Inert Gas

The problem with that is that airlock are not really air barriers. Outside air can diffuse through the water in the lock and then into your inert air barrier and vice versa. So the inert air over time will fade away.

Keeping the headspace small prevents some of that exposure because it is harder for the oxygen to diffuse through the airlock and into the wine than it is for it to diffuse into the headspace above it. It still does, it is just slower.

I would just go get a load of marbles, sanitize them and fill up the volume with them. I also put sulfite in my airlock, to help keep some of the oxygen out...but I do not change it often enough to completely prevent it I am sure.

I agree with the above. You can purge the air space with inert gas as a short term thing but I would not store it that way.

Marbles are expensive and have problems on their own. Get some smaller carboys and some more airlocks so you can rack in into sizes that do leave much head space. Get several 1 gallon's, they are cheap. Or get a 3 and some one's. The 3 gal. carboy's come in handy. I like to have some 1/2 gal. sizes as well.

Besides, that will free up your big carboy so you can start another batch! And then when it is finished you will need more small ones, on and on and on and ...

Ray

Marty, you might be able to overcome the airlock leak issue by filling it w/ glycerin, but using inert gas seems like a lot of work/expense for that volume. keeping different sized containers on hand will solve your problem cost effectively, esp b/c the smaller containers are either free or inexpensive: 750ml wine bottle (free), 1.5L wine bottle (free), 1 gal jug ($4), 3 gal carboy ($10). Another low-cost solution is to save your used oak cubes (not chips), and store them in a strong liquid sulfite solution. When you need to top up, rinse the cubes off and throw them in the carboy...remember to separate cubes used in white and red wines.

-David Denver, CO USA

What about using Argon. Its a noble gas and heavier than air and readily available from welding supply stores. You can get one of the small 20 cubic foot bottles and a cheap regulator with a flow meter for a little over $100 if you shop around. You don't need to buy one of those expensive industrial grade brass regulators (victor brand) you can get a cheaper one for indoor use. The bottles are ususally certified for about 10 years. The gas is very cheap. 20 cubic foot of argon is equal to about 150 gallons of head space, so it should last. Heres the trick set your flow regulator to 8 cubic feet per hour (little floating ball) and every minuite is one gallon of gas that comes out. I was thinking that if you had two gallons of head space do you really need two gallons of argon? Remember its heavier than air and will blanket the wine. Since its a noble gas it wont mix with any other gas including oxygen, nitrogen ect. Its used in TIG welding to blanket the melted metal to prevent oxidization. Its a little investement up front though.

Hap

Or you could spend 20 bucks and get the right sized carboy.

But even argon will diffuse out of the headspace. being noble just means it is unreactive (full electron orbital shell) it will still diffuse out over time.....just much more slowly.

Inert gas works, but you have to COMPLETELY purge the headspace of air and seal the carboy tightly. Do yourself a favor and get a 5 gallon carboy and a few liter and smaller bottles.

Tom S

I do my bulk aging in Corny kegs that I use for beer. They are stainless steel and can be sealed tightly.

I purge the keg with CO2, then rack the wine.

After I rack the wine I then purge the head space with more CO2 It is then sealed tight.

Since these kegs are tall and skinny, I can store more of them in my fridge for cold aging.

I own close to 30 of these kegs.... cost between $10 and $20 depending on the source.