Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
smallest hands and a regular bottle brush is too short and isn't
bent for cleaning around the edges.
The fermentation that takes place in the secondary fermenter
is long and slow. As the carbon dioxide is evolved more
slowly, it is possible for air to be drawn into the vessel,
especially if temperatures change. During secondary
fermentation, you want to prevent oxygen from coming into
contact with the wine, because oxygen adversely affects the
quality of the wine by changing the character of some of the
evolved organic compounds.
By fitting the hole in the fermenter with a stopper and an
airlock, you will allow a protective blanket of carbon dioxide
to cover the surface of your wine. You will need rubber
stoppers with one hole in them that are sized correctly for
your secondary fermenter. The airlock is prepared, put into
the hole in the stopper, and then the stopper is placed in the
hole at the top of the fermenter.
Because you will be racking your wine from one secondary
fermenter into another, you need two secondary fermentation
vessels.
One thing that people often overlook is a carrying handle. If
you are making wine in batches larger than a gallon, those
carboys are extremely heavy and difficult to handle. The
handle that you order can be installed on a carboy and then
removed to be used on another, so you only need one. They
cost about $10 at the time of this writing and are well worth it
as they make the task of handling carboys a great deal easier.
