Dosent saty... They were all in a box... 6 gallons 23L.. Advertised as 6 gallions so I am assuming they are all 6 gallons. Earlier posts say they do not make true 6 gallons anymore and I have a new "Italian" carboy which are usually over 6 gallons.
Confusion.. Not sure if I have a 6 gallon Carboy????
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That would be a lot of marbles, but I've done worse.
Has anyone out ther ever tested the true capacity of a 6 gallon Better Bottle? I have 2 of them, but I have never actually measured.
I doubt you will find a true 6 gallon, as it would be a Mexican carboy, which they don't make anymore. Recently I was fortunate enough to buy 3 of them from a friend, but that was luck.
Adding 1 or 2 bottles of a really nice, "like" wine will not have much affect on the taste of your batch of wine. That's 2 of 30! I doubt you or I could tell the difference if we tasted the batch before, then after adding.
Your photo shows a lot of air space for marbles. That level is OK if the wine is in secondary, but not OK if it is passed secondary. If passed secondary, you need to get that level up as soon as possible.
I doubt you will find a true 6 gallon, as it would be a Mexican carboy, which they don't make anymore. Recently I was fortunate enough to buy 3 of them from a friend, but that was luck.
Adding 1 or 2 bottles of a really nice, "like" wine will not have much affect on the taste of your batch of wine. That's 2 of 30! I doubt you or I could tell the difference if we tasted the batch before, then after adding.
Your photo shows a lot of air space for marbles. That level is OK if the wine is in secondary, but not OK if it is passed secondary. If passed secondary, you need to get that level up as soon as possible.
phermenter
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I think your best solution is the Better Bottle. It seems close enough in size to the old Mexican 6-gallon jobs that I can't tell the difference. Some people aren't comfortable with them for long-term aging, but others use them exclusively and report no problems.
Another alternative is to get a 5-gallon and after stabilizing, put most there and the rest in some small jugs/bottles to use for topping up.
Personally, I see no problem with adding a couple bottles or even three of commercial or previous homemade wine to your Italian c-boy to fill er up. I have one wine that I made specifically to keep on hand for top-up wine. It's a basic red that seems to go fine with everything red. And it's not a bad table wine in an emergency.
Jim
Another alternative is to get a 5-gallon and after stabilizing, put most there and the rest in some small jugs/bottles to use for topping up.
Personally, I see no problem with adding a couple bottles or even three of commercial or previous homemade wine to your Italian c-boy to fill er up. I have one wine that I made specifically to keep on hand for top-up wine. It's a basic red that seems to go fine with everything red. And it's not a bad table wine in an emergency.
Jim
Hi Mark,
I don't remember if my Better Bottles have to be topped off as much as the glass bottles.
You can leave this wine in secondary a few extra days if you need that time to acquire a new Better Bottle. If you know secondary is finished, just don't be opening the secondary carboy.
The kit instructions for your wine says
"Do NOT rack the wine before stabilising and fining. Winexpert kits require the sediment to be stirred back into suspension. Racking the wine off the sediment prior to fining may permanently prevent clearing. Please be sure to stir all of the sediment up from the bottom."
(These instructions are WineXpert's ways of doing things, not necessarily mine, but you should follow them, anyway.)
WineXpert does not have you rack off of secondary lees and sediment before stabilizing and clearing. Stabilizing and clearing are done right in the secondary carboy, you wait at least 8 more days, then rack.
In your case, don't start stabilization/clearing until you get your new carboy, as long as you can get it within a few days after secondary is done. When you get the carboy, you are going to need some extra space to stir and add chemicals, so go ahead and do stabilization and add clearing agent in the current carboy.
As soon as you finish stabilizing and stirring in the clearing agent and before anything can settle, quickly rack the whole contents, less and all sediment into the new Better Bottle. Add bung and air lock and wait for clearing to complete.
Yes, you should rack again in 8 days, "IF" the wine is clear. Don't be in a hurry to bottle.
For your special case, there is no danger as long as you rack immediately after you have added clearing agent and stirred well.
Make sure the temperature of the wine is at least 75F before you start stabilization and clearing. Otherwise, it will not degas as easily.
Yes, you might need a second Better Bottle carboy, however, we you rack at the end of approx 8 days, you will again have to leave behind some wine. This means the second Better Bottle will not be full. So, you are still going to need to have either marbles or additional wine to top off. It shouldn't take very much, though. Sorry!
I am running into the same problem. Purchased a kit from midwest who said it was a 6 gallon carboy and my wine is sitting at the same levels as yours. Not sure what I am going to do yet, marbles or top off with wine. It would definitely be a lot of marbles to bring the level of wine up to 2 inches from the bung.
Just don't add water!
When you rack after secondary or after clearing, you can take the sediment that is left in the bottom of the carboy and put it into a tall, narrow, clear bottle and seal it up. In 24 to 36 hours that bottle will settle and have from a cup to a 750 ML bottle of wine on top. Siphon it off and save it to top off.
xoltri
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Once you get making a bunch of different wines you will have stock of other similar wines that you can use to top off with as well. I think that's the cleanest solution, even more so than using marbles or multiple different sized carboys.
As someone said you are not going to change the wine by adding 1 or 2 bottles similar wine to a 30 bottle batch.
As someone said you are not going to change the wine by adding 1 or 2 bottles similar wine to a 30 bottle batch.
Just as a heads up. I tried the marble solution in my "6" gallon carboy which is the same you have(which definitely isn't 6 gallons) but the marble solution did not work and I used a ton of marbles. It helped enough to only having to add a little bit to top off but not sure how it is going to be to get the racking tube in-between them all. I just read about this can called Private Preserve Wine Preserver. Has anyone ever tried using this instead of topping off? From what I have read and talked to someone about in the wine shop is that you do not need to top off with this can of inert gasses. I am going to try this stuff on my next kit instead of bothering with all of those marbles again. I purchased the can at Bevmo but I know there are a few other places that carry it such as; amazon.com, kohls(supposedly), and other local wine shops around me. Good luck with your batch!
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Brian
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Marbles
I have bottled one and am clearing another WE wine kit, I just went to the dollar store and bought 10 bags of the glass designer marbles for a total of $10 and put in about 5-6 bags and then when I was done and ready to bottle I washed them and I am using them in my second kit. I don't like the water option and I can use these marbles forever.. Just MHO...
I have bottled one and am clearing another WE wine kit, I just went to the dollar store and bought 10 bags of the glass designer marbles for a total of $10 and put in about 5-6 bags and then when I was done and ready to bottle I washed them and I am using them in my second kit. I don't like the water option and I can use these marbles forever.. Just MHO...
Sorry guys! Just a quick update....
I ended up not going the marble route... Seemed like it was going to be a mess.
I ended up racking from my glass carboy in the picture I provided to a 6 gallon better bottle. It ended up going all the way to the top so a Better bottle tops off at 6 gallons about 4 inches down from the opening. It worked out great!!!
Thank you for all the help!
I ended up not going the marble route... Seemed like it was going to be a mess.
I ended up racking from my glass carboy in the picture I provided to a 6 gallon better bottle. It ended up going all the way to the top so a Better bottle tops off at 6 gallons about 4 inches down from the opening. It worked out great!!!
Thank you for all the help!
