Head space elimination

[Geocanary]

I'm a novice to wine making and I'm learning as I go. I have an Amarone wine kit in the stabilization phase in a 6 gal carboy with an airlock, and about 4" of head space.

I was wondering.... do I need to eliminate the head space now? I have an All-in-one-Wine Pump (great piece of equipment!) with the head space eliminator kit. Should I use it during the stabilization/clearing phase. I plan to store the wine in a 6 gal carboy 4-6 months before bottling and I know I should use it them.

Another related question: on the web I've seen discussions about creating a -20 hg vacuum during the 4-6 months in the carboy... how do you know you have a good enough vacuum if you don't have a pressure gauge to measure it?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[jgmillr1]

It is always best to keep the headspace to a minimum at all times. Maybe you could rank it into a 5-gal carboy and it would fit better? You can also displace the air out of the headspace using N2, CO2 or Ar. I keep a spare tank of CO2 with a long-nozed nozzle to purge oxygen out of bottles and small containers.

Keeping a light vacuum in the headspace only slows down the process and is prone to leaking air back in over time. Better to displace the air all-together.

 

[Ho0sier-9]

Another way to eliminate headspace is to take glass marbles, wash and sanitize them then "drop" into carboy to take up space....
just another way to "skin the cat"

 

[Mallerstang]

Another way to eliminate headspace is to take glass marbles, wash and sanitize them then "drop" into carboy to take up space....

When I researched this a while back, I read somewhere that you should make sure to use food-grade glass marbles, not the decorative or toy ones.

 

[lukebuz]

Buy a 5 gallon carboy!!!