Secondary Question's...

[ridgeway]

I transferred my juices to all my secondaries. I started out with 6 gallon of each variety. This provided me enough juice to fill a 5 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon bottle. My question is: my 2 reds, Chianti and Barolo, show airlock activity in the 5 gallon carboy's but not in the 1 gallon bottles. What would cause this? Will it be a problem?

Now, when I rack in a 6-8 weeks and I use the 1 gallon of wine to top the carboy's off, should I worry about oxidation with the head space that will be left in the gallon bottles?

 

[Yooper]

You may have airlock activity after racking if the wine has some co2 in it (and it almost always does) so it'll bubble a bit.

I'd use the gallon to top off, and then rack the remainder into a smaller bottle, like a wine bottle or large beer bottle. You can buy stoppers for them, and the airlock will fit into the top. You always want to minimize headspace so the wine doesn't oxidize.

 

[ridgeway]

Thanks for the good info Yooper...I never thought of racking it in a smaller bottle, LOL. I do have 1/2 gallon bottles and stoppers.