Hi group. I haven't made a visit here for quite awhile. Hope all you winos
are doing fine.

Here's my story.

For the past almost 14 years, I've been working with two 18.9 litre glass
carboys, one 30 litre (to the brim) graduated every 5 liters plastic
primary, and one non-graduated plastic primary that originally contained 23
litres wine grape juice.

I started my batch of rhubarb wine at the beginning of the month. I had 72
lbs of frozen rhubarb, so I knew I was going to need more equipment (plus my
two 18.9 litre carboys are filled and bulk aging other wines). So I bought
two "10 gallon" plastic primaries, with a single graduation at 22.7 litres.
I also bought four 23 litre glass carboys (I think they really work out to
22.7 litre, but they call them 23's) and one 11.3 litre glass carboy. I
started with my old 30 litre primary, and racked the batch into a new "10
gallon", marking the new primary every 5 litres. When it got to the 22.7
litre mark on the new primary, the old appeared to be down the appropriate
amount, which confirmed to me that the mark was in the correct place. I
continued until I had marks every 5 litres up to 40 litres. I then measured
each mark and transfered them over to the second "10 gallon" primary I
bought.

After all the ingredients were added, I had two batches that were pretty
much bang on 40 litres each. It wasn't later that I realized that this
happened to be the perfect volume for my new glass primaries, assuming very
little was lost in the racking. 23+23+23+11.3 litres was the four carboys I
needed.

But when I racked, I didn't have the volume I expected. There was minimal
loss left in the bottom of the two primaries. I got the three 23 litre
carboys filled into the neck, but then only had slightly less than 6 litres
left, not the 10 to 11 I had expected.

What happened? Are carboys filled into the neck way over their stated
volume? I only lost a half litre at most during racking. And inaccuracies in
the volume marks on my old primary (the marking lines are about 1/8" thick)
don't seem to be enough to be that far off.

Thanks, Dan

Most jugs and carboys are rated where they are filled to a point that is
much less than you would use for a topped up wine carboy. The difference
can easily be 2 or 3 liters or maybe even more. Most of my 5 gallon
carboy's will hold 5.5 gal's. Some of my 6 gal carboys will hold close to 7
gal's. You eventually get to know your carboy's.

Ray

"Daniel_B" > wrote in message
news
> Hi group. I haven't made a visit here for quite awhile. Hope all you winos
> are doing fine.
>
> Here's my story.
>
> For the past almost 14 years, I've been working with two 18.9 litre glass
> carboys, one 30 litre (to the brim) graduated every 5 liters plastic
> primary, and one non-graduated plastic primary that originally contained
> 23 litres wine grape juice.
>
> I started my batch of rhubarb wine at the beginning of the month. I had 72
> lbs of frozen rhubarb, so I knew I was going to need more equipment (plus
> my two 18.9 litre carboys are filled and bulk aging other wines). So I
> bought two "10 gallon" plastic primaries, with a single graduation at 22.7
> litres. I also bought four 23 litre glass carboys (I think they really
> work out to 22.7 litre, but they call them 23's) and one 11.3 litre glass
> carboy. I started with my old 30 litre primary, and racked the batch into
> a new "10 gallon", marking the new primary every 5 litres. When it got to
> the 22.7 litre mark on the new primary, the old appeared to be down the
> appropriate amount, which confirmed to me that the mark was in the correct
> place. I continued until I had marks every 5 litres up to 40 litres. I
> then measured each mark and transfered them over to the second "10 gallon"
> primary I bought.
>
> After all the ingredients were added, I had two batches that were pretty
> much bang on 40 litres each. It wasn't later that I realized that this
> happened to be the perfect volume for my new glass primaries, assuming
> very little was lost in the racking. 23+23+23+11.3 litres was the four
> carboys I needed.
>
> But when I racked, I didn't have the volume I expected. There was minimal
> loss left in the bottom of the two primaries. I got the three 23 litre
> carboys filled into the neck, but then only had slightly less than 6
> litres left, not the 10 to 11 I had expected.
>
> What happened? Are carboys filled into the neck way over their stated
> volume? I only lost a half litre at most during racking. And inaccuracies
> in the volume marks on my old primary (the marking lines are about 1/8"
> thick) don't seem to be enough to be that far off.
>
> Thanks, Dan
>
>

Most jugs and carboys are rated where they are filled to a point that is
much less than you would use for a topped up wine carboy. The difference
can easily be 2 or 3 liters or maybe even more. Most of my 5 gallon
carboy's will hold 5.5 gal's. Some of my 6 gal carboys will hold close to 7
gal's. You eventually get to know your carboy's.

