Primary fermenter is quite large

[natural]

Hello,

So I bought some of my equipment used and the two primary pales it came with are quite large. They have the loose fitting lids so CO2 can get out. Is it bad practice to use these? My girlfriend has 5 gallons of wine in one of them, as well i'm hoping to do two batches of beer this weekend. We wont be exceeding 5.5 gallons of any particular brew. Should we be investing in other primary fermenters?

 

[aiptasia]

Probably. You want some headspace (one to two gallons is acceptable for the typical five gallon batch size) for krausening but not so much headspace that air exposure becomes a problem with oxidation.

I'd definitely find an O ring or a gasket to firmly attach the lids on those pails. You might try bringing the lids to your local wine/beer homebrew store for a good fit.

 

[natural]

Probably. You want some headspace (one to two gallons is acceptable for the typical five gallon batch size) for krausening but not so much headspace that air exposure becomes a problem with oxidation.

I'd definitely find an O ring or a gasket to firmly attach the lids on those pails. You might try bringing the lids to your local wine/beer homebrew store for a good fit.

Yeah,

These fermenters are quite large 10gallons I believe.

One of these http://www.store.homebrew4less.com/Primary-Fermentor-With-Lid-10-Gal-Food-Grade/productinfo/LD5120/

Should I transfer the wine we've made even though it's not finished fermenting to something smaller? It has only been fermenting about 5-6 days currently.