Why move to a demijohn for secondary fermentation?

[Autolycus]

For one thing, glass demijohns are getting costly, and I'd need to get a lot of them, since I rarely make a batch of less than 50 liters at once. I just rack into a spare fermentation bin for secondary. I can't really see any great advantage of a demijohn except, maybe the narrow neck means the oxygen concentration the wine is exposed to fall more rapidly once the airlock is in place.
Other than that, I can't see a reason to go to all the expense, unless food-grade bins are leeching nasties into the wine like regular plastic.
If money were no object, the stuff would touch nothing but glass or wood until it hit the porcelain.
But is there something I'm missing? I like to check my assumptions

 

[Tenbears]

The narrow neck minimizes oxygen contact, the class is generally easy to clean and sanitize, and being able to see the wine allows one a better perspective of how clear it is, the sediment can be easily seen sitting in the bottom. Many times I tell people to rack every 90 days until no more sediment falls in a 30 day period. easy to see through glass

 

[Autolycus]

The narrow neck minimizes oxygen contact, the class is generally easy to clean and sanitize, and being able to see the wine allows one a better perspective of how clear it is, the sediment can be easily seen sitting in the bottom. Many times I tell people to rack every 90 days until no more sediment falls in a 30 day period. easy to see through glass

Ahh, so the oxygen thing was right. So no need to buy demijohns if I pour CO2 into the container before I put the lid on.
The problem of seeing the sediment makes sense. Until now, I've just been using a very bright torch. I filter anyway once it's clear to the eye and usually get the whole bin done long before the filter pad is in danger of clogging. I think I'll continue to wait to find a load of demijohns in a skip or fleamarket for now.

 

[ibglowin]

Why in the world would you pour CO2 into a container in which you are trying to rid of CO2. That would be the definition of insanity…...

 

[Autolycus]

Why in the world would you pour CO2 into a container in which you are trying to rid of CO2. That would be the definition of insanity…...

Surely I'm not trying to get rid of CO2, since it can only escape once the pressure inside is higher than outside, and the space soon becomes saturated with it. So, rather than wait until the buildup of CO2 has forced all the oxygen and other gases out, why not just force the oxygen out at the start?

 

[ibglowin]

Let me know how that works out for you.

 

[GreginND]

It sounds like you are planning to drink it right after fermentation and not letting it age. Why not just drink it out of the fermenter then? No need for a secondary.


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