bulk aging
- Thread starter jesse2205
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It's best if you have CO2 to blanket the carboy with so you don't oxidize your batch. Better still would be to keg it with CO2 delivery. Another option would be to pick up a 3 gallon Carboy, and bottle the other 2 gallons in your preferred beer or wine bottles for sampling.
Wrathwilde
Wrathwilde
About a year ago now I invested in a refurbished CO2 tank.
I took a solid stopper that fit the carboy and drilled two holes in the stopper - one for CO2 in and one for the mead to exit. It's a simple setup with plastic tubing to put a few pounds of pressure into the carboy and push the mead out into a glass for sampling. It has worked great, and keeps a protective blanket of CO2 on the aging mead.
One note of caution. This method has resulted in more than one batch of JAO to never make it into the bottles. (I think my cellar rats have fitured out how to run the setup... ;D)
I am actually going to start kegging for bulk aging in Corney Kegs. It's easier than messing with the drilled stopper.
David
I took a solid stopper that fit the carboy and drilled two holes in the stopper - one for CO2 in and one for the mead to exit. It's a simple setup with plastic tubing to put a few pounds of pressure into the carboy and push the mead out into a glass for sampling. It has worked great, and keeps a protective blanket of CO2 on the aging mead.
One note of caution. This method has resulted in more than one batch of JAO to never make it into the bottles. (I think my cellar rats have fitured out how to run the setup... ;D)
I am actually going to start kegging for bulk aging in Corney Kegs. It's easier than messing with the drilled stopper.
David
Is it better to bulk age with solid stopper or should I use an airlock just in case? There has been no activity with this batch for months and I was planning on moving it out of the closet and into the cellar where it is a lot cooler.
Tarot.
Tarot.
Muirghein Tarot said:
If you haven't purchased a finishing hydrometer... do so, a std. hydrometer isn't accurate enough to tell in some cases! With a finishing hydrometer check your readings a couple of times a month, when the gravity is stable over a period of two months I'd rack off any sediment/Yeast and then bulk age with a solid stopper.
Wrathwilde
I generally keep my bulk aging stuff under an airlock, even when it's for a couple of years. Keep in mind that with the shifts in temperature and barometric pressure that solid bung can loosen or even blow with some radical shifts in atmospheric pressure. During this summer heat I really keep an eye on the airlocks for any activity, and make sure that they are kept to the little fill line.
Hope that helps,
Oskaar
Hope that helps,
Oskaar
Oskaar said:
Looks like I might have to start using my Kegs. Hadn't gotten around to it yet, I had a bung blow out just last week, I thought fermentation had been ticking away imperceptibly, though I was fairly certain it was stable. Didn't realize that just shifts in barometric pressure could blow a stopper. Now I know, and will be transferring my bulk aging to kegs, since I have six empty ones waiting to be put to good use. Need to get my CO2 tank filled first.
Wrathwilde
