What would You do if you were me????

[Billpizzaiolo]

Everyone loves to drink our wine but when it comes to doing the work at Crush, sadly, they fade out. Too much work cleaning setting up, crushing and taking down. No matter what we feed them. As for chipping in to buy the grape or picking the little bit here on the vine everyone is too busy. I have resigned myself to DIY and share later when we fire up the wood-fired pizza oven. We have no problem attracting people when there is free food, wine & beer with no work attached.

 

[JohnT]

Everyone loves to drink our wine but when it comes to doing the work at Crush, sadly, they fade out. Too much work cleaning setting up, crushing and taking down. No matter what we feed them. As for chipping in to buy the grape or picking the little bit here on the vine everyone is too busy. I have resigned myself to DIY and share later when we fire up the wood-fired pizza oven. We have no problem attracting people when there is free food, wine & beer with no work attached.

No so with us. The whole crush is about 5 hours of work with 14 hours of partying. I have folks that come up from Florida and Georgia to attend.

This keeps me motivated..

 

[Dhaynes]

I would vote for option 2. We seem to end up doing one of three things to eliminate head space 1) top off with a similar wine. 2) add sanitized glass marbles/decorative aquarium stone to raise the wine level (add slowly and carefully if you have a glass carboy to avoid breakage) 3) rack to a smaller carboy. About a 40/40/20 split. Depends on how much headspace there is and whether or not we have a similar wine.

 

[barbiek]

In reference to post 17 JohnT that was pure poetry! How awesome!

 

[Tnuscan]

Tnuscan,

Let me make another case for my Option #4 (get a destemmer and press).

Let me paint a mental picture..

Crush Day...

It is early in the AM on a clear warm autumn day.

You rise, grab that first cup of coffee, and head outside to survey how you have set things up the night before. You see a slight mist of fog, but are content knowing that the sun will chase that fog away and provide the last remaining autumn's warmth.

You smile as you glance over at the grapes you purchased to day before. You tasted them and know that, this year, the wine will be superb.

You finish your last sip of coffee, and head back into the house to grab another one. While in the kitchen, you grab the bagels and assorted things that you plan to set out for your guests. Just then, the doorbell rings, announcing that the first of the crew of family and friends have arrived. Each is carrying a dish of food which is their contribution to the feast later that day.

Now that you have a crew, you are ready to begin. You start by hosing down the equipment and then giving everything a nice spritz of K-meta. The crew knows what to do. They have come every year and no longer need to be told what to do. Without any word, the crew begins by sorting through the grapes, removing any leaves or foreign matter. From there, the grapes are carried to the destemmer.

You have to keep from dancing when you get that first whiff of heaven. That glorious aroma that comes rises up as soon as the grapes are dumped into the destemmer. You marvel in the hypnotic rhythm of the grapes passing through the rollers and screen, and the splat-splat-splat of the newly formed must as it is deposited into a waiting tote.

You then take a moment to survey the fact that all around you are having a great, unique time. In short order, all of the grapes have been processed, and everything has been cleaned and put away. You see that the good times continue. You reward all of your hard workers by opening the best of your past vintages. After a quick toast to this year's vintage, you herd all of the folks to the patio for a late lunch. Good times and laughs continue as more and more corks get pulled.

After everybody has stuffed themselves, you gather to a tent that you have set up (a 30'X10' pop up) for more wine and cigars. Someone has brought a guitar and the next hours are spent singing and having a great time.

The party breaks up in the wee hours of the morning. You yell "see you next week for the pressing!" and you know that they are more than willing to come next week. You happily turn in and dream of the wine to come....


I vote for option #4!

This makes me want to make a 10 hour drive in like seven. lol

The de-stemmer/press is in the makings. Like the way you think.

 

[Tnuscan]

I would take the two additional wine kits. I would top off the other carboys with a similar wine.

I like your thinking, I will use this method in the future.

I had thought of doing this, but I was looking at buying a lot of wine.

I also should have posted I had 170.00 store credit, And a budget of around 130.00.

I guess ,I just thought the reader would figure that out, by using the 3 options.

Learned another good lesson(think ahead, don't just do). lol

Thanks

 

[Tnuscan]

I'd do option 2. The head space eliminator is great.

Yes I too believe these are awesome. I had 3 ordered, they were stuck in the mail somehow but, I eventually received them.

Noticed we are fairly close neighbors.

Thanks for your reply

 

[Tnuscan]

I would go with Option 2, if you are adding much longer than the 14 or so days you indicate. I would go with option 3 given that time frame.

The process I used, wasn't given the thought that it needed. lol

I saw all that headspace and " Freaked Out"..

Thanks for your reply

 

[Tnuscan]

IMHO, Option 3 is not really an option. I would never advise leaving that much head space under any circumstances.

I would also add option 4: Take the store credit, invest in a press and destemmer, and gear up to make wine from fresh grapes in April/May (when the Chilean grapes come in).

I agree with you on the headspace,(put in lots of study time on this one), and I always look forward to your advice.

However, I like Option 5: Just getting you to de-stem and press them for me .Lol

Many thanks

 

[dralarms]

Yes I too believe these are awesome. I had 3 ordered, they were stuck in the mail somehow but, I eventually received them.

Noticed we are fairly close neighbors.

Thanks for your reply

Yep, I get over that way some.

 

[Tnuscan]

First, who told you that CO2 was OK for topping off? They need to lose their home winemakers union card!

