Glass Marble Size?

[rpawell]

I decided I am going to use glass marbles to top off my carboys after primary fermentation, does size matter?

I am looking into either 9/16" or 3/8". I feel the 9/16" marble will allow more sediment to permeate, thus making it easier to remove a "clear" product. The downside to the larger size is that it may trap some of the "clear" wine inside of the marble layer.

My questions are:
1) Am I over analyzing this?
2) Does size matter (keep the jokes to a minimum)?
3) If it does, what size do you recommend and why?

 

[Luc]

I have used marbles on several occasions but have never
thought about it like you do.
So the answer to the first question is yes

Now thinking about it I do indeed think that size matters
and I would prefer the smaller ones.

The large ones would have more of a gap between them
so you would loose a bit more wine.
I think the difference would however not be so big.

There should be some maths in there which could calculate
what would be best, but personally I would not take it that far.

Luc

 

[rpawell]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, my engineering brain won't let me rest until I determine the best size. I'll let you know what I find.