Youngs 22 litre FV- suitable for maturing wine?

Terand · Oct 22, 2013

Hi. Have just finished fermenting 5 gallons of Apple wine in a Youngs 22 litre FV.This FV can actually hold 30 litres. What do you guys do about the 8 litres of air space left in the FV. Obviously this is not a problem during fermentation, but I'm worried about oxidation during maturation and subsequent racking.
I know these FV are very popular with brewers here, and hopefully someone can answer my question.

godfrey · Oct 22, 2013

if you don't disturb the FV ....

CO2 will protect your beverage

bobsbeer · Oct 22, 2013

I use these as FV's but not for bulk maturing. The head space is a bit of a problem, but it can be overcome. You could squirt in some co2 before you put on the cap, then it will have a layer of co2 above the wine. A better option is a slightly smaller food safe jerrycan or polypin. But in reality there will be co2 coming out of solution and this will form a layer over the wine anyway, so I would go ahead.

Terand · Oct 22, 2013

godfrey said:
if you don't disturb the FV ....

CO2 will protect your beverage

Are you saying leave it sitting on the lees and not rack it?

Terand · Oct 22, 2013

bobsbeer said:
.......... But in reality there will be co2 coming out of solution and this will form a layer over the wine anyway, so I would go ahead.

I plan to stabilise the wine with campden tablets after racking. I thought that this would stop any further fermentation and therefore no more CO2 will be produced?

Chippy_Tea · Oct 23, 2013

Campden tablets do not stabilise wine you also need to add wine stabiliser.

The Young's Fermentation Stopper 30 Grams does what it says on the tin. It's used to stop the fermentation process after the wine has been bottled.

You don't want your wines to ferment in the bottle so adding this chemical to the brew when bottling is the ideal solution to avoiding this problem.

Terand · Oct 23, 2013

I'm a little confused. After fermentation has completed and wine racked from the lees, what is the next thing to do to wine prior to leaving it to clear and mature. If I'm understanding correctly, stabiliser is added just before bottling.