used again and again as long as it smells like sulfur.
If you use bleach, rinse the fermenter with very hot water to remove the chemical smell. Don’t forget the lid. Lids have crevices and little secret spots that mold and dirt love to settle into. You don’t have to rinse if you use a sulphite solution. If you use any other commercial formula, follow the directions.
Do all of this just before you want to start a batch of wine. It isn’t necessary or even desirable to dry the vessel out.
After the primary fermentation is finished, sanitize the fermenter right away all over again. Store it out of the way after it has dried out, with the lid on to keep out dust and arachnids. The reason for cleaning it up immediately is mold, which can grow almost anywhere. If you leave it, the least bit of food on it will grow. Yes, even on plastic. Plastic is soft. It scratches, making nice little valleys for mold spores to settle in. This goes for stoneware and glass, too: it should have no cracks and no chips.
Mother Nature loves us. But she loves mold and bacteria just as much. It’s all the same to her!
ALWAYS clean up as soon as you can, and before you use your equipment again, sanitize it once more. Be picky. It pays off. I’ve never (she said, knocking on wood) had a batch go sour on me.
----
S ECONDARY F ERMENTERS
After two or three weeks of fermenting on the fruit, you will need to rack the wine into a secondary fermenter, which is either one or more one-gallon glass jugs or a five-gallon carboy. Use the five-gallon carboy only if you are going to fill it with five gallons of wine. During secondary fermentation, you want to avoid as much contact with air as you can.
If you planned to make three gallons of wine and have miscalculated and made, say, two and a half gallons of wine, use two gallon jugs and a half-gallon wine bottle. Or if you like, you can use a third gallon jug and top it up with some frozen juice and sugar and water, keeping in mind the acid content of what you are working with. If it is a low-acid juice (there will be a discussion of this later, don’t worry), you will need to add some acid or lemon juice. The third gallon will throw a heavier deposit and it will need to be racked earlier.
Over the years I have found that it is better to keep five gallons of the same wine in a five-gallon carboy than in five one-gallon jugs. I’m not sure why this is, but the wine comes out better. It could also be that a large container is less susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Except for the weight, this approach is less fussy to rack and bottle, and less wine is wasted during racking.
I don’t recommend keeping wine in the primary fermenter for more than a couple of weeks. I’ve done it, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea—too much risk of oxidation with all that exposed surface.
I’ve never used a plastic secondary fermenter, though I know collapsible plastic jugs are sold. In my humble opinion there is too much risk of strange flavors from the plastic, and contamination from an unseen scratch or imperfection.
Everything I have read has advised against using plastic as a secondary fermenter.
You are going to want to invest in a few five-gallon glass carboys almost immediately. Wine shops carry them new and used. Used, they run about twelve to fifteen dollars; new, they can cost up to twenty dollars. Sometimes you can luck out and find a used one at a thrift shop, or buy one from someone who is moving. Always clean a new or used carboy before you use it. Check for nicks around the top, and check the bottom for chips. Don’t buy a carboy that has chips, nicks, or cracks. It isn’t worth it.
Occasionally you will find a three-gallon, or even a two-gallon, carboy. Buy it. These are nice for smaller batches. The more sizes you have, the better off you are. Some shops sell special handles for carboys, to make it easier to haul them around when they are full.
A full carboy weighs a LOT! Fifty
If you use bleach, rinse the fermenter with very hot water to remove the chemical smell. Don’t forget the lid. Lids have crevices and little secret spots that mold and dirt love to settle into. You don’t have to rinse if you use a sulphite solution. If you use any other commercial formula, follow the directions.
Do all of this just before you want to start a batch of wine. It isn’t necessary or even desirable to dry the vessel out.
After the primary fermentation is finished, sanitize the fermenter right away all over again. Store it out of the way after it has dried out, with the lid on to keep out dust and arachnids. The reason for cleaning it up immediately is mold, which can grow almost anywhere. If you leave it, the least bit of food on it will grow. Yes, even on plastic. Plastic is soft. It scratches, making nice little valleys for mold spores to settle in. This goes for stoneware and glass, too: it should have no cracks and no chips.
Mother Nature loves us. But she loves mold and bacteria just as much. It’s all the same to her!
ALWAYS clean up as soon as you can, and before you use your equipment again, sanitize it once more. Be picky. It pays off. I’ve never (she said, knocking on wood) had a batch go sour on me.
----
S ECONDARY F ERMENTERS
After two or three weeks of fermenting on the fruit, you will need to rack the wine into a secondary fermenter, which is either one or more one-gallon glass jugs or a five-gallon carboy. Use the five-gallon carboy only if you are going to fill it with five gallons of wine. During secondary fermentation, you want to avoid as much contact with air as you can.
If you planned to make three gallons of wine and have miscalculated and made, say, two and a half gallons of wine, use two gallon jugs and a half-gallon wine bottle. Or if you like, you can use a third gallon jug and top it up with some frozen juice and sugar and water, keeping in mind the acid content of what you are working with. If it is a low-acid juice (there will be a discussion of this later, don’t worry), you will need to add some acid or lemon juice. The third gallon will throw a heavier deposit and it will need to be racked earlier.
Over the years I have found that it is better to keep five gallons of the same wine in a five-gallon carboy than in five one-gallon jugs. I’m not sure why this is, but the wine comes out better. It could also be that a large container is less susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Except for the weight, this approach is less fussy to rack and bottle, and less wine is wasted during racking.
I don’t recommend keeping wine in the primary fermenter for more than a couple of weeks. I’ve done it, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea—too much risk of oxidation with all that exposed surface.
I’ve never used a plastic secondary fermenter, though I know collapsible plastic jugs are sold. In my humble opinion there is too much risk of strange flavors from the plastic, and contamination from an unseen scratch or imperfection.
Everything I have read has advised against using plastic as a secondary fermenter.
You are going to want to invest in a few five-gallon glass carboys almost immediately. Wine shops carry them new and used. Used, they run about twelve to fifteen dollars; new, they can cost up to twenty dollars. Sometimes you can luck out and find a used one at a thrift shop, or buy one from someone who is moving. Always clean a new or used carboy before you use it. Check for nicks around the top, and check the bottom for chips. Don’t buy a carboy that has chips, nicks, or cracks. It isn’t worth it.
Occasionally you will find a three-gallon, or even a two-gallon, carboy. Buy it. These are nice for smaller batches. The more sizes you have, the better off you are. Some shops sell special handles for carboys, to make it easier to haul them around when they are full.
A full carboy weighs a LOT! Fifty
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