In a six week wine kit, assuming the kit is made and bottled "exactly" as per instructions......what is the danger of oxidation. The wine in question has maximum width of carboy surface exposure, sulfited properly. How soon does oxidation take place. Would adding extra pot met help(1/4 tsp per 23 L). At the wine on premise operation I'm employed at, the carboys are 24-25 litre size. .....thanks in advance....andy j.
If it is made acording to instructions, there should be no danger of oxidation. If you have "maximum width of carboysurface exposure" during fermentation, that will hurt nothing. But if you mean that you have it during bulk aging you are seriously at risk and something is wrong with the way you are interpreting the instructions as that should never happen. During bulk aging it shouuld be topped up and protected by an airlock atall times.
Ray
Hi......explain bulk aging as you see it. In a "make wine on premises" operation you bottle either at the 4 week or 6 week point depending on the kit. Never beyond. So you never "bulk" age(6-12 months) like we do in our own homes. Of course one can top up using 1 to 1.5 liters of water. Topping up with wine is not realistic due to the cost, with the number of kits involved. And of course there is the option of buying new proper sized carboys..... but there are dozens of these 24 or 25 liter kits hanging around.
Bulk aging is that period of time between when fermentation stops and you rack off the gross leas and bottling. In other words you are aging the wine in bulk.
During fermentation, head space is not so important as the yeast are giving off CO2 and this pushes out (or more accurately - dilutes out) the O2 in the head space through the airlock. But after fermentation finishes, any O2 in the head space just sits there and oxidizes your wine. Most kits take this into account by expecting you to top with water. If you are uncomfortable and do not want to use wine, then go from a 6 to a 5 gal carboy with a half or 1 gal. carboy to handle the extra. After you have made several similar kits you can use wine from your last kit to top of the next one but that does not help the beginner.
Ray
You only work there. Suggest you ask the boss what to do and do whatever the boss says. Having said that:
Not a good idea. Counting racking losses, this could end up being more than 2l, or about 10% of total volume. This could:
Not really. You will always have racking losses when you get rid of solids and lees, but top up wine doesn't get "lost". It becomes part of the new (and now larger) batch. Just keep track of how much top up wine is used in each container, and when it comes time to bottle, draw out that much wine and reuse it to top up something else. The customer still gets all the wine they paid for, you recover your top up wine, and everyone goes away happy.
If you make your own top up wines to "jump start" such a procedure, the only cost to your boss would be the wholesale cost of a few cans of cheap concentrate, the chemicals, and some reusable closures for temporary storage.
Not sure I would want to work for a place that couldn't (or wouldn't) provide it's workers with the proper tools and equipment to get the job done right. (but that's just me) Should the boss decide to get the right sized containers, suggest you destroy any excess you decide not to keep. Think your boss would rather sell new containers to her customers than have the local market flooded with "freebies".
As always, just one man's personal opinion. HTH
Frederick
I would never use water either unless the kits are unbalanced intentionally to give you the correct amount in the end; (which would be a little odd).
Joe
Funny you said that, Joe, but that's exactly what at least one leading kit brand claims to be doing - designing the kit so you can top up with water up to 4% of the volume. Not sure which tastes better though...
Pp
It depends on how the kits are designed. If they say top with water then I assume that they were designed to be made that way. They should have adjusted acid and other factors to take that into account. If you are a new winemaker, follow instructions. If you are experienced and know what you are doing, then do what you want.
Ray
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