RedHouse

Recipes 

Any reason you can't make a 2.5 gallon batch of Apfelwein in a 6 gallon carboy? I'd like to do a half batch first to see if we are going to like it as much as everybody else seems to. Is all the extra air space not a good idea?

FenderSteve

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I really wouldn't worry about it. I can't be 100% since you're talking about Apfelwein, but I would do it in a second with beer.

The head space in your carboy will be the CO2 given off by fermentation. And that is just fine for your Apfelwein.

captainL

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I was skeptical at first too so I went to a local grocery store and got a 3 gallon bucket. Drilled a hole for a stopper and put an airlock on it. All for less than a couple of bucks. Now I have a 5 gallon batch going...about 3 months now and plan to age another 3 months. I would say you are ok on the headspace for primary, but if you start getting into the wines and want to age them, you will need to eliminate the headspace when you rack to secondary to get it off the sediment. But you could just do a 3 month or shorter primary and then bottle to test it out.

RedHouse

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Thanks captain....I usually make 6 gallon wine kits, so I have a bunch of empty 6 gallon carboys right now. I don't really want to get a 3 gallon carboy for a test batch. Maybe I'll see if I can get a cheap bucket. If not, I'll just go ahead and use one of the 6 gal carboys and hope for the best.

roadymi

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3 gallon carboys are $25 here. I have several just for your purpose. When experimenting it's nicer to do small batches. Also I enjoy the winemaking process as much as the consumtion process. If I continue to make 6 gallon batches my house will be overrun with full wine bottles. making smaller batches allows my drinking to keep pace with the brewing.

RedHouse

Recipes 

Valid points! I picked up a 3gallon carboy today.