1 gallon wine- 7.9 gallon Primary

[troutstix]

Stupid question, I know. I usually do nothing but red kits, but want to experiment with a few one gallon fruit batches. Is it possible to ferment a 1 gallon batch in a 7.9 primary? Anybody done this? I know that small primaries are cheap, but the closest LHBS is over an hour one way. Thanks in advance.



Mike

 

[woodsxdragon]

i would say that the amount of head space you have would be a problem and could lead to contamination but i've been wrong before...

 

[troutstix]

yeah, my thoughts as well. But... I thought someone may just do it all the time! Thanks wxd.

 

[Tom]

Maybe primary ONLY

 

[cpfan]

Agree with Tom...primary only.

However, if there is an ice cream shop closer than the LHBS, see if you can pick up a 3 US gallon pail from them. That's what I have used for 1 gallon batches. They also serve several other purposes around our house, but I keep the wine ones separate.

Steve

 

[Flem]

+1 to Primary only.

 

[ArdenS]

I use large buckets all the time for the primary, then rack to gallon jugs for secondary. I'm not too worried about head space during the primary. I picked up some 1-gallon jugs by buying apple cider, which I then turned into wine or cyser.

 

[closetwine]

One more vote for Primary only! I do 1 gallon batches and this is what I do...

 

[Sirs]

primary only here also.... if you have a Sam's club or Wal-mart close by you can go into the bakery dept. normally each day they have buckets with lids to get rid of in 2 & 5 gallon sizes they come in real handy for all kinds of uses other than fermenters

 

[CB750]

Any 5 litre glass or food grade plastic jug would make an excellent primary fermenter for a 1 gallon batch of wine. I do all of my fermenting in glass I like to see what is going on.

 

[sly22guy]

This is what i got works great for smaller batches, plus i use the smaller ones on the woodstove to add sugar or anything that needs heated up. not to mention you can use the mid size one to sanitize stuff in or even make a corkidore out of. Can't beat the price! $29.99

http://www.harborfreight.com/stainless-steel-4-piece-stock-pot-set-94829.html

 

[UglyBhamGuy]

primary only here also.... if you have a Sam's club or Wal-mart close by you can go into the bakery dept. normally each day they have buckets with lids to get rid of in 2 & 5 gallon sizes they come in real handy for all kinds of uses other than fermenters

+1 on the Bakery Dept.

Local grocery stores with a bakery are good, too. i got all i could carry from a Food World here and they even did a cursory clean on them (all icing rinsed out... health codes, i am sure.)