The right carboy

[PTS_35]

First let me say sorry if this has been brought up before. I saw 241 threads and I'm not going through all those. My question is this. What's the right carboy size for making wine. Or beer for that matter. So my set up is one 5 gal glass carboy, one 6 gal glass, one plastic 6 gal and two buckets. Buckets are supposed to be 5 gal but that's almost at brim and I'd never fill it that high. So when I make wine I do it at max of 4 gal. Most times 2 gal because it's just easier to work with for me. But after the primary you lose some volume there. Someone brought up head space and oxidation. Normally what I'd do is take 4 gal in primary plastic bucket then after 14 days transfer to a glass carboy. Remember I have a 5 gal and 6 gal. Thus headspace. Does that pose risk of oxidation during the typical 2-3 month I let it sit?? If so, what's the right size then? A 4 gal or 3 glass carboy. Bc there's loss of volume after primary. This is concerning to me bc I don't really want to have to get rid of what I have and I don't really want to buy any thing more. I have 3-4 one gallon jugs too. Most times they're being used for other things like hard cider or something else. Lets say I wanted to make 4 gal of wine. Is it best to have a 3 gal glass carboy for secondary or can I still use the 5 gal. Would the head space cause an issue for the next 3 months. Worrying about this has basically caused me to make 2 gallon batches so I can use 1 gallon jugs as secondary. But end quantity is so low that I'm wanting to sample as months go by and I'm not left with enough to keep for long term to really see what time does

 

[bernardsmith]

You really want to avoid headroom because after the active fermentation has ceased and the yeast is no longer producing CO2 air unless you have some way to push in noble gasses air will get in and in the presence of alcohol you may find that your wine will undergo oxidation or the alcohol may become converted to acetic acid (vinegar). There is nothing very magical about volumes. All you do is start with a larger volume in the primary than the volume you plan to bottle . And speaking for myself, I would look for a bucket to act as my primary and a narrow necked carboy as my secondary.
Now most brewers (or at least many brewers) go for 5 or 6 gallon batches... and that is fine. Beer is .. what?4, 5 or 6% ABV? So people might drink a few 12 oz bottles in an evening... OK... Wine is 10 - 15%ABV . The pipeline for a beer is about 6 weeks... For a wine it is about 9 months... In my opinion you make smaller batches frequently rather than a few large batches a few times a year.. But hey! To each their own...