Sankey Keg Ageing/Fermentation

[John Kimble]

Good evening,
Veteran beer brewer venturing into wine for the first time.
First batch is 12G of Pinot Noir.
Doing our bulk/secondary fermentation phase in 13G custom made Sankey Kegs with the rubber carboy caps and a blow off tube into starsan like I use for beer.
My question is the ageing/clarifying stage. Can I still use the keg for this phase without topping off the headspace with additional wine but instead puring the headspace of O2 with a little blast of CO2?
Thanks for the help!

 

[Johnd]

Good evening,
Veteran beer brewer venturing into wine for the first time.
First batch is 12G of Pinot Noir.
Doing our bulk/secondary fermentation phase in 13G custom made Sankey Kegs with the rubber carboy caps and a blow off tube into starsan like I use for beer.
My question is the ageing/clarifying stage. Can I still use the keg for this phase without topping off the headspace with additional wine but instead puring the headspace of O2 with a little blast of CO2?
Thanks for the help!

Many use a little inert gas in lieu of topping off their wines after fermentation, just make sure to do it sufficiently to rid the airspace of oxygen. Welcome to WMT!

 

[John Kimble]

John,
Thanks very much! I cant decide if I should just use the carboy rubber airlock and pump CO2 in with the blowoff tube going into a cup of starsan and leave it, or if I should put the sankey coupler assembly on, pressurize it, release the gas and then leave it. Do you think having the sankey dip tube assembly in during bulk aging would negatively effect it?

 

[Johnd]

John,
Thanks very much! I cant decide if I should just use the carboy rubber airlock and pump CO2 in with the blowoff tube going into a cup of starsan and leave it, or if I should put the sankey coupler assembly on, pressurize it, release the gas and then leave it. Do you think having the sankey dip tube assembly in during bulk aging would negatively effect it?

Personally, once fermentation is over, I use a waterless airlock bung like this: https://www.morebeer.com/products/c...MImYmNsub64wIVi4nICh2nQgzPEAQYASABEgKmAvD_BwE

Can’t comment bout all those beer fittings, have no clue.

 

[John Kimble]

John,
Good copy.