BeerBorg

after brewing today I also attempted to rack and de-gas 2 wines. Sadly moving all the carboys around was apparently just too much , as I managed to actually drop one....So I guess it should've said rack and de-gas two wines AND clean up 6 gal of wine.(smells like Cabernet Sauvignon in here) Today seems to have taken a lot out of me

jimjohson wrote:after brewing today I also attempted to rack and de-gas 2 wines. Sadly moving all the carboys around was apparently just too much , as I managed to actually drop one....So I guess it should've said rack and de-gas two wines AND clean up 6 gal of wine.(smells like Cabernet Sauvignon in here) Today seems to have taken a lot out of me

Noooooooo... Not the Cab!

Seriously though, glad you're not injured and sorry for your loss!

2nds that. Sorry about the spill, really glad you didn't get hurt.

BigPapaG wrote:...Seriously though, glad you're not injured and sorry for your loss!...

Ditto, I was afraid the story was going to have a worse ending.

Sorry about the cab, but glad you are OK.

I will never use glass carboys again if I can help it. One glass explosion with glass embedded in the wall was enough for me. Carboy bombs are uncool.

I might get a couple of little big mouth bubblers if they ever come back in stock at NB for small batch meads or the like though.

Since it was wine, and not beer, we have decided to not prosecute you for a crime against the Borg.

Seriously, I have read how glass carboys are dangerous and hard to handle. Yikes!

Did you survive SWMBO?

That's a tough loss, for the wine and the busted carboy. I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself.

When I graduated from the LBK to larger batches, I said I would never use glass carboys. I ferment in my basement, and it has a concrete slab floor. I probably would have gone through half a dozen glass carboys by now.

Sorry for the loss Jim. Glad you weren't hurt.

Thanks y'all. No SWMBO, like y'all, was just glad I didn't get hurt. (Still smells like wine in here) I'm not a fan of glass carboys, but I was doing an extended bulk aging (4 months) and figured plastic to be inappropriate as plastic breaths. The one I dropped was only my 8th batch and my first try at bulk aging, so if I was wrong about glass being the better choice clue me. I got two 6gal better bottles I use in the actual making of the wine.

I only have one carboy. It is glass and antique. When moving it full, I carry it in a reinforced synthetic shopping bag, the kind you buy. I'm just glad you didn't get lacerated.

Oh no, not Cab! Hopefully the lingering aroma can be enjoyed in spite of your loss. But I'm glad you're OK.

Although glass is "technically" potentially a better choice, I think people worry about the oxygen permeability of plastic fermenters like "better bottles" more then they should. The amount that's going to get in there with 4 months of bulk aging if you airlock it is so small that it won't matter in the grand scheme of things IMHO. If you bulk aged in wood, you would get just as much if not more.

And bulk aging a sour the right way as far as I'm concerned involves shoving a tapered wooden dowl into a carboy neck so that some small amount of oxygen can permeate but spiders can't crawl in (IE "wooden barrel effect"). So a dedicated plastic fermenter for that would not bother me either, the tiny bit of oxygen is just that... tiny... and not a bad thing for them. But if I did that it would become dedicated to sours. The advantage of glass is that you would not need to do that and could use it for other things. But that's the only advantage IMHO. I just don't have room to keep around a dedicated sour fermenter, which is why I'd go with the little big mouths - I could use them for mead too for example.

I got enough sittin' around with just single staging my ales, plus all the wine making paraphilia. If I was to do sours, it'd have to be in glass.

jimjohson wrote:I got enough sittin' around with just single staging my ales, plus all the wine making paraphilia. If I was to do sours, it'd have to be in glass.

You must really like making wine.

Did you really mean paraphilia? Or did you mean paraphernalia?

bpgreen wrote:

jimjohson wrote:I got enough sittin' around with just single staging my ales, plus all the wine making paraphilia. If I was to do sours, it'd have to be in glass.

You must really like making wine.

Did you really mean paraphilia? Or did you mean paraphernalia?

I've only made 7 batches, just in a short period so I could speak with some experience to my customers. However I got most the wine making equipment from my predecessor's estate 3 five gal glass carboys and 1 six. With a like number of fermenting buckets, to which I added another 6 gal glass carboy and 2 six gallon better bottles. However SWMBO's the winemaker, she tried the watermelon wine and started learning from me (the blind leading the blind) on the 4th batch I was just the advisor and general work 'droid. Now I'm just the 'droid.