5 Gallons Vintners Blackberry

[Tennessee Brew]

Ok so my real question here is this. I have a 5 gallon bucket, this calls for a total of 5 gal liquid (4 gal water 1 gal base). It will be right near the top. Would this be ok or do I need to just get a bigger bucket to allow head room? Going to be under airlock and I suppose if I wanted to have a bit more of the Blackberry taste I could go with 3.5 gal water and 1 gal of base. That would leave me a half gal of headroom space or would this be a mistake?

 

[bernardsmith]

In your primary headroom is never a problem. In fact I would argue that you WANT headroom. And you want headroom because you can never be certain how violent the fermentation that will occur will be. Plenty of headroom allows you to stir, allows the yeast to produce as much froth and foam as the liquid permits (liquids with more proteins will produce more froth and foam). It's when active fermentation comes to an end and the yeast no longer pump out CO2 that you want to reduce the headroom to zero. This reduces the access of oxygen to the wine to close to zero. And that reduced access reduces the possibility of spoilage organisms turning your wine to vinegar and oxygen from oxidizing the wine

 

[Tennessee Brew]

In your primary headroom is never a problem. In fact I would argue that you WANT headroom. And you want headroom because you can never be certain how violent the fermentation that will occur will be. Plenty of headroom allows you to stir, allows the yeast to produce as much froth and foam as the liquid permits (liquids with more proteins will produce more froth and foam). It's when active fermentation comes to an end and the yeast no longer pump out CO2 that you want to reduce the headroom to zero. This reduces the access of oxygen to the wine to close to zero. And that reduced access reduces the possibility of spoilage organisms turning your wine to vinegar and oxygen from oxidizing the wine

Ok so guessing that 1/6 gallon of headroom may not be enough? I guess I can always split this up into two buckets.

 

[bernardsmith]

It may be enough. One sixth is about 1.3 pints. If you are fermenting juice and not fruit then it is probably enough. If there is fruit in the mix then it may not be enough headroom as the CO2 will force the fruit towards the top.

 

[Tennessee Brew]

It may be enough. One sixth is about 1.3 pints. If you are fermenting juice and not fruit then it is probably enough. If there is fruit in the mix then it may not be enough headroom as the CO2 will force the fruit towards the top.

Yeh fruit base only, thanks for the tips, Ill give it a shot, at worst I will have a blackberry flavored shop floor
I can always entertain myself watching the ants get drunk