When is 23 liters not 23 liters

[terrymck]

I have known for a while that my Better Bottles did not have as much volume as my glass 23 liter carboys. About 1/2 liter less. But recently I have noticed that I have one and possibly 2 Italian made carboys that hold about 1/2 liter less than my other carboys. This brilliant observation was made when a receiving carboy overflowed. Has anyone else noticed this? The carboy that overflowed was purchased from a local store. I think I have another but it was noticed going the other way; racking to a larger bottle. More difficult to tell if it has too much headspace as opposed to too little.

Terry

 

[flatfoot]

I recently purchased two Italian made carboys and they are spot-on 23 liters. I NEVER get 30 full bottles at bottling time though...... I think it has something to do with my 'sampling' I suspect

(Oh and I was transferring between them and my old ones without issue.)

 

[Boatboy24]

My glass carboys are all just a little different.

 

[calvin]

I marked my biggest carboy and rack to that one first. Second rackings go into my slightly smaller carboys to minimize headspace.

 

[vernsgal]

My glass carboy differ because some are Canadian and the rest American. And as we all know , they're the same but just a little off

 

[sour_grapes]

Here was my revelation on this topic: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f3/carboy-confusion-41520/

I get 31.5 bottles out of mine (plus a few glasses )

 

[richmke]

I have bought a bunch off CL, and they are all different. Some as much as a litre or more. I'm trying to keep track of which one is the largest, and use that one as the "spare" for racking (and then rack back to the original after cleaning it).

 

[Rocky]

In the strict mathematical sense, there are no two carboys on the face of the Earth that hold exactly the same volume, and I know that is not what you are discussing. I note slight difference in my carboys but starting racking with a "6.5 liter, going to a "6" liter plus some smaller bottles, then a "5" plus some smaller bottles, etc. works for me. Any left over are sent to the "lab" for product evaluation and quality assurance.

 

[Elmer]

I recently racked from a 5 gallon carboy to a 5 gallon carboy. The sludge left behind was a glass worth.
Somehow I still had to crack a bottle and top off with 3/4 of a bottle.

Which is no big deal it gives me an excuse to drink the 1/4 of the bottle.
Which gave me an excuse to run around the house resetting the clock an hour ahead, so no one was the wiser that I was drinking at 11 am.
Which meant now that it was noon my kids needed lunch, which means they will want cookies, which means I had to bake cookies, which means........
Now that I think about it, racking from one carboy to another creates a "give a moose a muffin" endless scenario.........

 

[terrymck]

I think I understand you, Elmer----frightening!

Thanks for the replies. I will use the discrepancy to my advantage, as soon as I can id the sizes.

Terry

 

[Elmer]

I think I understand you, Elmer----frightening!

Thanks for the replies. I will use the discrepancy to my advantage, as soon as I can id the sizes.

Terry

In all honesty, just make sure you always have extra containers of various size ( wine bottles, snapple jars & beer bottles), stoppers and air locks.
Also make sure you have a wine that can top up with.

 

[Floandgary]

For what it's worth, I've taken the time to use an accurate (lab grade) vessel to "calibrate" all of my winemaking containers. Duely marked, I no longer have to guess or wonder about quantity since there is quite a variation among the different manufacturers.

 

[bkisel]

My glass Italian carboys when full to the neck will overflow anyone of my plastic carboys if filled to the neck at start of transfer. My plastic carboys are about spot on for holding 6 gallons.