Primary Size - Big Enough?

[WineNewbie]

Is the standard 7.9 Gallon primary bucket large enough to do a 6 gallon batch of fruit wine? I'm planning on doinga 6 gallon batch of blueberry, but with 6 gallons of liquid plus the added volume from the crushed fruit in straining bag, I'm afraid it may be too much for the 7.9 Gallon and overflow during the active fermentation.


I guess I could do 5 gallons, but would then need to get a 5 gallon carboy.


Any thoughts or experience? Maybe it's cheaper to buy a larger primary?

 

[grapeman]

When I make the blueberry, I put put in a straining bag and crush and squeeze the fruit in the primary. This gets a good deal of the fruit out and it is counted towards the 6 gallons. The remaining pulp in the bag I take out untilI bring the level upt to 6 gallons after sugar addition. This gets the liquid level close to 6 gallons. When I'm all set with the liquid I put the bag with pulp back in and let it ferment for a few days(pectic enzyme helps break it down). Punch the bag down in a couple times a day. After the few days, I take the bag out and squeeze what I can get out into another sanitized vessel and add back in to finish primary ferment. When racked to secondary you should be close to the desired level, if not you can bring up " a little" with some water. Normally though it should be about right until it is finished before the second racking.

 

[Wade E]

I made a Blueberry melomel 6 gallon batch in a 7.9 with 12 lbs of
blueberries and 6 gallons before adding the berries and it was fine.

 

[jobe05]

I have made a 6 gallon batch of blackberry Port with 36 pounds of fruit in a straining bag and had no problem in my 7.9 gallon primary.

 

[Wade E]

36 lbs! Dang Jobe!

Edited by: wade

 

[jobe05]

Blackberries mash down to almost nothing in the bag since they are mostly juice. So although 36 pounds sounds impressive, it would be like putting 6 softballs in a sack....... Maybe a little more.


Makes good wine though!


Gonna start another blackberry Port (12 gallons) and blackberry wine (12 gallons) and again, I plan on using 6 pounds of berries per gallon. I could use less in the wine, but to me it taste flat and thin. My last 3 gallons of wine, I tried your trick of condensing the juice from about a gallon and a half to about a quart, it worked great.

 

[Wade E]

Glad you liked that trick. My wife actually came up with that and I
called a place that is not mentionable on this forum and asked if that
was feesible. That was before I found this wonderful forum. I pretty
much use this method for every country wine I do as you can get just
about any flavor you want in a health food store or bigger grocery
store since at that point it really doesnt matter if there is sorbate
or pot. meta in it.

 

[WineNewbie]

Thanks for the replies! 6 gallons of blueberry it is.

 

[jobe05]

You'll be fine, blueberries will break down well.