Headspace

[Turnerdude1]

Last year I made 70 gals of blackberry wine and it took forever to to rack it, backweeten etc. So this year I bought a wine pump. I plan to rack the wine from the carboys into two 30 gal trash can clean the carboys and re-rack back into them. My question is do I have to worry about headspace as the wine will be exposed for such a short time, or do I buy a bottle of CO2 to put a blanket over the wine while in the trashcan.

Thanks for any help..

 

[Yooper]

I think it'll be ok, but I'd probably crush one campden tablet per gallon, and dissolve in some water, add it to the trashcan, and rack into that. Campden will work as an antioxidant, binding to the wine so oxygen can't. That will ensure that oxidation won't be an issue while the wine is exposed. You'll still want to be careful not to splash, of course, but it should help protect the wine while it's being moved.

 

[Turnerdude1]

Thanks Yooper, but if I rack say 20 gal of wine into the trash cans that would be 20 campden tablets. That will not hurt the tast of the wine??

 

[Yooper]

Thanks Yooper, but if I rack say 20 gal of wine into the trash cans that would be 20 campden tablets. That will not hurt the tast of the wine??

No. But it might be cheaper to buy the powdered potassium metabisulfite and use it by the teaspoon. Check the dose, though. It's been a long time since I've made more than 15 gallons in a batch, and I can't remember exactly how much k-meta will give you 50 ppm. It's a small amount- like 1/4 teaspoon for 6 gallons but I'm not 100% sure without the package in front of me.

 

[Turnerdude1]

Just checked my package it is 1/4 table spoon for 9 gal. Thanks will use that amount when kill fermentation and then again when backsweeten.

 

[Yooper]

Just checked my package it is 1/4 table spoon for 9 gal. Thanks will use that amount when kill fermentation and then again when backsweeten.

Don't forget the sorbate, if you're sweetening! (At the very last racking!)

 

[Turnerdude1]

I won't forget. Oh yea and I was wrong it is 1/4 tp to 5 gal of wine on sulfite...Thanks for you help...