Possible to fully ferment in bin?

[bbjohhy]

Hi guys. I've successfully made several batches of fruit wines and a few 1 gallon kits, which I've been very happy with, so I decided to upscale and try a 5 gallon California Connoiseur pinot grigot kit. Just got it going this weekend, and it happily fermenting away. Unfortunately my one and only 5 gallon carboy has a crack in it, and can't be used. My question is, can I ignore the instruction to rack into a carboy after 8 days and continue to use the fermentation bin with an airlock fitted to fully ferment the wine (should take about 20 days), or will the risk of oxidisation be too great? I can get a pretty good airtight seal using petroleum jelly on the lip of the lid. Being a white wine I was always planning on bottling straight away due to my limited 'bulk making' kit, so there's no issue with it being in much longer than 20 days. My only other option at the moment would be to rack into several 1 gallon demi-johns after 8 days and then rack back into the bin once finished to add the rest of the kit ingredients. Obviously I need to source some new 5 gallon carboys, but funds are very limited for this brew. Many thanks in advance.
John

 

[Julie]

I am sure someone else will pipe in with some better advice since I have nevered fermented completely in a primary but I do beleive you are going to need to put the wine into a carboy, you can let it sit in the primary for awhile but I would be too scared to chance it. You are going to need to rack that before you bottle and you are going to expose your wine to a lot of air. And I would not be putting petroleum jelly anywhere near my wine. You are taking a big chance on contaminating your wine.

 

[bbjohhy]

Thanks, yes, I did worry about taking unnecessary risks with this kit, as it cost a bit more than a 1 gallon! I've just ordered a plastic 5 gallon carboy to use as a secondary, and will see how that goes. If it works ok, I think I'll stick with plastic, as I've no idea how my glass one cracked and wouldn't want to risk it happening when it was full of lovely wine

 

[winemaker_3352]

Glad to see you are getting a carboy!! I am like Julie - i wouldn't want to put the Pet. Jelly near my wine either. The primary bucket will do alright for the time being - but you are risking oxidation doing this in the long run.

Hard to tell what cracks glass - could have exposed to temp changes to quick, placed it to hard on counter or concrete, could have been a defect in the glass.

 

[jiml]

I believe Wade ferments to dry in his primary. If you put an airlock on it around a SG 1.010 then a nice pocket of CO2 should sit on top protecting it from O2.

 

[Tom]

Yes you can ferment dry in a plastic primary. But you need to get it off the gross lees asap. Hopefully by then you can have your new carboy.
Now kits here are 6 gallons and you have a 5 gallon kit? where and who make that?

 

[bbjohhy]

Yes you can ferment dry in a plastic primary. But you need to get it off the gross lees asap. Hopefully by then you can have your new carboy.
Now kits here are 6 gallons and you have a 5 gallon kit? where and who make that?

I'm over in the UK, and its a California Connoisseur kit. Most kits I've seen over here are still 5 gallons. It's got another 6 days or so before the recommended first racking, so hopefully my carboy will be here then. If not, I'll rack into another fermentation bin with an airlock, until the carboy arrives.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, it's good to know I'm not faced with a ruined brew should my carboy not arrive in time.

 

[Dugger]

I agree that you can do can finish your fermentation in your primary, if you wish. It should be under airlock when the SG gets close to 1.000 and you can probably tighten the lid seal with some plastic.
No doubt you are talking about a 5 Imp gal kit (23 liters, 6 US gal) but is the plastic carboy you are getting 5 Imp gal?

 

[AlFulchino]

there is so much co2 in the kit process that you can easily ferment to dry in the primary...heck i ferment to dry w many of my wines and they are from grapes...for me its about skin contact time and its a time issue...of which in the fall there is no free time

 

[bbjohhy]

I agree that you can do can finish your fermentation in your primary, if you wish. It should be under airlock when the SG gets close to 1.000 and you can probably tighten the lid seal with some plastic.
No doubt you are talking about a 5 Imp gal kit (23 liters, 6 US gal) but is the plastic carboy you are getting 5 Imp gal?

Yes, it's a 5 imp gallon carboy - we can't buy things in US gallons over here. Will try to remember our measurements are different to yours for future posts (or just use metric measures).

 

[Wade E]

Yep, 5 Imp gallons is 6 US so we are talking about that same size kits. I ferment all my wines to dry in primary with the exception of just a few and thats usually just because I have the time or want to move it oer a little earlier as I believe I may not have the time at the later date. I never ever move my reds over early though because I want the extra contact time on the fruit.

 

[bbjohhy]

Thanks Wade. Just out of interest, do you leave them to ferment to dry on the lees, or do you rack at all?