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Topping Off with a water balloon ?.

Yet another newbie question from here in Kentucky. I commenced racking my first batch of wine with one 5 gal and two 1 gal carboys of of SG .994 Buffalo grape wine. Still cloudy but am told be patient. I had to use all but 1/2 gal of my 2 one gal jugs of backup wine to fill the 5 gal carboy. I expect to be short of wine on the next racking in 6 weeks. I really don't want to add anything to the batch other than Buffalo grape wine. Would placing a sterile balloon in the receiving carboy, filling it with pure water and then tying it off to achieve a full carboy work ?? I would do this before racking into the carboy and expect I would have to do a trial racking to calculate volume needed to top off. I will worry about getting the balloon and water out of the carboy after I have racked the wine off to the next jug. Please let me know what you think.

Reply to
Kentucky
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Reply to
Scott

Don't do that, what if the wine takes on the taste of the baloon? Rubber and wine aren't normally in contact with one another for any length of time. I think a safer bet (if necessary) is to use a similar wine, you would not be adding much at all.

Don't rack until there is a reason, I'm not sure how you ended up losing 1.5 gallon in racking unless you you were pressing off the skins. 1/2 gallon to top should work out well for you; it's 10 %. Make sure that half gallon is topped up too if you want to stick with only one variety in this batch.

Patience is a virtue, especially in winemaking. :o) You should start to see the wine clear in the neck and striate soon if it's done fermenting; maybe a month from now it will look mostly clear, it will look darker where it's clean. You can use a flashlight to see how things are going. Look for the beam itself; if there are suspended solids you will see the beam reflect off of them.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

The next racking will probably not have near as much sediment so the 1/2 gallon you have left over will probably be close to adequate. You will probably not have to add much water or other wine. You might consider picking up some smaller carboys to rack into. A 3 and a couple of 1's. and some 1/2's to be sure.

Chew on a balloon sometime and then decide if you want that taste in your wine. I would not.

Ray

Reply to
Ray Calvert

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