Splitting up a 5 gallon batch into 5, 1 gallon carboys?

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Jswo23

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So im trying to mess around with my Cab Sauv Recipe, particularly trying to see which oak chips, provide the best desire flavors. I once heard it's possible to take a 5 gallon batch(23L) and split it up in to 5 separate batches. Has anyone done this, and if so any tips on how to correctly ensure that i dont run into any known problems?
 
No, but I have with 2 and 3 gal. batches of fruit wines when I want some dry, semi-sweet, sweet, etc., but not the whole batch.

No problems should arise, just rack into each carboy and add oak.
 
Just make good tags to identify what you have done to each different carboy.

My batches are all under 5 gallons so even my 4 gallon peach batch got split down to 1 gallon carboys. Now with a bit of lees lost I have 3 x 4 liter carboys, a 1/2 gallon carboy and a 1.5 liter carboy in the fridge that has more headspace than I like but I figure the cold of a standard fridge will slow things down a bit and preserve better. By tagging them well and creating a log for each you can look back and see what you did for each and when. I know that at least one of my Peach wines is going to be left as dry as possible and still get flavor. (So I may have to do a little backsweetening on it.) I may take the 1/2 gallon (with some from the fridge) and turn it into a sweeter dessert wine)
 
I did a 5G into 5 1G a few years back. The problem you may have is if your jugs are measured by gal and your carboy as liters. When I transferred mine into the 1 gal jugs it never equaled out and I was short on the 5th so I used that one for top ups.It is a fun way to try a bunch of different additives to each individual to find out what your preference is.
As mentioned above, just make sure you clearly mark and keep records of each. I use painters tape to mark my carboys.
 
I use old vinyl Venetian blind (Wide) slats for tags. I cut the slats into about 2" x 3" sections stack, drill a hole in the corner and use some yard to tie them onto the carboy. Write with a magic marker and when I rack I move the tag to the new carboy.

NewPeach_Old Peach.jpg
 
I like to do oak or tannin addition trials in beer bottles. This can be done on a gallon or less and each bottle can have different amounts of tannin or oak added. The Coronita size bottles give even more small volume containers to try things out and still provide enough wine for 2-3 people to get a taste test.
 

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