54 liter demijohn for primary fermenting?

[ejiang]

There are a lot of 54 liter demijohn listed on kijiji. Would it be good to do primary fermenting? If I mainly do 23 liter wine kits?

1.Will it be better than plastic pail ?
2. And if I do the high end kits, is it ok to insert grapes into it?
3. The small mouth is almost the same size as a carboy, would it be a problem for oxygen to get in?

Thanks

EJ

Here is a picture of the demijohns

 

[dessertmaker]

Depends on what you like. I find the fermenting bucket fantastically easy to clean. The rubber washer inside the lip seals mine great and the whole thing looks like a big balloon if I get a nice active fermentation going.

Others like to monitor their fermentation through the glass and claim the plastic leaks and leaches chemicals into the wine and that glass gives the wine a purer taste.

My 8 gallon primary is food grade plastic and I rack the wine off the lees as soon as the fermentation settle down so I don't have to worry about leaching and I don't have time to watch foam and bubbles. If I did I'd make beer, not wine.

The demijohn looks like it will work just fine for winemaking if you don't mind taking the trouble to sanitize it really really good. Personally I would get a bucket fermenter for primary and use those to rack my wine into for secondary but that's just me.

 

[Runningwolf]

I prefer the plastic pail myself. a demijon would be too hard to clean.

 

[JohnT]

Definitely use a pail for primary.....


1) During primary fermentation - logorythmic phase - The fermentation is so violent, that a demijohn will "froth up". If you use an airlock, it will clog up and the stopper will end up getting pushed out (as pressure builds) resulting in a "wine eruption". The only way to combat this is to only fill the demijohn 2/3 full.

2) It is MUCH easier to clean a pail then it is to clean a DJ.

3) During lag phase, yeast benefits from oxygen while it is attempting to create a biomass. You will limit this by using a DJ as a primary fermentor.

johnT.

 

[Rocky]

I agree with the above three posts. I have one demijohn and I use it only for bulk aging and oaking wines. They are very hard to clean and to move so I have mine on a home made dolly. I have also heard that they are more fragile than a carboy but I have no experience to back that up.

 

[JohnT]

At one point I had over 40 DJs. Yup, over 40. They are more fragile then carboys. I have had several DJs break on me, but never had a broken carboy.

Of course, this might have more to do with the fact that a DJ is bigger, heavier, and more difficult to move around carefully.

One good piece of advise... I notice that you purchased the DJ that has a "faux wicker" type bucket. In future, try to get the buckets that are solid (and do not have any holes in them). From experience, when a DJ breaks, the basket can hold all of the broken glass PLUS 2 carboys of contents.

I have had several batches of "dropped bottle" wine (LOL).