Ray

"Daniel_B" > wrote in message
news
> Hi group. I haven't made a visit here for quite awhile. Hope all you winos
> are doing fine.
>
> Here's my story.
>
> For the past almost 14 years, I've been working with two 18.9 litre glass
> carboys, one 30 litre (to the brim) graduated every 5 liters plastic
> primary, and one non-graduated plastic primary that originally contained
> 23 litres wine grape juice.
>
> I started my batch of rhubarb wine at the beginning of the month. I had 72
> lbs of frozen rhubarb, so I knew I was going to need more equipment (plus
> my two 18.9 litre carboys are filled and bulk aging other wines). So I
> bought two "10 gallon" plastic primaries, with a single graduation at 22.7
> litres. I also bought four 23 litre glass carboys (I think they really
> work out to 22.7 litre, but they call them 23's) and one 11.3 litre glass
> carboy. I started with my old 30 litre primary, and racked the batch into
> a new "10 gallon", marking the new primary every 5 litres. When it got to
> the 22.7 litre mark on the new primary, the old appeared to be down the
> appropriate amount, which confirmed to me that the mark was in the correct
> place. I continued until I had marks every 5 litres up to 40 litres. I
> then measured each mark and transfered them over to the second "10 gallon"
> primary I bought.
>
> After all the ingredients were added, I had two batches that were pretty
> much bang on 40 litres each. It wasn't later that I realized that this
> happened to be the perfect volume for my new glass primaries, assuming
> very little was lost in the racking. 23+23+23+11.3 litres was the four
> carboys I needed.
>
> But when I racked, I didn't have the volume I expected. There was minimal
> loss left in the bottom of the two primaries. I got the three 23 litre
> carboys filled into the neck, but then only had slightly less than 6
> litres left, not the 10 to 11 I had expected.
>
> What happened? Are carboys filled into the neck way over their stated
> volume? I only lost a half litre at most during racking. And inaccuracies
> in the volume marks on my old primary (the marking lines are about 1/8"
> thick) don't seem to be enough to be that far off.
>
> Thanks, Dan
>
>

"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
. com...
> Most jugs and carboys are rated where they are filled to a point that is
> much less than you would use for a topped up wine carboy. The difference
> can easily be 2 or 3 liters or maybe even more. Most of my 5 gallon
> carboy's will hold 5.5 gal's. Some of my 6 gal carboys will hold close to
> 7 gal's. You eventually get to know your carboy's.
>
2-3 liters seems highly unlikely, no matter what your source of carboys is.
We have measured overages in the area of 3/4 of a liter in the 5 and 6
gallon sizes.

Brian

"Brian Lundeen" > wrote in message >...
> "Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
> . com...
> > Most jugs and carboys are rated where they are filled to a point that is
> > much less than you would use for a topped up wine carboy. The difference
> > can easily be 2 or 3 liters or maybe even more. Most of my 5 gallon
> > carboy's will hold 5.5 gal's. Some of my 6 gal carboys will hold close to
> > 7 gal's. You eventually get to know your carboy's.
> >
> 2-3 liters seems highly unlikely, no matter what your source of carboys is.
> We have measured overages in the area of 3/4 of a liter in the 5 and 6
> gallon sizes.
>
> Brian

I agree with Brian, the one time I measured the Italian 6gal carboy,
it came to 23.6L. I'd suspect the measurements on the primaries might
be more off in this case.

As a side note, the Mexican carboys (sides without ribs) are usually
smaller than the Italian counterparts, so it also depends what carboys
you have.

Pp

I ended up with 2 Italian ribbed which are slightly taller and narrower, and
2 Mexican smooth which are slightly shorter and fatter. I had no choice,
since I needed them and they were the only 4 in town from the 2 available
stores.

I'm guessing the actual volumes of the topped-up carboys, coupled with the
inaccuracies of the markings on the primaries, has caused this. Thanks for
the input folks.

Dan.




"pp" > wrote in message
om...
> "Brian Lundeen" > wrote in message
> >...
>> "Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
>> . com...
>> > Most jugs and carboys are rated where they are filled to a point that
>> > is
>> > much less than you would use for a topped up wine carboy. The
>> > difference
>> > can easily be 2 or 3 liters or maybe even more. Most of my 5 gallon
>> > carboy's will hold 5.5 gal's. Some of my 6 gal carboys will hold close
>> > to
>> > 7 gal's. You eventually get to know your carboy's.
>> >
>> 2-3 liters seems highly unlikely, no matter what your source of carboys
>> is.
>> We have measured overages in the area of 3/4 of a liter in the 5 and 6
>> gallon sizes.
>>
>> Brian
>
> I agree with Brian, the one time I measured the Italian 6gal carboy,
> it came to 23.6L. I'd suspect the measurements on the primaries might
> be more off in this case.
>
> As a side note, the Mexican carboys (sides without ribs) are usually
> smaller than the Italian counterparts, so it also depends what carboys
> you have.
>
> Pp

I ended up with 2 Italian ribbed which are slightly taller and narrower, and
2 Mexican smooth which are slightly shorter and fatter. I had no choice,
since I needed them and they were the only 4 in town from the 2 available
stores.

I'm guessing the actual volumes of the topped-up carboys, coupled with the
inaccuracies of the markings on the primaries, has caused this. Thanks for
the input folks.

Dan.




"pp" > wrote in message
om...
> "Brian Lundeen" > wrote in message
> >...
>> "Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
>> . com...
>> > Most jugs and carboys are rated where they are filled to a point that
>> > is
>> > much less than you would use for a topped up wine carboy. The
>> > difference
>> > can easily be 2 or 3 liters or maybe even more. Most of my 5 gallon
>> > carboy's will hold 5.5 gal's. Some of my 6 gal carboys will hold close
>> > to
>> > 7 gal's. You eventually get to know your carboy's.
>> >
>> 2-3 liters seems highly unlikely, no matter what your source of carboys
>> is.
>> We have measured overages in the area of 3/4 of a liter in the 5 and 6
>> gallon sizes.
>>
>> Brian
>
> I agree with Brian, the one time I measured the Italian 6gal carboy,
> it came to 23.6L. I'd suspect the measurements on the primaries might
> be more off in this case.
>
> As a side note, the Mexican carboys (sides without ribs) are usually
> smaller than the Italian counterparts, so it also depends what carboys
> you have.
>
> Pp