Creating an air tight seal

[raspberries]

I am really nervous about oxidation. I am also really nervous about my wallet. So I'm looking for some balance between economy and quality.

I will be going out to buy some Carlo Rossi wine jugs. Are these screwtops like the ones on welch's plastic containers. Will this create an air-tight seal?

I'm not dropping a ton of money on a glass carboy at this point. How detrimental will my 5 gallon plastic carboy from Leow's be for my wine? I am only fermenting in here, not storing for long periods of time. Maybe I should stick to 1 gallon batches since I will have a 1 gal glass jug?

What does top up mean? Just fill it to the very top? I guess I would wait 5 days after primary fermentation to do this due to bubbling and foaming.

I am reusing wine bottles. But if a cork has already been used, it can never been used again? Where can I get some corks that I can shove in with my hand? And where can I buy other wine supplies for good prices? (My LBS doubles the price of everything of what it should be worth)


I know I ask a lot of questions so thanks for putting up with me guys haha. My friend and I are having a wine tasting party: his wines against my wines. I need to gain the advantage over him!

 

[DoctorCAD]

Airlocks are like $3. Spend it...

You NEED a bucket to start, don't put your start-up ingredients into a 1 gallon glass jug, you will have a purple volcano for sure.

Oh, and you CANNOT cork by hand. Corks are bigger than the opening so they seal. You need something to compress them into the bottle. You can use flip-top bottles like Grolsch beer bottles instead of corks.

What kind of wine will you be attempting to make?

 

[raspberries]

yep, i've been using airlocks. I've come a long way since my bread yeast and balloon days!

I meant to ask if I can use Carlo Rossi wine jugs for aging? I'm trying to get the most volume for my buck, plus there's free wine included when I buy these jugs.

And I did not plan on using a bucket. I figured that since I am using Welch's grape juice that I could go straight to the secondary (the gallon jugs). Is this a bad practice?

I want to start with grapes pretty soon, but I've been told that only wine grapes make good wine. I am assuming that supermarkets only sell typical table grapes. Where do I get wine grapes.

I will look out for flip-top bottles.

I just bottled Joe's Quick Grape Mead in two plastic containers of Welch's lol. I working to fix that though haha. (BTW, it tasted amazing...wonder what it will be in two weeks!)
I am also making cider with Montrachet wine yeast (w/raisens for mouthfeel, whatever that is), and another cider with sulfale ale yeast (no raisens...trying to determine what mouthfeel really means)
Lastly, Welch's white grape juice. This is made with niagra grapes. Is that still considered a table grape?