Is this an airlock or else?

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.

antont

Junior
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
10
Reaction score
8
Hello,

And thank you for great forum. It's my first visit and I came with a question.

I'm trying to figure out what is the English word for this type of "airolock," or bung. I've seen it as "hydraulic bung" in one place, but cannot find it anywhere else in US web pages/stores, so maybe some other word is used.

http://www.apag.it/IMAGES/COL_01.jpg

Thank you!
 
You are in Italy, no?
What you are showing from the Apag.it website is what is called a Colmatore:
From their website:
The “colmatore” is a genial invention: it is divided in two pieces, the lower part is the bottle full of water with a whole in the middle through where the gas can escape; the top part is like a cover that is contact with the water and by pressure avoids the air enters in the barrel (more oxygen in contact with the wine could be a disaster, as long as by natural chemical reaction the alcohol could start to be transformed into vinegar.

It sounds a lot like the 3 piece airlock.

http://www.apag.it/PDF/COLMATORI.pdf

Here is a nice rad on Tuscan wines: http://www.tuscany-villas.com/blog/a-274/learn more about tuscan wines.html
 
Thank you for the replies - especially given that there's not much information in US pages.

The montalcino report is a nice write up and I got the translation "hydraulic bung" from there. I had spent an hour searching something with that or similar names in the US without success.

You are right, Pumpkinman, it is like a 3 piece airlock, just bigger and of a different shape. I inserted a 3-piece last night and filled it with wine. This morning the wine was gone. So a real "colmatore" would do a better job.

I moved to the US from Italy several years ago and recently upgraded from carboys and demijohns to a barrel or two. And then realized that a "hydraulic bung," or whatever it might be called in the US, would be really helpful to monitor for and prevent certain type of spoilage.

Most of the wineries I visited in Italy use this device for regular (59-60 gal) and bigger (250 +) barrels and it is available in online stores as well. Problem is that I found only one store that would ship to the US but they want $60 shipment for something that's less than half a pound heavy.

I also asked the owners of two local wineries (Virgina) and they've never seen it either.

I guess I'll order from Italy and drink a slightly more expensive but healthier San Giovese.

Thank you again!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top