over worried about O2?

[Wade E]

The new RJS instructions say to complete ferm in prim. and degass in
ferm. We as winemakers are told to have the blanket of gas in carboy to
protect our baby! I'm on the edge on this one as I want to bulk age but
dont want it exposed to O2 for a long time and am not going to go out
and buy a inert gas to blanket it. What are your opions on this as I
want to follow instructions but dont want oxidized wine and dont want
this kit to have to be replaced after working on and waiting patiently
for bulk aging just to find this wine is bad because of O2.

\

!

 

[smurfe]

Wade, even if you fermented and degassed in the bucket, you would still rack it to a carboy to clear and then age. Does the directions say to degas and then rack to glass and top up?


Smurfe

 

[masta]

Wade, even if you fermented and degassed in the bucket, you would still rack it to a carboy to clear and then age. Does the directions say to degas and then rack to glass and top up?


Smurfe

Yes it does and you always want to follow this practice....after the fermentation is complete more than a small amount of exposure to air is bad.
The only change to the instructions is allowing the complete fermentation to happen in the primary so when it is complete you have a larger surface area for the CO2 to come out of solution on it's own. The important part of this new procedure is that you make sure when the SG drops you snap the lid down tight and use an airlock as many people do their fermenting in a open top or loosely covered primary.


Unless I am making a country wine or grape skin kit I stir the heck out of the batch when starting to add plenty of oxygen and pitch my yeast then snap the lid down tight and add a airlock so if I can't get to racking when the fermentation slows down to <1.010 I don't have to worry about air getting to my batch.Edited by: masta

 

[Wade E]

what about bulk aging without that gas to protect? Dont worry about it or just bottle it then?

 

[masta]

You can bulk age for years ina carboy if you have it topped up properly (2 inches from the bung) and a properly filled airlock. The percentage of head space to volume of liquid in a properly topped up carboy is less than a 750 ml wine bottle when it is filled and corked.


Remember air is only ~20.95% oxygen and almost all of the rest is nitrogen.

 

[Wade E]

Thanks Masta, you put my mind at ease with these new instructions!

 

[Funky Fish]

And, as Tim Vandergrift is so fond of saying, "Follow the directions, leaving out no step, no matter how small." Sure, he works for WE, but he used to work for RJS (and I'm sure Dinesh would agree with him).