5 gallon fermenter help

hi new to all this so bear with me , have started to make my own wine and have been given a 5 gallon fermenter, but do not have enough to fill to the top,can i use marbles or brand new golf balls to make up the volume?

If it is fermenting then its best to have plenty of room, once its done fermenting then yes you need to fill the missing volume and sanitised marbles will work.

I just had two five gallon buckets full of muscadine wine that I started today and filled too full explode in my kitchen. Well, not really explode but they blew out the air lock and spewed all over everything, including the ceiling. There was enough pressure to make the bucket "bow" on the bottom so it wouldn't sit flat on the floor. God I could have put an eye out! (another thing you don't want to do is have an air lock on something you just started, it should have been covered with cloth to keep the bugs out but I'm a knuckle head!)

Take the advice of an idiot. Don't fill them all the way full to start with. Wait until you rack them to the secondary to 1. fill to the brim and 2. add an air lock.

I will never learn! But boy this obsession sure is fun. Even when my wife is laughing at me while I clean up the kitchen.

When fermenting in the primary most here just lay the lid on top. Helps prevent this..

We want pics or this never happened!

Oh I know him it probly did but we do need pics.... I'm not laughing...... no really I'm not.
So David you gonna want to go get more to replace those???????

just talked with his wife it did happen and she is laughing way to much about it,thank goodness they heard it early or it could've been worse

Wade E said:

If it is fermenting then its best to have plenty of room, once its done fermenting then yes you need to fill the missing volume and sanitised marbles will work.

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Sanitized marbles?? Interesting is this a better way to go to fill up space instead of just adding water?? The instructions in the Vintner's Reserve kit I'm using say to top up the carboy in the third step with just cold water. I was curious if this was going to dilute the wine with the excess water but this marble idea caught my attention. If this is a better way to go I would be very curious to try this.

yes it's a simple way to fill the space, without diluting the wine.. marbles are cheap and easy to sanitise.

Allie

The one problem I've seen with marbles is that sediment can collect on them and make clearing more difficult.

Head room in the primary is fine - rack to secondary when SG is 1.010 and let ferment to dry. Rack off the lees then - if you will have a lot of head room - purchase a smaller carboy - that way you don't have to water them down or displace with marbles.

winemaker_3352 said:

Head room in the primary is fine - rack to secondary when SG is 1.010 and let ferment to dry. Rack off the lees then - if you will have a lot of head room - purchase a smaller carboy - that way you don't have to water them down or displace with marbles.

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A variety of vessel sizes helps with this. I have 5, 3, 1 and 1/2 gallon, as well as 1500, 750 and 375 ml containers. I use the largest size that I can fill, then put the rest in the smallest container that I can and use marbles to take up the headspace.

5 gallon fermenter

thanks for all the advice, most appreciated, have a couple of demijohns,and a fermenting bin was just looking for best way to use this bigger container, thought golf balls would have been a cheaper and easier option,but maybe the plastic coating might affect the wine, will try marbles, of to ebay now to buy job lots! hope that boys kitchen was'nt in to much of a mess , must be potent stuff!, cheers again

miket said:

thanks for all the advice, most appreciated, have a couple of demijohns,and a fermenting bin was just looking for best way to use this bigger container, thought golf balls would have been a cheaper and easier option,but maybe the plastic coating might affect the wine, will try marbles, of to ebay now to buy job lots! hope that boys kitchen was'nt in to much of a mess , must be potent stuff!, cheers again

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No, golf balls would be a big problem!!!
You can get your clear marbles at some of the craft stores, like Hobby Lobby. Make sure you don't get painted marbles. They are almost as bad as gold balls.
Be sure to wash and sanitize the marbles.

When you say 5 gal fermenter, are you talking a bucket or a glass/plastic carboy?
If it's a bucket you don't have to worry about headroom during fermentation although you should keep it under airlock when the SG is lower. If it's a carboy, you do have to worry about headspace during fermentation but the worry is to make sure you have enough! Again, once the SG gets lower you have to put it under airlock.
Can you clarify what it is you have, what stage you are at when using this fermenter and what size batches you are making?
And .. welcome to the forum!

This is an interesting topic for me.

I've only been brewing kits for a year, but never topped up my carboy's in secondary or ageing stages. I'm now worried I may have spoilt some of my brews. Although the instructions on many kits tell you to top up, it just seems silly to me to water down your wine and I'm not at the point where I want to blend the kits with other wine to top up that way.

I like the marble idea. They seem quite cheap too.

Sorry to hijack the thread. Good topic though

The best option if you can afford it is different sized carboys and then the wine bottles too. That works out perfect when it's time to rack again. You might just need that 1500 ml. or 750ml to top off again.

DavidB said:

I just had two five gallon buckets full of muscadine wine that I started today and filled too full explode in my kitchen. Well, not really explode but they blew out the air lock and spewed all over everything, including the ceiling. There was enough pressure to make the bucket "bow" on the bottom so it wouldn't sit flat on the floor. God I could have put an eye out!

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I've dropped a full carboy before, but I've never sprayed the ceiling

You're wife must be patient. Mine barely recovered from the shattered carboy.

AquaCom said:

This is an interesting topic for me.

I've only been brewing kits for a year, but never topped up my carboy's in secondary or ageing stages. I'm now worried I may have spoilt some of my brews. Although the instructions on many kits tell you to top up, it just seems silly to me to water down your wine and I'm not at the point where I want to blend the kits with other wine to top up that way.

I like the marble idea. They seem quite cheap too.

Sorry to hijack the thread. Good topic though

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I wouldn't worry too much about your past batches. Most of them won't spoil even when not properly topped off. Too much airspace creates a risk of spoiling your wine, but my first several batches had a lot of airspace and they turned out great. One of the greater risks is that there is only one oxygen molecule difference between alcohol and vinegar. That's one of the main reasons to limit your wine's exposure to air. That and airborne contaminates such as bacteria and other floating ghosts that haunt the wine bottle.

I now top off my wines unless there is still a lot of foam, but the older batches turned out fine.

it is for fermenting,basically a carboy or demijohn in the uk, thought it would take up less room,was a gift and was only going to use it for recipes and batches that i had a lot of such as elderberries and apple as i have a large amount of them this year,for a 5 gallon just how much headroom should i be leaving?