Solid bung or bung with airlock for aging

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mikefrommichigan

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I have always used a bung with an airlock for the 3 - 6 months of aging that I do, for the all the kits I have made. I still occasionally glance at the instructions that come with the kits, and as I was racking the Winexpert Lodi Cab Friday I noticed for the first time that the instructions said:

"NOTE: If you are not bottling at this time you must remove the bung and airlock and replace them with a solid rubber or silicone bung. This will help to prevent oxidation until you do bottle."

Just wondered who ages with solid bung and who ages with a bung and airlock?
 
Switched from airlock to Saran wrap about 2 years ago. Saran wrap is somewhat air permeable but I can't find out how it compares to a 3 piece airlock. I'm thinking now I might double up on the Saran wrap or go to solid bungs for bulk aging.

Anyone know if doubling up on Saran wrap would, being used over a carboy opening, effectively cut its permeability by about half?
 
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Neither.

During active fermentation, and for about the first few weeks, I use an airlock. After that I use a silicone vented bung, or the All-in-one Head Space Eliminator, depending upon how much head space I have..

https://www.beer-wine.com/silicone-bung-for-carboys-vented
https://morewinemaking.com/products...icone-bung-barrels-variable-volume-tanks.html

http://www.allinonewinepump.com/product/headspace-eliminator/

Man, more stuff to buy? (head space eliminator) Anyone have any reviews of this device? I'm looking at the picture, but can't really figure out what I'm looking at.
 
In theory, there should be no activity. However if you rack over at 3 month intervals to get rid of sediment, you may (will) instigate the release of CO2. Gotta go somewhere which is why I prefer to simply keep an airlock on. Another "personal preference" topic to either keep simple or over-think :slp
 
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my personal preference is an airlock, although you do have to be wary of the contents back flowing into the wine when you remove it, actually it probably isn't a problem unless u drink it straight away and risk contamination if it does, after 20 odd minites, most bacteria is dead, also, an airlock compensates for altering temperature meaning no excess pressure problems also if fermentation is still active but very slowly the gasses can escape, so, I do all my aging with an airlock in situ.

Having said all that my one gallon containers I use need neither, my new one gallon containers ive figured out, don't need an airlock during ferment because the lid lifts up to allow gasses to escape, when there is no pressure internally the lids drop down again, ive successfully tested them now for a few years and have converted a few local friends over, the bonus is they cost one pound each per gallon tub (about 1.60 dollars roughly) when ferment is over ive found I can long term store the wine in the same container with no ill effects, after initial racking, as long as it is dark, ive successfully stored wine for up to 6 months in these with no ill effects to any batches, up to this point. They are also stackable, so you can have one on top of the other, but definitely no higher, due to poor stability, which means even in the bottom of a wardrobe you can potentially age about 16 gallons in one gallon batches.

All that is required is for the wine currently fermenting to go on top of the stack, so, the weight of the container above doesn't prevent it blowing off gas when needed.

Currently as it stands my main brewing area is below, its in the bottom of a wardrobe, the containers rear left is a stack of 8 five litre containers not currently in use, but, easily stored, the large container on the right is a bulk storage container, which is where I tend to get my regular wine I drink from (I tend to blend and add to the wine already in there kind of like a solera system, its never been allowed to empty since January 15 and as a rule it never gets more than half full and usually is between 3/4 to full) up until now ive had no problems with excess air exposure, obviously at times its exposed to air, but, its never proved a problem, the 10 litre container at front is for a new wine currently fermenting away, which technically is a special, and not for mixing with the main bulk wines, the other containers are all aging in their own right, most of which will be blended and absorbed by the larger aging container, after blending to make a reasonably decent flavour, in the theme of my personal likes, a lot of the lower containers contain either wine I enjoy in its own right, so I have a choice of drink, or its not quite in line with the house wine so to speak in the main container, eventually they will all be absorbed by the larger container, some are merely aging a little ready for addition.

some of my drinks are one offs or specials, due to seasonal variations, but, I do tend to keep a basic flavour going which suits my tastes, having said that, the wine in the main bulk can vary a little, when new wine is added.

there is basically around 35 litres in there some aging some fermenting, I do have other storage areas but at the moment most are fairly empty, although they will be utilised as the fruit season gets under way and they get rotated into use.

Basically as long as there isn't a lot of exposure to air and as long as the container can breath a bit it doesn't really matter what u use, but, if you use an airlock never let all the water evaporate away or it will be exposed to excess oxygen and potential contaminating bugs, which I suspect is the worst case scenario.

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Airlock.

Though I'm now experimenting with a solid bung on one of my barrels. So far, so good. But there's a lot more friction between a bung and wooden barrel than a glass carboy.
 
Air locks on all of my carboys, solid bungs on my barrels, no problems thus far.

I do have two carboys fitted with a bung and an Acuvin bottle cork that get pumped every couple of weeks, that works just fine too. Negative pressure in the little headspace seems to be able to handle the temp and pressure variations in my storage area.
 
I always use a S style air lock - But I Scrape off the 2 sides where the molds are. You will get an inaccurate reading otherwise.

The reason I like the S- Style air lock is I can make sure that there is a positive or negative pressure in the carboy, by looking at the difference of the 2 chambers.If they are equal in level height it is evident that the bung or something is leaking - causing oxygen to be forced into the carboy - possibly ruin my wine over time.
 
I always use a S style air lock - But I Scrape off the 2 sides where the molds are. You will get an inaccurate reading otherwise.

The reason I like the S- Style air lock is I can make sure that there is a positive or negative pressure in the carboy, by looking at the difference of the 2 chambers.If they are equal in level height it is evident that the bung or something is leaking - causing oxygen to be forced into the carboy - possibly ruin my wine over time.

Didn't mention it in my earlier post, but I use the glass airlocks.
 
I always use a S style air lock - But I Scrape off the 2 sides where the molds are. You will get an inaccurate reading otherwise.

The reason I like the S- Style air lock is I can make sure that there is a positive or negative pressure in the carboy, by looking at the difference of the 2 chambers.If they are equal in level height it is evident that the bung or something is leaking - causing oxygen to be forced into the carboy - possibly ruin my wine over time.

The area you are scraping is called the 'flashing', the area where the two sides are seamed together. Scraping or sanding the flashing off will create a smother finish, eliminating a leak. Why they don't do this after the molding process is a serious question. Duh...???
 
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my personal preference is an airlock, although you do have to be wary of the contents back flowing into the wine when you remove it.

Are you removing the stopper with the airlock inserted? Try pulling the airlock out of the stopper, then remove the stopper. This will greatly reduce the chance of airlock contents getting into your wine.
 
Are you removing the stopper with the airlock inserted? Try pulling the airlock out of the stopper, then remove the stopper. This will greatly reduce the chance of airlock contents getting into your wine.

You would think that would be obvious, (the suction from pulling the stopper siphoning the water into the carboy) but I definitely hadn't thought about that. Thanks for the tip.
 
Norcal - Do you use the silicon vented bung for all stages of the wine making process in place of a conventional airlock?
 
Norcal - Do you use the silicon vented bung for all stages of the wine making process in place of a conventional airlock?


I do. I will do an open air ferment on my reds and press close to being dry. It will then go into barrel/flex tank/carboy with the vented silicon bung. After mlf completion, I'll rack and then use the same bung until I'm ready to bottle.
 

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