A new piece of equipment

Today I added an Argon set up to my wine making room. Why, you say? Because Rodo told me I needed to do it! It will be a nice addition for protecting wine not topped up in carboys.

That's something I would like to add to my wine room.
I am tired of marbles and buying commercial wine for top off.
Where did you buy the tank, regulator, and hoses?

Dan
Looking Good

robie said:

That's something I would like to add to my wine room.
I am tired of marbles and buying commercial wine for top off.
Where did you buy the tank, regulator, and hoses?

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I had a few extra C02 tanks for my kegerator so I traded one in at the welding shop for an argon tank. They cost around $100. I got the flow meter and hose on ebay... http://cgi.ebay.com/Argon-CO2-Mig-T...517?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eaf712925
I called the company direct and handled everything right over the phone. No Hassles!

I looked at getting an argon tank, but virtually everything I read said that it was, at best, a poor, short-term alternative to keeping you vessels topped up.

The wineries do it and they also add it to the bottles during bottling. It is not a total solve all problem item. You should top them up at least every several weeks. Remember your number one priority is to have enough wine to top your carboys with. But if you should fall short this will protect your wine. You can test your carboys to see if you have enough argon in it by sticking a long butane lighter in it. If the flame goes out you're protected. This is for short term uses, not long term aging.

Runningwolf said:

You can test your carboys to see if you have enough argon in it by sticking a long butane lighter in it. If the flame goes out you're protected.

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I can just see Dan with a surprise look on his face, no eye brows and holding a butane lighter. HA HA HA HA

Is argon a better choice than nitrogen?

Is argon a better choice than nitrogen?

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Argon is about 2.5 times heavier than air while Nitrogen is slightly lighter than air.
I use Argon to sparge carboys and bottles before adding wine to help reduce oxidation.
Most wineries use a blast of nitrogen to displace air and foreign debris from the bottle prior to filling.

argon

Be a little bit wary when using argon. It's good stuff for excluding air but if by accident you get a good whiff you could have problems. Like CO2 it's heavier than air and it sinks to the bottom of your lungs making it difficult to shift. Get a good whiff of it and you could end up at the A&E as one of my colleagues did.
I'm not a scaremonger, just trying to be helpful.
Regards to all, Winemanden.

winemanden said:

Be a little bit wary when using argon. It's good stuff for excluding air but if by accident you get a good whiff you could have problems. Like CO2 it's heavier than air and it sinks to the bottom of your lungs making it difficult to shift. Get a good whiff of it and you could end up at the A&E as one of my colleagues did.
I'm not a scaremonger, just trying to be helpful.
Regards to all, Winemanden.

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What's "A&E"?

jet said:

What's "A&E"?

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First thing I thought of was the Arts & Entertainment Network. He is right though about the dangers of inhaling this as you would probably suffocate. The you would and up in the ER.

A&E

Sorry, , I forgot that A&E is a UK term meaning Accident & Emergency, The same as ER.
Regards, Winemanden.

winemanden said:

Sorry, , I forgot that A&E is a UK term meaning Accident & Emergency, The same as ER.
Regards, Winemanden.

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I know that argon can be hazardous and that you were talking about the hospital. I was just curious what A&E meant, and google was no help.

Thanks

Using the Argon

Running Wolf, I am thinking about adding argon to my bag of tricks, but I have a simple question. Do you just place the argon hose in the bottom of barrel, turn it on for a few seconds and remove it. Then rack into it ??? If so how much argon do you add, or how long do you let run. I will be racking 53 gallons out of my barrel into a stainless steel holder, then rack back into my wood barrel after I clean it. I will also be racking a 14 gallons demijohn, and 2 6 gallon carboys. The wine was made from grapes, and it was 20 cases of Sangiovese and 10 cases of Zifindel mixed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Do you just place the argon hose in the bottom of barrel, turn it on for a few seconds and remove it

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That's pretty much it,... sort of.

Lets start at the beginning with a couple of facts. First the size tank that Dan has shown holds about 40 cubic feet. Next, the flowmeter is caliberated in cubic feet per hour (CFH). One cubic foot equals 7.4 US gallons.

Now think about adding the Argon like this, lets imagine for a minute the air is mud and the Argon is water. If you stick the hose in and open the valve to 60 CFH in theory you could fill a carboy in 1 second. However the effect would be like spraying the mud with a garden hose. You would end up with a mixture of air and argon, eventually the argon would settle to the bottom.

A much better way is to flow the argon at 10-15 CFH for a longer time period and not mix it with the air.

I hope this helps.

I use compressed C02 that I also use to force carbonate beer and wine to make sparkling wine(Champagne). Just a blast in there works fine and has many uses in my cellar as I said. Hers my other uses. # different beers and sparkling Raspberry.

rodo said:

That's pretty much it,... sort of.

Lets start at the beginning with a couple of facts. First the size tank that Dan has shown holds about 40 cubic feet. Next, the flowmeter is caliberated in cubic feet per hour (CFH). One cubic foot equals 7.4 US gallons.

Now think about adding the Argon like this, lets imagine for a minute the air is mud and the Argon is water. If you stick the hose in and open the valve to 60 CFH in theory you could fill a carboy in 1 second. However the effect would be like spraying the mud with a garden hose. You would end up with a mixture of air and argon, eventually the argon would settle to the bottom.

A much better way is to flow the argon at 10-15 CFH for a longer time period and not mix it with the air.

I hope this helps.

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Thanks. I understand now how much and how long. Thats the way I like it. Nice and Simple. Thanks again.

rodo said:

That's pretty much it,... sort of.

Lets start at the beginning with a couple of facts. First the size tank that Dan has shown holds about 40 cubic feet. Next, the flowmeter is caliberated in cubic feet per hour (CFH). One cubic foot equals 7.4 US gallons.

Now think about adding the Argon like this, lets imagine for a minute the air is mud and the Argon is water. If you stick the hose in and open the valve to 60 CFH in theory you could fill a carboy in 1 second. However the effect would be like spraying the mud with a garden hose. You would end up with a mixture of air and argon, eventually the argon would settle to the bottom.

A much better way is to flow the argon at 10-15 CFH for a longer time period and not mix it with the air.

I hope this helps.

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Thanks Rod, I just got on. Nice explanation. Flame this is the best way to go about it. You can also layer it on if you fell short of wine in your carboy and wanted to just add some to the top of your wine with a nice slow flow.

Does any argon absorb into the wine ??? Or does just push out as the wine level gets higher when racking ???