Does it make a huge amount of difference if you have a 5 gal or 6 gal secondary? I read about air space and oxidation but does it really matter considering the time it stays in secondary. I also have read that most users dont use secondary, but I have alot of carboys for wine making (6gal) and only one primary fermentor.
6 gallon carboy secondary
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idigg
Well-Known Member
Huff360, did you read his question? He wants to know if he can use a 6 gallon secondary carboy for secondary fermentation purposes. He is worried the 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon carboy will have too much airspace. I'm curious as well...
To rephrase what Huff360 said, yes you can use a 6 gallon carboy just fine. As long as your are not storing it for a long period of time (>2 months) in secondary you will be fine.
5 gallon carboys are nice to have for long term secondary fermenters, both for less oxidation, and less space needed. 6 gallon carboys are nice to use for fermenting too because they are also glass, so there is less concern about sanitization, and not being oxygen permeable. Lots of people use them for primary fermenting in fact, you just need a blow-off tube (peice of large tubing routed into a bucket of water) because the krausen will rise right out of the carboy, which would block the airlock and cause a huge mess. The carboys are a pain the clean though.
I have 3 carboys and 1 bucket fermenter, which I plan to turn into a bottling bucket this week, and only use glass for fermenting.
5 gallon carboys are nice to have for long term secondary fermenters, both for less oxidation, and less space needed. 6 gallon carboys are nice to use for fermenting too because they are also glass, so there is less concern about sanitization, and not being oxygen permeable. Lots of people use them for primary fermenting in fact, you just need a blow-off tube (peice of large tubing routed into a bucket of water) because the krausen will rise right out of the carboy, which would block the airlock and cause a huge mess. The carboys are a pain the clean though.
I have 3 carboys and 1 bucket fermenter, which I plan to turn into a bottling bucket this week, and only use glass for fermenting.
Wine makers often displace their wines with sanitized glass marbles in secondary to raise the wine higher in the carboy to decrease headspace.
But why don't you skip secondary (since you know folks do) and use your 6 gallon as another primary or to make a batch of apfelwine, mead or cider?
Just because you have a "secondary" doesn't mean it can't be used as a primary...
But why don't you skip secondary (since you know folks do) and use your 6 gallon as another primary or to make a batch of apfelwine, mead or cider?
Just because you have a "secondary" doesn't mean it can't be used as a primary...
Yep, I read the question. My understanding of his question was that he has ONE PRIMARY and needs to empty it out so that he can put something else into it.
There is no need to limit these 6 gal carboys to "Secondary Fermentation."
If he has 4 or 5 of these carboys, my point was to skip "Secondary Fermentation" and just toss a batch in there and leave it be the whole time. Then he wouldn't be worried about headspace in the secondary. He would be worried about what to do with all the product now that he has 5 or 6 primaries....
As Revvy says - marbles or some other easy to sanitize media would work to reduce headspace. Another option is to purge the 'secondary' with CO2 and then rack into it.
HOT water and a few scoops of oxyclean. Let it soak a few days and you're golden usually. Get the water and cleaner in there immediately after emptying it. Don't give the crud time to dry.
Yup, you will find that many many many of us use oxyclean....
Then we use this to rinse with.
FermentedNovice
Member
+1 to this. The jet bottle/carboy washer is a lifesaver when it comes to cleaning a carboy.
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