Home winemakers spend untold hours and many dollars REMOVING CO2 from their wines, close to half of all the posts on this and other wine making forums deal with getting the gas out of the wine.

If it was me, I'd opt for the Headspace Eliminator, but I'd also suggest buying a couple of boxes of a "neutral" wine and top off the current carboys. You'd get full carboys and some cheap wine for drinking when you get done topping off. Can't lose!

What'd I win?

Hmm, Interesting! You've covered the bases.

I was misinformed, and these forums are full of this question, scattered throughout many posts.

My thought of reasoning was, if it protects during fermentation, why not after. So I made the purchase.

Many answered posts and some study made me realize a different perspective.

Never even thought of the wine boxes, I just thought, lots money buying bottled wines. (Good one)..

Great reply I enjoyed it!

 

[Tnuscan]

I've just started my wine making adventure, so take this with a grain of salt. I have an all-in-one pump with the head space eliminator. I love the all-in-one ... it is a great pump. But the head space eliminator needs to be taken with a grain of salt. What matters is the total amount of oxygen available to the wine:

1. Volume, volume, volume. If you have 2 inches of head space with a 3 inch diameter neck, you have a total volume of air of about 14 cubic inches. If you have more head space, there is much more air, because the neck of the carboy gets wider faster.

2. Pressure: A typical vacuum pump pulls around -20 in Hg. Atmospheric pressure is about 30 in Hg, so a vacuum pump reduces the pressure in the bottle to 10 in Hg. So the math is simple:
No vacuum: 30 in Hg @ 14 cubic inches of volume
With vacuum: 10 in Hg @ 14 cubic inches of volume

So, all the vacuum does is reduce the total amount of oxygen by a factor of 3, which is the same as what could be achieved by reducing the head space down to 2/3 inch.

While vacuum is better, elimination of total head space volume is critical.

Also, remember there is air in the neck of the bottle when bottling ... while it does not seem like much, 0.5 inch of air in the bottle for 30 bottles is a very similar amount of air to leaving 2 inches in the carboy.

I would opt for 2 more wine kits and build up inventory so you can let it age longer.

Eric

I agree, thanks for doing the math. I also like the comparing of the bottle space to the carboy top up space, hadn't given that any thought.

Thanks

 

[Tnuscan]

Option 1, I'd say it would be good to have a variety of sizes for carboys. Kinda wish I had some. In time...
Plus, this option , you get to sample your wine as you go.

I agree with you also. I love to sample the wine. I believe I was born to do this for a living, just haven't made the right connection yet.(fingers crossed).

Pondering on "a variety of sizes of carboys", I realized there have been times I finished the fermentation in a 6 then went to a 5. On another I had to leave behind more sediment (gross lees), and had to go to a 3 and a 1. So for every 6 I have: I'll get a 5, a 3, and a couple 1's..

Thanks

 

[Tnuscan]

KISS !!!! You DO plan on making more wines correct?? You do have several carboys and accessories correct??? Asking around I'd bet you'll find that the most common methods of eliminating headspace are by topping with a like wine, good water(no more than 1 L), smaller vessel. I prefer like wine,,, either cheaper store-bought or (even cheaper) something of my own!!! Just fill 'er up, pop in the airlock, and "fahgeddabahdit" KISS! You can then spend all that saved time sitting and staring at that carboy

How about we just hold hands. I never KISS on the first post. lol

I understand your thoughts, and I agree with the wine for topping off, however I like my water in a different glass.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Tnuscan]

Option 1. "Only" 13 carboys, and they are filled. Time for more!

Thanks. lol. That little banana loves to dance, like me after a couple glasses.

I agree, more will be needed.

Thanks!!!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

here is a great post on Elimination of O2 in Carboy Headspace with a Vacuum Pump (real world data)

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52462

from 200,000 ppm down to 55 ppm of oxygen using the headspace eliminator

 

[Tnuscan]

Option #1. More carboys of different sizes. Top up with wine, even if store bought. Or my favorite airspace soultion, rack to smaller jug, drink what does not fit.

Thanks, getting this answer the most I believe. And I love to drink what does not fit too.

If I didn't take a wee little bit from the top, I could also eliminate more headspace too. But then...Oops told on myself. lol.

Thanks!!

 

[Tnuscan]

That could be a beginning of the never ending collection of toys to make wine with fresh grapes. I vote for the write in vote #4.

You guys there just wasn't enough room for a #4.lol But I do like it.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Tnuscan]

If you use a combination of vacuuming out the headspace then back filling (flushing with argon) you can remove ALL of the O2 in the headspace and I do mean ALL

This is what we do at work. We have two large inert glove boxes that have argon atmospheres as we work with some "interesting materials".

We measure the O2 on a weekly basis and the results are around 3ppm O2.

Is this worth it for making wine? That is up to each winemaker I suppose and the depths of their pocketbook.

This is very interesting, I am going to check on, argon, there is the issue with the pocketbook however.

Thanks!

 

[Tnuscan]

I would vote for option 2. We seem to end up doing one of three things to eliminate head space 1) top off with a similar wine. 2) add sanitized glass marbles/decorative aquarium stone to raise the wine level (add slowly and carefully if you have a glass carboy to avoid breakage) 3) rack to a smaller carboy. About a 40/40/20 split. Depends on how much headspace there is and whether or not we have a similar wine.

Can't use marbles lost them long ago, that's why I have so much headspace.

That is a good idea, but too much work for me.

Like " racking to smaller carboy".

Thanks!