Variable volume fermentor

[rhattin]

Making wine from grapes and juice so the final amount of must is never known. And the volume changes because of racking. I seem to end up with a prime number as a volume.
So in order to minimize oxygen contact, need to keep the fermentors full to the brim, although I notice that some WE kits aren't as fussy.
Does anyone have something called a variable volume fermentor? I am aware of the professional ones, with the floating cap, but I would like to adapt my 23 l plastic carboys ( wide mouth) to handle volumes between 9 and 23 l.Thought I should ask first before I go into inventor mode .
Ric
Wine Time Factory.

 

[jamesngalveston]

http://winemakermag.com/719-variable-volume-fermenters-techniques


are inventor mode...which i do all the time...and love it...
sometimes it works, sometimes it dont...

 

[rhattin]

VAriable Volume primary/secondary fermentor

I have 9 liter of Cab Franc, fromgrapes, in a 13 l plastic carboy. The inventor in me has added a food grade plastic bag through the wide mouth plastic carboy and provided access to the filling/draining opening in the plastic bag ( a reusable 9 l wine juice shipping container ( from Wine Expert I think)) After filling the plastic carboy with the Cab Franc must, there is about 4 l of head space left and lots of room for oxygen contact. By filling the plastic bag with 3 l of water, the head space disappeared as the bag expanded to fill all available space. It worked somewhat as planned, but some procedural things still have to be worked out. Will send pictures next e-mail. Bit of a challenge to get the water in or the wine out. Thank god for vacuum pumps.
Ric
WTF