer chips.

Or perhaps you meant silicone?

I'm bummed about the leaky gauges, as I was already researching parts to try and do a DIY version with a gauge. But it seems there's an open question as to whether they leak in the gauge itself, or leak due to a bad seal between the gauge and the stopper.

 

[stickman]

The gauge fitting can leak, but the gauge itself shouldn't leak unless it's absolute garbage. The wetted internals are nothing more than a curved metal tube that's crimped and brazed.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

The gauge fitting can leak, but the gauge itself shouldn't leak unless it's absolute garbage. The wetted internals are nothing more than a curved metal tube that's crimped and brazed.

I personally disagree ,
I tried many gauges and all of them would not hold vacuum properly for a given time period.

 

[crabjoe]

Those Silicone 2 holes stoppers are expensive. I can't believe they're over $10 a piece. By time time you include shipping, They're around $15.

Anyone have a source that's reasonably priced?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Those Silicone 2 holes stoppers are expensive. I can't believe they're over $10 a piece. By time time you include shipping, They're around $15.

Anyone have a source that's reasonably priced?

https://www.allinonewinepump.com/product/2-hole-tapered-bungs-and-rubber-stoppers-pure-gum/

6 dollars each -
I hope to be having a sale in accessories in the very near future

 

[Ajmassa]

Those Silicone 2 holes stoppers are expensive. I can't believe they're over $10 a piece. By time time you include shipping, They're around $15.

Anyone have a source that's reasonably priced?

A freezer and a drill bit

 

[stickman]

@vacuumpumpman I understand that's been your experience, all I'm saying is that a gauge is not designed to leak, if it does, then it is defective or of poor quality. Added a photo of a gauge I had laying around, the copper tube is soldered to the brass inlet and brass end cap, that's it, if either of those connections leak there's a problem with the gauge.

 

[ksw]

Yes I did find that my gauges did leak a little , so I then took some 3M weatherstrip and gasket adhesive and applied it to all of seams and joints and let it dry , then I dipped the whole gauge into clear polyurethane to seal everything and then let dry . That eliminated any leaks with the gauge and tapered adapter .

 

[Spencerthebuilder]

Interesting discussion and thanks to all. I see no mention of the degassing aspects of vacuming. Might a vacume draw off aromatics that may reduce flavor? Other threads seem to say that for a 6 mo+ mass aging that the batch will self degass. KSW-- Your photo shows considerable headspace in those carboys. Is that intentional to allow for maximum surface area to draw out Co2 and O2 from solution? To take the plumbing a step further, maybe pipe all the carboy's vacume lines together in series and attach to a buffer tank? Large reservior and only one leaky guage. While obviously not the same, is Nitrogen a suitable substitute for Argon? (Use what one has on hand)

 

[sour_grapes]

While obviously not the same, is Nitrogen a suitable substitute for Argon? (Use what one has on hand)

Argon is a little better than N2 for displacing air from a headspace while purging a container at atmospheric pressure. For backfilling under vacuum, I don't see how they could be any different. And their inert, protective properties once the headspace is filled will be the same, i.e., Ar has no advantage at that point.

 

[ksw]

Yes I do have a lot of headspace, been bulk aging between 6-12 months in 6 gal carboys and if I keep it under a good vacuum and I have found no bad side affects .
All of my carboys are in different stages of bulk aging , so I think it would be hard to centralize one vacuum source .

 

[SgBrix]

This nitro system is what I put together a while back and is working great. The best thing with it is that I now can have several bottles open at the same time, blending and tasting, then purge the system and fill some back in any opened bottle that I have played with that night. The 6 valves for the barrels is from an aquarium supply store. It's about $40 to fill the tank. Most of the nitro is used during the end of the fermentation process.

 

[Spencerthebuilder]

Interesting design SG. What was your thought on a central water trap vs. piping them in series from unit to unit?

 

[joeswine]

see you use nitrogen .

 

[SgBrix]

Nitrogen yes, I wish I had done this long ago, it has been a game-changer for me. I tried first letting the nitro go to all of the barrels at the same time, but I could never get it to work evenly, so I got the 6 feed valve. From the old blue manifold (between the two valves) I have a quick connect for when I bottle and from the back of it is a line to my testing/blending bar.