Fermentation vessel question.

[YeastLord]

Hi all,
I only have three glass demijohns at the moment. I'm wondering whether after fermenting in glass I could rack into a five litre PET water container to clear without problems? (Sans water btw)...
Would the increased area exposed to air provoke too much oxidation (as a five litre container is larger than a demijohn) or any other problems?

Or would the addition of a campden tablet at racking prevent oxidation/provide a protecting layer of gas?

As a side point how about a spray can of inert gas such as 'Private Reserve Wine Preserver' - would such a thing ever be necessary?

Any advice most gratefully received.
Stu.

 

[MmmBeer]

I have encountered the same issue; I made three batches of loganberry wine back in June and have been racking to fresh demijohns every month. One of the original demijohns turned out to be 5 litres, as were the two additional plastic ones I bought. When I first racked the first batch, I followed advice and topped up to 5l with bottled water, but one I have left with a larger air gap.

I always put a drop into a shot glass when racking, strictly for quality control purposes :whistle: and have not noticed any problems caused by this.

 

[Vinotinto]

Are you mad? Shot glass? Definitely not enough to test properly

 

[Bigeck]

Hi all,
I only have three glass demijohns at the moment. I'm wondering whether after fermenting in glass I could rack into a five litre PET water container to clear without problems? (Sans water btw)...
Would the increased area exposed to air provoke too much oxidation (as a five litre container is larger than a demijohn) or any other problems?

Or would the addition of a campden tablet at racking prevent oxidation/provide a protecting layer of gas?

As a side point how about a spray can of inert gas such as 'Private Reserve Wine Preserver' - would such a thing ever be necessary?

You want to keep oxygen away from the liquid to prevent oxidation so either way would work.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

No problem using 5 litre water bottles, plastic is not great for long term ageing (many months) but if it's short term go for it.

 

[YeastLord]

Thanks very much for all the kind advice. Bought a couple of 5l waters today.

I'm with you on quality control MmmBeer :)

Hey Chippy, is the problem wih long-term aging in plastic the headspace or the plastic itself?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

This has been discussed a few times here over the years, plastic is air permeabel so basically your wine ages faster in plastic there is also the worry that because the bottles are not designed to hold alcohol chemicals in the plastic can leach into your wine I looked into this but could not get a definitive answer so having OCD I decided to move to glass over time.

I found charity shops a good place to find DJ's but take a picture on you phone to show staff as often younger members of staff haven't a clue what a demijohn is.

 

[needmorstuf]

I did clear one completely after racking off of the yeast. What I noticed is that on the ridges that give the container its strength (the ones running around the bottle) sediment collected on them - so when I was syphoning into another container although the sediment remained undisturbed at the bottom (and that was the vast majority) a little collected on the ridges and got transferred into the next container.

Even now when I clear in my primary FV and rack into pets after a few days there is a slight dusting of sediment in the 5l pet, I syphon off this into "bag in boxes"

This is what I do now.. I am doing 23l batches though.
ferment in FV
rack into fv off yeast
allow to clear
rack into 5l pets
at time of consumption rack into 5l bag in boxes off dusting of sediment

 

[Dexter101]

This has been discussed a few times here over the years, plastic is air permeabel so basically your wine ages faster in plastic there is also the worry that because the bottles are not designed to hold alcohol chemicals in the plastic can leach into your wine I looked into this but could not get a definitive answer so having OCD I decided to move to glass over time.

I found charity shops a good place to find DJ's but take a picture on you phone to show staff as often younger members of staff haven't a clue what a demijohn is.

recently saw a demijohn in a charity shop... they wanted £8 for it which I thought was the same price as a new one! don't mind giving to charity but think they need to remain realistic when pricing.

Like the idea of using plastic initially and then racking off into glass for its longer time :)

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Check out sell and seek on Facebook for your area I have seen them several times on there and at a fair price.

 

[YeastLord]

This has been discussed a few times here over the years, plastic is air permeabel so basically your wine ages faster in plastic there is also the worry that because the bottles are not designed to hold alcohol chemicals in the plastic can leach into your wine I looked into this but could not get a definitive answer so having OCD I decided to move to glass over time.

I found charity shops a good place to find DJ's but take a picture on you phone to show staff as often younger members of staff haven't a clue what a demijohn is.

Thanks Chippy. This was what I was wondering - you hear a lot of stuff these days about the chemicals we're exposed to and I don't want to start growing ****s or something (or was that oestrogen in the drinking water?).
Not that I've got anything against ****s, I just don't want to have to buy new shirts.

Glass for me too I think, I'll just have to keep my eye out.

 

[YeastLord]

I did clear one completely after racking off of the yeast. What I noticed is that on the ridges that give the container its strength (the ones running around the bottle) sediment collected on them - so when I was syphoning into another container although the sediment remained undisturbed at the bottom (and that was the vast majority) a little collected on the ridges and got transferred into the next container.

Even now when I clear in my primary FV and rack into pets after a few days there is a slight dusting of sediment in the 5l pet, I syphon off this into "bag in boxes"

This is what I do now.. I am doing 23l batches though.
ferment in FV
rack into fv off yeast
allow to clear
rack into 5l pets
at time of consumption rack into 5l bag in boxes off dusting of sediment

Hmm, good point. I'd not thought about that. I might try giving it a regular tap around the outside as its clearing perhaps?

Sounds like you have a good system going! I've not explored the dizzy heights of 23l batches yet but hope to soon. Thanks for the reply :)

 

[needmorstuf]

Hmm, good point. I'd not thought about that. I might try giving it a regular tap around the outside as its clearing perhaps?

Sounds like you have a good system going! I've not explored the dizzy heights of 23l batches yet but hope to soon. Thanks for the reply :)

Yes a tap on the side would do the trick wonderfully.