Bottling questions

[jens183]

Thaks for all the answars in this thread.

Since you are having a chemical/lead discussion:
I got an old round goldfish bowl that I was wondering if I can use for making/storing vinegar. Do anybody know if the bowl will leach any poisons/chemicals etc when in contact with alcohols, acids, and other products of fermentation?

Ps those "marbles or smooth aquarium stones" were to expensive("drug prices"), but thanks for tip.

[Loadnabox]

Originally Posted by jens183

Thaks for all the answars in this thread.

Since you are having a chemical/lead discussion:
I got an old round goldfish bowl that I was wondering if I can use for making/storing vinegar. Do anybody know if the bowl will leach any poisons/chemicals etc when in contact with alcohols, acids, and other products of fermentation?

Ps those "marbles or smooth aquarium stones" were to expensive("drug prices"), but thanks for tip.

Indeed they are. Check out getting some mylar balloons instead as mentioned before. Much cheaper!

[jens183]

Originally Posted by Soyala_Amaya

No. There is still lots of CO2 trapped in suspension in your mead. It can easily take 6 months or more for your mead to properly degas, and bottling early results in bottle bombs.

Ok. Thats a very good idea!
I guess I've just made myself a prime example. 2 days ago I had a bottle spraying down the kichen(walls,roof,tables) ...What a mess!!(It was a dark colored one a well)
I'm going to rack them a few times and waiting a few months before bottling in the future.

The original questions in this thread resolved from that bottling session.

[Gespacho]

I've found a pretty neat solution to the head space issue. I take a standard drilled carboy bung, and stick a short length (2 inches) of 1/4" siphon tube into the bung hole. Then I take a vacuum cap for wine bottles and seat it over the other end of the tube. There are several types that will form a tight seal over the tubing, you just have to shop around until you find one. Then just stick the bung into the carboy and pump the air out.

[TAKeyser]

Originally Posted by Gespacho

I've found a pretty neat solution to the head space issue. I take a standard drilled carboy bung, and stick a short length (2 inches) of 1/4" siphon tube into the bung hole. Then I take a vacuum cap for wine bottles and seat it over the other end of the tube. There are several types that will form a tight seal over the tubing, you just have to shop around until you find one. Then just stick the bung into the carboy and pump the air out.

Sounds like a great idea. Do you do this once and forget about it or do you need to repeat it every so often?

[Chevette Girl]

I've been sticking a vacuum-cork over a bung as a de-stinking attempt on a still and degased wine and I checked it every day and it would lose its vacuum. But getting it on tubing might work better. It's one of those things you'd have to check every couple hours at first to see whether it holds or not... I had one of those in a bottle that kept its vacuum for 6 months. The wine was still a little oxidized as it was a LOT of headspace and not much wine left and it's by no means a perfect vacuum, but it was definitely still under vacuum.

I'm currently using a handful of these to degas some wine I kind of, er, rushed to the bottle and I'm too lazy to pour them back into a carboy and let them do their thing for a while. Even despite pulling gas out of the solution they're still under a little bit of vacuum if I don't check for a couple days. Speaking of which...

[TAKeyser]

Sounds like a plan, now I just have to remember what I did with that thing (no such thing as a half a bottle sitting around here), maybe it'll be with the D.A.P. that I suddenly can't find even though I used it yesterday.

[Gespacho]

Originally Posted by TAKeyser

Sounds like a great idea. Do you do this once and forget about it or do you need to repeat it every so often?

You can just pump out the air and leave it. I wouldn't honestly do it until your ready to bulk age, though. Every time you break the seal you can see the air rush in a disturb the surface of the mead. I just put the pump/bung in once I'm ready to stick the carboy in a corner and leave it.

Originally Posted by Chevette Girl

I had one of those in a bottle that kept its vacuum for 6 months.

I've found that I had to buy the good quality vacuum caps, or they just leak the air back on. I'm hoping that the CO2 will leak out of the new mead and dilute what little oxygen there is in the head space, but I've only done this with 2 batches and they're still aging.

[TAKeyser]

I thought it would be best for bulk aging. Still need to find that vacuum cap thing, I know it has to be around here somewhere. I did find the D.A.P. though.

[JohnS]

Ive been following this thread for a while and its interesting. I am presently in the same dilemma. Having made approximately an extra 1/2 gallon to fill the carboy after racking, I have discovered that its not enough.

I tried the balloon trick and it did not work, because the balloon only inflates to the point where the liquid rests and then it too difficult to blow any further. I also forgot this basic physics lesson. Its too difficult to move liquid by using air alone, or pure lung power.

I should preface this by saying that, there is only about 1/2 gallon or slightly above the shoulder, but not exactly to the neck of airspace. I went to the pet store and bought about 10 dollars worth of aquarium glass rocks, but now I also found out that its still not enough. I also tried putting sterilized knives in there and even that was not enough to add to the displacement. Now I am having second thoughts about the knife trick, since I have been worrying about containments entering from the knives (the knives I use were slightly grooved in the handle).

Tomorrow I will go back to the pet store and by more of the glass rocks and add them to the carboy, In the future though, I will make about and extra gallon of must to cover the difference. I know thats a lot, however I also used a lot of fruit in the primary.