i just pressed my red must after 5 days on skin and transferred the juice into carboys. one grape variety i had only 10 lbs of and it gave less than a gallon juice. i have it sitting in a 1 gallon carboy. another white wine i have in 2 5 gallon carboys but the secons carboy is only 3 quarters full. i read the carboys should be almost full. how important is this? i dont have smaller carboys or marbles. it is airlocked in my basement and if it helps at all i can put it in the fridge. any suggestions?
topping carboys
- Thread starter sholomy
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
sholomy, generally in secondary fementation, you would want to minimze the amount of space between the level of the wine and the airlock. The principle is that CO2, being heavier than air and providing a blanket of proctection on the surface of the wine, is being generated in lesser amounts in secondary fermentatin and is providing less protection from air. I recommend getting some additional carboys or jugs as soon as possible. Check out Craigs List, Antique Shops, garage sales, friends, neighbors, etc. You will be surprised how many you can find.
so like the maestros above already said air exposure is ok during first stage of fermentation since the wine is expelling air but as it slows you have to be careful of oxidation. i learned that the hard way this year. i was making a white muscat and it was settling in a 3 and 1 gallon carboy. the 3 i didnt fill sufficiently maybe short an inch or so and the 1 was 3/4s full since i didnt have anymore. in the first day after it started settling the 3 gallon was showing signs of a very beautiful super light color while the 1 gallon carboy started turning a darker shade. a day later the 3 gallon followed suit. so i mixed from another white wine im working on. so i learned 2 things. 1: i should have blended and filled to the top in the first place. 2: 2 inches from the top is too much air. get as close as possible to the top like a 1/4 inch.
