Wine to Secondary Question

I have a Vintners Reserve Pinot Gris wine kit that i'm currently fermenting. I'm supposed to transfer to secondary in the next few days assuming the gravity is where it's supposed to be. That being said, I have a question regarding the secondary vessel. I have a 6 gallon carboy (Normally my beer primary) & also an additional 7.9 Gallon plastic bucket, like the bucket I'm currently fermenting in.

Is it OK to put the wine in the bucket instead of the glass carboy for secondary storage, or does it need to be in the 6 gallon carboy? The reason I'm asking is I don't see anywhere of people talking about transferring to a similar bucket. I didn't know if the increased head space is a bad thing because of oxidation or any other reason.

We've got a couple of beer kits coming up and we only have a certain number of carboys so we're just trying to utilize our carboys optimally. We have a few beers in queue w/ one including a competition brew.

as fermentation slows down O2 exposure becomes a concern - the transfer to secondary is primarily to get the wine off gross lees and to reduce headspace to minimal levels while the wine is still relatively unprotected. so i would not personally recommend using a bucket for secondary - in that sense, a bucket would be better for beer primary than wine secondary.
buy more carboys or better bottles.

Yeah that's what I figured. Just wanted confirmation.

Thanks

Got the wine transferred last night. It had been 6 days and I was supposed to check SG between 5-7 and if below 1.010 I should transfer... The OG was 1.070 and it was 1.009 last night. Tasted a lot more like wine that on the first day when it was like hummingbird water. The wife was a fan (She's the whole reason I'm making a Pinot Gris. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably have done a Shiraz or a red)

Now I've got my bucket open for my Palisades IPA kit I'm brewing tonight... Btw, taking the top off of the bucket was a pain in the bawls. Is there some trick to this? Even w/ my superhuman strength, it was still a hassle getting this thing off.

Thanks again.

no real trick to taking the lod off the bucket other than patience and practice - ease around the entire edge a little at a time, like opening a can of pain... don't try to do it all in one pull.

the white wine kits tend to turn out pretty good. be mindful of O2 exposure, white wines are susceptible to browning, just like a cut apple.

once bottled, you will probably want to age in a cool dark place for at least 6 months on a white before you start drinking them... they will need at least a month to get over bottleshock right after bottling anyway.

be mindful of degassing - it may take more effort than the kit instructions lead you to believe. degassing will be easier if the wine is 75-80* than if it's cold. you can test for gas by putting a small amount in a small bottle, capping it and shaking it to see if you get carbonation fizz. if you do, you will need to degass some more. this is usually easiest with a drill-mounted mixer like a Fizz-X... again, you have to balance the stirring to remove gas against introducing O2 into the wine. it's a delicate thing. I use a vacuum pump to pull a slight vacuum on the carboy to extract suspended Co2, no more than 25Hg/in. this removes CO2 without exposing the wine to O2.

keep track of your K-Meta additions, if you plan to deviate from the kit instructions at any point, like bulk aging in the carboy or anything like that, come back here to seek some advice on how to do that. you will need additional k-meta at measured intervals for bulk aging.

be patient in letting the wine settle so you get the clarity you want.

before bottling day, i would recommend moving the carboy carefully to a high location and then let anything stirred up settle once again - then carefully siphon from that carboy to a new clean carboy and subsequently bottle from that.

Yeah i'm familiar w/ all the bottling/transferring methods b/c of beer. Not familiar w/ K-meta... I'm assuming it's one of those packs. The one that's for preserving? I don't plan on aging this deal any longer than I have to.. So not worried about that... Just gonna follow the kit instructions, not gonna deviate... on purpose anyways...

k-meta is short for potassium metabisulfite. there will be a packet in the kit to add before bottling. in bulk aging, more is needed at regular intervals, usually 1/4tsp every racking or 3 months or so.

the only real deviation from beer making is in degassing. something not done in beer but important in making a still wine.

So do you think I need to get more k-meta for this particular batch?