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Reducing headspace-marbles or stones?

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Q

Q2XL

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 9, 2010
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I will be transfering my mead into the secondary fermenter tomorrow. I know that I need to reduce the headspace in the glass carboy. I was going to use a lot of marbles, although they are a bit pricey. I then thought of using some type of polished stone that I might be able to get at Home Depot or Lowes for cheaper(not sure on the cheaper part).

Is sanitized polished stone or sanitized clean stone a good idea to use in reducing the headspace?
 
That probably depends on the stone, there are a lot of different kinds, some are porous and might cause problems, some might have mineral content that is soluble in water or alcohol and might wind up in the taste. Good question, definitely cheaper than beads or marbles.
 
Best kind of marbles to purchase for filling headspace are the ones you get from the pet store, for fish. If it's safe for fish, it's safe for your mead. Hobby marbles can contain chemicals that can leach into your mead.

Polished stones are probably ok, but check first to see if the stone is chemically inert in solution. Pet store marbles may be cheaper.

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McFeeley said:
Best kind of marbles to purchase for filling headspace are the ones you get from the pet store, for fish. If it's safe for fish, it's safe for your mead. Hobby marbles can contain chemicals that can leach into your mead.

Polished stones are probably ok, but check first to see if the stone is chemically inert in solution. Pet store marbles may be cheaper.
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I agree. Many stones, such as polished limestone, react with acid. Wine is acidic. I would be very leery of using any stone, unless I knew for with 100% certainty, that it would not leech any mineral into my mead.

McFeeley,
Much thanks for the advice on the pet store marbles. I could not even find hobby marbles at any of the toy stores or toy departments in my area.

Q2XL,
You might also consider using sanitized synthetic corks to take up headspace. I have not yet tried that method, but was considering it for my next batch when I was unable to locate marbles. But I’ll be checking my local pet store soon, as per McFeeley’s advice.
 
When I was a kid on the farm we always had pickles or other such things "cookin" in those big crock pots. My folks used a board and a big rock to hold the veggies down in the brine. Both the board and the stone had been coated with wax. Made it easy to rinse them off and prevented off-flavors, etc in the pickles. May not be practical if you are using something with aq small opening so you require large amounts of small stones. Personally, I'd go with the marbles regardless of cost. The peace of mind is worth it.
 
I just put a bunch of sanitized synthetic corks in a gallon of mead and I'm having two issues: nucleation points and sediment settling on the corks themselves. I tried shifting them around to knock off the bubbles and sediment. Will try clay to clarify next and follow up on my progress.
 
I'm looking forward to switching to synth corks for this purpose, but what the heck am I going to do with the $100 worth of marbles I already have?! I just like the cork idea because they float.
 
AToE said:
I'm looking forward to switching to synth corks for this purpose, but what the heck am I going to do with the $100 worth of marbles I already have?! I just like the cork idea because they float.
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Sell them to me for $20. lolol

I checked all around and have found some but they are expensive. 1lb for on average of $6-$7. It would cost me quite a bit. I think I might just go and buy some smaller carboys.
 
Medsen Fey said:
If the fermentation is still ongoing, you don't really have to worry about the headspace so you might have waited to add the corks until a later time.
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I don't think there was active fermentation going. It was a blend of two meads: a bone dry blueberry mel and a traditional that was crystal clear. All I can imagine is that there was air or sugar inside the synthetic corks? I dunno, it's a wild guess.
 
I'd just give the jug/carboy a quick spin to shake the sediment off. You might have to do it a few times, but each time more will settle on the bottom and less on the corks. I do this (but more gently than you'll need to I imagine) with my batches that have the beads, to shake the lees down to the bottom of the carboy so that I can rack without sucking lees off the beads. It works well but it takes weeks of giving it a little twist every few days to really get them clean.
 
AToE said:
I'd just give the jug/carboy a quick spin to shake the sediment off. You might have to do it a few times, but each time more will settle on the bottom and less on the corks. I do this (but more gently than you'll need to I imagine) with my batches that have the beads, to shake the lees down to the bottom of the carboy so that I can rack without sucking lees off the beads. It works well but it takes weeks of giving it a little twist every few days to really get them clean.
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Yes, I've been knocking them around with the butter knife - will try spinning too since I'll reduce my chances of oxidizing the must, though I'm still wondering what all those bubbles are about. It's getting better, just kind of a pain in the butt. I would imagine that, as long as you used an end cap for racking off marbles, it would be better than this technique.
 
I'd guess that though the mead was done fermenting that it had not finished degassing. I have a blueberry mead with oak cubes right now that's been done fermenting for months, but those cubes still collect lots of bubbles. I don't know much about the physics of gas coming out of solution, but from what I do know I'd guess that adding nucleation points like cubes or corks might speed up degassing.
 
It these were previous-used corks, then air may be coming from inside the cork where they were punctured by the corkscrew. Or it may just be degassing.

I'm trying this out now with a batch I racked over the weekend. It had been fully topped up in a gallon jug, and now there is more than 1.5 cups of head space. I used some unused synthetic corks that I had been keeping in the closet never planning to use in my meads. I figured, this is worth a try, and they are a darned bit less slippery than mineral oil. This mead was fully degassed, and there were no punctures of the corks and I have no little bubbles forming.

This batch is already clear so I don't expect sediment to be a problem, but I will swirl as necessary to shake loose any that form so it can settle to the bottom.

One thing I like about this is that you can easily remove them if you decide to add a bit more liquid - very handy. As a potential problem, if a surface dwelling spoilage organism ever grew in a batch with corks floating, you'd have a devil of a time trying to rack from underneath without disturbing it.
 
I agree that this technique is going to be better applied with musts that are already clear. Using new synthetics also seems like a good thing, judging by the results of this little experiment. The must I was using was essentially "throw-away" must from the bottom of two carboys I had racked. Since I had the corks on hand, I figured I'd try it out and see what happened. Yay for learning through trial and error!

I'm thinking that, once this must finally clears, I'll backsweeten it with some blueberry honey I got for my birthday then give it to my friend who likes wine that tastes like koolaid. I'm pretty sure she won't care about any flaws if I cover them up with yummy.

Edit: Swirling with benonite and corks = FAIL. I think I got more sediment up onto the corks than I knocked off of them. I'm sticking with my butter knife.
 
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McFeeley said:
Best kind of marbles to purchase for filling headspace are the ones you get from the pet store, for fish. If it's safe for fish, it's safe for your mead. Hobby marbles can contain chemicals that can leach into your mead.
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I went to my local Petco and they did not have actual marbles. They had "Top Fin" brand marble-like "jewels" that look like a partially flattened small marble (available in a few different colors). I would estimate about four packages would be enough for a typical 5 or 6 gallon racking loss. They are fairly inexpensive at $1.99 for 12 ounces. Are these the pet store marbles to which you were referring?

The package did not actually state that they were made from glass. It did state that they were non-toxic, but the package also stated to never wash with soapy water. I'm hoping that's because any soap left on the surface is bad for fish. But could it be that these are not actually made of glass and absorb liquid? The package also states "Made in China" which I find a bit discomforting with the recent rash of lead-contaminated product scares.
 
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Nothing that is to go into an aquarium should be washed with soap. Any soap film remaining on the marbles is highly toxic to fish. All aquarium decorations come with this warning.

You can also be fairly sure that they are free from Lead as this is also highly toxic to fish.
 
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