Do you fill our carboy with argon gas before racking?

[Lurker]

Like Dan said oil on top is the old timers way to protect the wine. My Barber still does it, he uses the least expensive olive oil that he can get. He finally stopped using those old barrols and now uses glass only.

 

[ibglowin]

Sounds like your talking about those little cans of "Private Reserve". Those are great for topping off an open bottle of wine but thats it. Way to expensive to even think about using for our needs!

And your right they do feel like they are totally empty!

Those little spray cans of what I believe is argon, has almost no weight at all. When I first bought one, I shook it and felt nothing. I thought the can must have leaked. The gas was still there alright, just a very small quantity. They are meant to top off opened bottle of wine to keep the wine from spoiling.

Those little cans work, but wow, are they expensive!

 

[VitaminJay]

OK. So it sounds like I have three options:

1. Smaller container.
2. Marbles
3. Gas

1. is expensive but will work. I would need to buy food grade gas-impermeable 3 gallon containers. A cost of roughly $60 and then I've got to store them someplace when I'm done.

2. totally impractical due to the volume needed. We're talking about bringing 3 gallons up to the neck of a 5 gallon glass carboy times 2 carboys.

3. Also expensive. Or is it? It looks like I can buy a 10 pack of 16g Argon cartridges for around $30, which is far less than buying 2 new carboys. Plus, I can use the Argon for preservation in the bottle too. Based on the product claim that each one will preserve 15 bottles, I could probably get by with the 4 pack for a mere $10.

Unless I'm missing something, option 3 sounds best, although that would seem to contradict the opinion of people commenting here. Can someone explain if I've got a flaw in my logic? Couldn't I ferment, rack to secondary, and then purge the secondary headspace with Argon for $10?

 

[ibglowin]

What are you talking about here? This is something not previously discussed or did I completely miss this one? Sounds like cartridges for a paint ball gun?

3. Also expensive. Or is it? It looks like I can buy a 10 pack of 16g Argon cartridges for around $30, which is far less than buying 2 new carboys. Plus, I can use the Argon for preservation in the bottle too. Based on the product claim that each one will preserve 15 bottles, I could probably get by with the 4 pack for a mere $10.

Unless I'm missing something, option 3 sounds best, although that would seem to contradict the opinion of people commenting here. Can someone explain if I've got a flaw in my logic? Couldn't I ferment, rack to secondary, and then purge the secondary headspace with Argon for $10?

 

[BobF]

OK. So it sounds like I have three options:

1. Smaller container.
2. Marbles
3. Gas

1. is expensive but will work. I would need to buy food grade gas-impermeable 3 gallon containers. A cost of roughly $60 and then I've got to store them someplace when I'm done.

2. totally impractical due to the volume needed. We're talking about bringing 3 gallons up to the neck of a 5 gallon glass carboy times 2 carboys.

3. Also expensive. Or is it? It looks like I can buy a 10 pack of 16g Argon cartridges for around $30, which is far less than buying 2 new carboys. Plus, I can use the Argon for preservation in the bottle too. Based on the product claim that each one will preserve 15 bottles, I could probably get by with the 4 pack for a mere $10.

Unless I'm missing something, option 3 sounds best, although that would seem to contradict the opinion of people commenting here. Can someone explain if I've got a flaw in my logic? Couldn't I ferment, rack to secondary, and then purge the secondary headspace with Argon for $10?

The part you're leaving out of the Cost/Benefit is that the smaller containers can be used multiple times, where gas is a consumable.

This is where you have to decide how many times you'll likely be faced with this problem.

In my own experience, you can never have too many carboys of different sizes - a topped up carboy with proper sulfite levels is the highest quality option of all.

 

[Runningwolf]

What are you talking about here? This is something not previously discussed or did I completely miss this one? Sounds like cartridges for a paint ball gun?

I thought the cans of argon private reserve were like ten dollars each!

 

[Flame145]

OK. So it sounds like I have three options:

1. Smaller container.
2. Marbles
3. Gas

1. is expensive but will work. I would need to buy food grade gas-impermeable 3 gallon containers. A cost of roughly $60 and then I've got to store them someplace when I'm done.

2. totally impractical due to the volume needed. We're talking about bringing 3 gallons up to the neck of a 5 gallon glass carboy times 2 carboys.

3. Also expensive. Or is it? It looks like I can buy a 10 pack of 16g Argon cartridges for around $30, which is far less than buying 2 new carboys. Plus, I can use the Argon for preservation in the bottle too. Based on the product claim that each one will preserve 15 bottles, I could probably get by with the 4 pack for a mere $10.

Unless I'm missing something, option 3 sounds best, although that would seem to contradict the opinion of people commenting here. Can someone explain if I've got a flaw in my logic? Couldn't I ferment, rack to secondary, and then purge the secondary headspace with Argon for $10?

10 liter demijohn, 2 1/2 gallons. I pretty sure are only about $20.00 dollars.

 

[bdcl1977]

Is this a one-time experiment or are you going to continue to make wine? Any investment into additional carboys is not a bad investment at all, it gives you more capability to bulk age, but then again it creates the problem of storage for all the wine you have bottled and are aging. My wife and I have resolved our storage problem…we age a few and drink a little more than a few, so now I have to buy another carboy to start bulk aging another batch, then bottle, and the cycle begins again, like BobF said “In my own experience, you can never have too many carboys of different sizes”
Jim

 

[ibglowin]

If you do go the Argon Cartridge route I would not try and leave one of those cartridges on the dispenser half full. I can guarantee you if you do it will have all have slowly leaked out by the next time you go to use it. Just go ahead and empty it all into the carboy.......