headspace...here is a pic

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

captainl

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
235
Reaction score
6
I racked and stabilized and degassed my 5 gallons of apfelwein last night. It has aged 3 months. I originally planned on aging it another 3 months but now I am wondering if I have too much head space for this. Do I? Any recommendations on what to top off with? Otherwise, am I ok just to leave it for a week and then bottle it?

100_1282.jpg
 
I am not comfortable leaving that much head space for three months. It will be ok until you bottle next week though. I am assuming you added k-meta when you racked this last night. If not you probably need to do this now. Is this wine going to be sweetened, if so did you add sorbate? I am not familiar with this wine so I cannot offer what to top it up with.
 
Top that off, use either an apple wine if you have, or I'd even use a white wine if I had to, not water though.
 
When you make wine always (if you can) make enough to have some extra either in a half gallon or magnum bottle to use to top off after your wine has fined.

Try to fill your carboys to the bottom of the first knuckle. Keep in mind that warmer temps. will cause your wine to expand and may rise up into the airlock. Reverse if you place your carboy from a warm area to a cooler basement. Your wine will shrink per say.

After you rack off of the fining sediment use your other bottle to top off and age. When you add an f pak or sweeten you will have a little extra to sample at that time.

If you are really tight with wine pour the remaining wine/gross lees into a small carboy and refrigerate it for a few days. The sediment will fall and a little wine will rise to the top. Carefully rack this off into a 375ml or larger bottle that you can fine and use later to top off.
 
Kmeta and sorbat added last night. I wanted to do 1/3 not sweetend, 1/3 semi sweet, and 1/3 sweet. Just to find out what the wife and I like. I was thinking about adding some juice but I was thinking you are supposed to wait a few days to avoid refermentation?? I guess I will do that if I decide not to bottle soon. Thanks for the quick responses.
 
too much headspace for the average wine smaller carboy or marbles
 
Alfulchino wasn't it you, or maybe someone else, who said that you experimented and bulk aged a carboy half full of something and it tasted the same as the full carboy?
 
Alfulchino wasn't it you, or maybe someone else, who said that you experimented and bulk aged a carboy half full of something and it tasted the same as the full carboy?

Interesting, was it filled with argon or anything?
 
It can be ok if you keep the sulfite levels properly! If you dont have the means of ac curately testing S02 then get it topped off.
 
Catfish said...."Alfulchino wasn't it you, or maybe someone else, who said that you experimented and bulk aged a carboy half full of something and it tasted the same as the full carboy? "

me: yes it was...properly stabilized you will never have any issues ....even my whites, t if i bottle in under a yr they never oxidize or grow wine flowers...and i never have a problem with telling the difference between tanks that were full and the container that was not

my answer above was taking into account the winemaker who is on the new side to things and he will void his kit warranty and i may be wrong but i sense this is the case

the overwhelming advice given by most folks here are not fully on board w what i said and do and i just wanted to respect the environment here....
 
It can be done like AL said and I respect everything AL says, the thing is that most people on here dont test their S02 levels and not having proper S02 levels and not being topped up this wine will most likely get ruined!!!! This is why most will say to just top it off and most problems will be greatly reduced.
 
Have you degassed this yet? Seems pretty cloudy yet to bottle, id age it for 3 more months. Aged my last batch for 6 months and came out crystal clear and tastes amazing. the pinot gris shouldn't really affect the taste at all either.
 
Its pretty much crystal clear. I did degas it yesterday. Its just in a dark closet and the cameras flash helps to accentuate the water marks and dust settled on the outside of the carboy. I tasted it and it is already much better than my first small test batch i only aged for 1 month. i carbonated that one but plan not to on this one.
 
Topping off with that little bit wont change the profile much if any. I agree though if it needed sweetening I use what ever it was made of usually after stabilizing.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top