Headspace?

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I've finished clearing a batch of DB but I'm waiting for another batch to finish up so I only need to deal with carboy cleaning once. The wine has quite a bit of headspace after racking off the lees. Will it be okay for the week or so (hopefully) that it will take the other wine to catch up or should I just give in and bottle it now?

 

[KCCam]

I've finished clearing a batch of DB but I'm waiting for another batch to finish up so I only need to deal with carboy cleaning once. The wine has quite a bit of headspace after racking off the lees. Will it be okay for the week or so (hopefully) that it will take the other wine to catch up or should I just give in and bottle it now?

How much is quite a bit?

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

How much is quite a bit?

Well, a lot actually

 

[KCCam]

It shouldn’t pick up that much oxygen in a week, but I have to defer to the more experienced folks here. Maybe a pinch of extra k-meta in this one when you bottle it.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

It shouldn’t pick up that much oxygen in a week, but I have to defer to the more experienced folks here. Maybe a pinch of extra k-meta in this one when you bottle it.

I'll see if someone else chimes in. In the meantime, I appreciate your input!

 

[NorCal]

May be ok, but after all the work why chance it? I‘d evacuate the space with a one way valve, bottle or just add a bottle or two of complementary commercial wine.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

May be ok, but after all the work why chance it? I‘d evacuate the space with a one way valve, bottle or just add a bottle or two of complementary commercial wine.

I think I'll just bottle it this afternoon then. I was hoping that it would be okay for a week but if there is chance it could cause issues, I'll make it work to get it done today.

 

[BernardSmith]

If it's not yet read to bottle then perhaps don't but do you have any other smaller carboys and containers. If this is 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy do you have a 3 gallon carboy and perhaps two 1500 wine bottles?

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

If it's not yet read to bottle then perhaps don't but do you have any other smaller carboys and containers. If this is 4 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy do you have a 3 gallon carboy and perhaps two 1500 wine bottles?

It's about 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy. It's ready to bottle, I was just hoping to wait a week until another batch was ready so I could do them all at once.

 

[KCCam]

I‘d evacuate the space with a one way valve

Steve sells a “headspace eliminator” for a few bucks, which does that. This is a perfect application. I bought a couple with my AIO. They come in very handy.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Steve sells a “headspace eliminator” for a few bucks, which does that. This is a perfect application. I bought a couple with my AIO. They come in very handy.

Thanks for the info... I'm going to order one!

 

[Sailor323]

Thanks for the info... I'm going to order one!

Airspace evacuators reduce pressure in the container thereby causing the evaporation of esters and other flavor compounds.

 

[Sailor323]

Hind sight is always pretty clear, you probably should have waited to rack the clarified wine until you could combine it with the other wine for bottling

 

[NorCal]

Airspace evacuators reduce pressure in the container thereby causing the evaporation of esters and other flavor compounds.

I’ve kept a partially filled carboy under vacuum for a number of months, didn’t notice any impact.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Hind sight is always pretty clear, you probably should have waited to rack the clarified wine until you could combine it with the other wine for bottling

There was even more headspace in that carboy as it was larger yet so I was hoping that but racking it into a smaller one, I'd solve the issue. But there was quite a bit of sediment so I'm back to having more headspace than I want.

 

[David Violante]

Way new here... I think I’ve read using sanitized glass marbles to reduce the headspace, and would creating a blanket of nitrogen also work?

 

[BernardSmith]

Three thoughts. You need to use a lot of marbles to replace about half a gallon's worth of headroom. But it is in principle, doable.
You need to make sure that the marbles are not in fact toxic. Lead and other metals in the glass can leach out over time especially if you are aging the wine AND the pH is low AND the alcohol content is relatively high.
Using any noble gas is likely to work but you need to monitor the blanket and replenish the gas on a regular basis

 

[David Violante]

Yes, that’s true... it would be a lot of marbles... lol ...and those are great points about leaching lead and other items. How long would a blanket of nitrogen stay in place, and would it diffuse into the wine?

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Update!

I went ahead and bottled the wine just to be safe. I also ordered the headspace eliminator for my AIO as suggested by @KCCam so I won't have to stress about this in the future. Thanks for all of the advice!

 

[sour_grapes]

Yes, that’s true... it would be a lot of marbles... lol ...and those are great points about leaching lead and other items. How long would a blanket of nitrogen stay in place, and would it diffuse into the wine?

There is no such thing as a blanket of any gas. You can use the nitrogen to purge the headspace, that is, expel the O2-containing air out of the headspace. Then you put an airlock on it. (At this point, the diffusion of O2 through your airlock is the relevant rate to consider, but experience seems to indicate that this diffusion is not enough to ruin your wine.)

As far as N2 diffusing into your wine, this is not a concern. First of all, air is ~3/4 N2. Second, N2 is inert.