The use of mineral oil to "top up" a carboy

[BernardSmith]

I tried to post this question earlier today but I don't see that it was successfully received. My apologies if this is a duplicate posting. Anyway,
Alison Crowe in her book The Wine Maker's Answer Book talks about a traditional method of solving the problem of too much air space in a carboy - and that is pouring in a layer of food grade mineral oil (found in the digestive aids section of a pharmacy) of about 1/8 inch She suggests that this will work for about a month to prevent oxidation and bacterial infection. Crowe says that such oil does not affect the taste or smell of the wine but that the wine needs to be carefully racked off the oil and she describes how to do this. My question: Has anyone on this forum used this technique? How easy would it be to clean a carboy into which oil has been added?

 

[GreginND]

Not interested in adding mineral oil to my wine at all. In principle the oil will float on top and may help protect the wine. But I would think oxygen would still diffuse, albeit slower, into the wine.

 

[MNwino]

Seriously? Mineral Oil lol? You know one thing ive learned from this forum is people have fear of the Oxidation boogyman. Just like brewers fear the autolysis boogyman. Can Oxidation happen? Yes, but its not such a worry that you need to mineral oil your wine.

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with Greg and what happens when you start racking below the oil and it goes from a 2" circle in the neck to being spread out over 12" as it lowers.

 

[dangerdave]

And try cleaning the mineral oil out of that carboy!

 

[Rocky]

Bernard, long ago (in the 1960's) we used olive oil on top of the wine stored in gallon jugs. While I think it worked effectively as a barrier against air, it was a real pain to get out of the wine. No matter how careful one was, there would always be a minimal amount of tiny oil globules floating on top. However, being of Italian heritage, just about everything that we ate was cooked in olive oil or had olive oil on it, we did not see it as more than an aesthetic problem.

 

[ibglowin]

Bet it would keep things "flowing" downstairs.......

 

[jswordy]

Rocky, that interesting experience. I would suppose a bit of the mineral oil would cling to your racking cane as you put it in the wine, and then naturally get sucked up with the racked fluids. No thanks. A $3 bottle of wine tops off nicely.

I also agree with MNwine, that oxidation is perhaps more of a worry than justified among winemakers. We can't be lax about this, but we do tend to obsess over it, too.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Bernard - I also was thinking along those similar lines awhile ago - here is that thread
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f6/oil-top-wine-prevent-oxidation-

After discussing it - I never tried it,nor do I plan on trying it either. I did come up with a product to take up the excess head space
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f3/new-product-removal-excessive-head-space-17891/

But with all the feedback that I have gotten back, it is just easier to top off with a similar wine.
I agree and follow the same practice myself

 

[JohnT]

Bernard, long ago (in the 1960's) we used olive oil on top of the wine stored in gallon jugs. While I think it worked effectively as a barrier against air, it was a real pain to get out of the wine. No matter how careful one was, there would always be a minimal amount of tiny oil globules floating on top. However, being of Italian heritage, just about everything that we ate was cooked in olive oil or had olive oil on it, we did not see it as more than an aesthetic problem.

Rocky,

I have heard about this, but I am not too sure if olive oil can go rancid. I do know that there is an oil (forgot who marketed it) that is specifically designed for this winemaking purpose.

After looking at the price of the oil and the issues with cleanining equipment after use, I decided that topping off with store bought wine is a far better way to go.

 

[seth8530]

I think it might work in principle.. But I would not try it out with one of my good wines first.. Maybe you could experiment around with a batch of hootch and see how it works?

 

[JohnT]

I think it might work in principle.. But I would not try it out with one of my good wines first.. Maybe you could experiment around with a batch of hootch and see how it works?

I know that this can work. Heck, it has got to be better than air! Oil makes a good barrier (but not a perfect one). I know that they have been doing this since the roman times. Think about it, they did not have bottles, they had either large jars or barrels (much later). By using oil, they converted their vessel into one of "variable capacity".

The point I was trying to make was that (for very long term storage) you may want to use something other than olive oil. This is a picture of the product I remember.....

 

[BernardSmith]

As always, Thanks to everyone who responded. I guess my question was whether anyone had actually used this technique of adding mineral oil as a barrier and if so had they had no problems removing the oil from the carboy afterwards. Crowe does not discuss how easy/challenging it is to remove the oil from the walls of the carboy and so the cost to benefit might be too large to consider but she says that she has used oil to good effect.

 

[joeswine]

Roman times

THIS WAS APPLIED IN THE ROMAN TIMES TO PRESERVE THE WINE,THE TRICK TO REMOVING THE OIL IS NOT TO,INSERT THE RACKING HOSE INTO THE WINE JUST PASSED THE OIL,BLOW A LITTLE AIR IN THE HOSE TO EJECT THE OIL AND DRAW FROM THE BOTTOM AS ALWAYS,AND SO IT WAS PASSED OF THOUGH GENERATIONS AND TIME.IT DOES WORK ,BUT TECHNIQUES CHANGED, WINE EVOLVED AND THE BEAT GOES ON.

 

[robie]

It is reported that early Romans kept their wine from oxidizing by pouring a layer of olive oil on top of their wine. OOPS! Joe already wrote that!

I agree with most of what has been said. It would be a real bear trying to get all of the oil out of the carboy. I don't know if mineral oil can become rancid or not but that could be a big issue as well.

 

[GreginND]

There are better ways to prevent oxidation (appropriate sized containers to keep topped up).

 

[robie]

I have zero experience with such a thing, but it seems to me it would be better to first suck off all the oil with a turkey baster. Even then you aren't going to get it all out and what little is left is going to run down the inside of the carboy.

 

[mikey1273]

When I took my class on beginning wine making at the local home brew/wince shop they told us 3 ways to top up

1 add water, Okay but some object that it waters down your vintage.
2 add a similar cheap store bought wine
3 drop glass marbles are those glass floral beads that you can buy are wal-mart in there to displace the wine and bring the level up. they need sanitized of course. They also told us that during fining the sediment settles between them making it easy to rack or bottle with with out sucking it up.

I have not needed but I have some beads on hand for this, I liked the idea that you don't dilute your wine or add anything to it that could change the flavor.

 

[Polarhug]

I bet that's how salad dressing was invented. Dregs of wine chunks and oil at the bottom... what shall we do with it?

*throws up a little in my mouth*

 

[Kleftiwallah]

How about filling the air gap using nitrogen? Cheers, Tony.