I just finished fermenting my first batch of wine using one case of grapes and when I transfered it to my charboy, I found that the wine only takes up 2 to 2.5 gallons of my 3 gallon BetterBottle charboy. How can I fill up the rest of the volume so that I don't have to worry about it oxidizing?
I heard that it's possible to blow up a balloon or something inside the charboy to take up space - does anybody have any experience with that? The other solution I heard is to put in those glass pebbles that they make for vases and fish tanks, since glass won't leach. The problem is I'm going to need a lot of these pebbles because while they are heavy, they don't take up a lot of space.
Finally, someone suggested a simple ziplock bag filled with either quarters or water and sealed really well (maybe even double bagged). That seems like a great idea but my concern is whether the plastic will leach into the wine. According to what I can find on the internet, ziplock bags are made out of LDPE plastic (#4), which is a safe plastic. Some brands might even use PETE plastic (#1), which is the same stuff the BetterBottle charboy is made of.
Any recommendations? Thanks.
I heard that it's possible to blow up a balloon or something inside the charboy to take up space - does anybody have any experience with that? The other solution I heard is to put in those glass pebbles that they make for vases and fish tanks, since glass won't leach. The problem is I'm going to need a lot of these pebbles because while they are heavy, they don't take up a lot of space.
Finally, someone suggested a simple ziplock bag filled with either quarters or water and sealed really well (maybe even double bagged). That seems like a great idea but my concern is whether the plastic will leach into the wine. According to what I can find on the internet, ziplock bags are made out of LDPE plastic (#4), which is a safe plastic. Some brands might even use PETE plastic (#1), which is the same stuff the BetterBottle charboy is made of.
Any recommendations? Thanks.