purging O2

[Papagayo]

Has anyone ever tried using a counter pressure bottle filler to purge the 02 from a carboy? The idea would be to do this when you're going to be left with a sizable head space during bulk storage of a cider that is no longer fermenting and thus will not produce CO2 on its own. I'm thinking of something like 4 gallons in a 5-gallon carboy.

Any other ways to purge the O2 out of a carboy when aging a cider that is done fermenting? Of course, I could keg it, but I don't want to tie up my kegs for 6 months plus.

 

[gregbathurst]

The trouble is that there is a very steep concentration gradient of O2 from the air into the carboy, so unless you have a really good seal and never open it, O2 will tend to find a way in there. Much better to fill it right up - water, cider, whatever you think will work. It's a pain but all wineries have to cope with this problem, they usually have containers of various sizes and a couple of variable capacity containers.

 

[dinnerstick]

i had to do this once for lack of free containers, stuck a narrow hose into the picnic tap and blew co2 from a keg through the hole for the airlock and let it escape out around the side of the loose bung to purge as much air as i could. after racking. i can't say exactly how efficient this was at keeping o2 out but as far as i could tell the stuff didn't oxidize and didn't grow mold from potentially pneumatically embedding spores into the surface... surpirsingly perhaps?

 

[boo boo]

I just take the QD off my hose and squirt CO2 into the carboy and fill as usual, but I'm only using a secondary some of the time, and even then it is only for a short while.

 

[Papagayo]

In secondary, what would be the cons of sealing the carboy completely? If there is minimal head space and no airflow, this would virtually eliminate the possibility of infection.

 

[Yooper]

In secondary, what would be the cons of sealing the carboy completely? If there is minimal head space and no airflow, this would virtually eliminate the possibility of infection.

Unless you had any headspace, as there would still be the matter of the air already in the headspace. When bulk aging, I sometimes use closed bungs (no airlocks) but usually it's just as easy to keep an airlock on it just in case there is a big temperature change and some co2 bubbles out.