Small v Large batch winemaking

[kessler]

It's often said that it's very much easier to make a very large batch of wine rather than making a small batch.

Why is that so?

Questions questions...

[NorthernWiner]

I don't know that it's easier, but I find it to be more practical. Most of the wine I make is from grapes or grape juice, and, because of how the raw ingredients are packaged, about the smallest amount I can make is 5 or 6 gallons.

[ms67]

i guess that when you say 'easier' you are talking about it being easier to make a better quality of the resulting wine. if that assumption is correct then there are good reasons and i'll start the ball rolling with some practicalities that are improved by scale.

There are two main components of this as i see it, both are concerned with control at the end of the day. The first is in measurements and margins of error. Your kitchen scales and your volume measuring tools (spoons, scoops, cups, mugs, jugs) whether calibrated or not, all have margins of error. As you decrease the weight or volume of the ingredients you are adding so your tools have to be increasingly precise if you are to be true to your "recipe". You may have two sets of scales for example, one of which you use for measuring 100's or 1000's of grams and one for 10's of grams. So you already know this. At quantities of single grams i wonder how many of us have scales for that? So we may use teaspoons instead, but we would be better off using scales. By scaling up we do away with the need to use teaspoons and can use scales instead, so reducing our margin of error. you may find for example that your measure of a teaspoon is not the few grams that you want but instead consistently 10, 20, 30 % more or less. Or one day it is big and the next day it is small (depending on which tea spoon you use, whether it is heaped, rounded or flat etc). Scale up and your margin of error reduces. Specifically for wine if you want to add a few grams of an acid or tannin per gallon then for one gallon you could very easily find yourself 1 gram out, which is a big percentage. For a few gallons you'll be measuring tens of grams and your 1 gram error will be a small percentage.

The second is about temperature control. A large volume will hold a steadier temperature than a small one. When your cup of tea has cooled to drinking point the tea remaining in the pot will still burn your mouth. Temperature is an important part of brewing, both when we are fermenting and also when fermentation has stopped. The less variability you get around the ideal the better. A small volume will easily stray both above and below the ideal range during day/night or seasonal fluctuations and cycles.

Of course if you invest in very accurate scales, calibrated pipettes etc, and also devices for controlling temperature (could be a simple as a blanket or heating pad or as complex as a room with a thermostat and even further complexity if you want), then your small scale brews will be better controlled and more easily repeatable. But if you haven't got such gear then a simple way to achieve a similar result is to scale up. And you have the bonus of more wine to drink!

There are other reasons too, but given how lengthy my response is to two these aspects i'll leave it to a more experienced wine maker to explain those.

[hedgerow]

my biggest problem with small batchs of wine is they are so good but thats the problem they are only five bottle long, but then again i have put 5 gallon down the loo several times over the years

[Cellar_Rat]

"Scale up and your margin of error reduces"
I also find that there is less chance of contamination. I fruit fly landing in a gallon of mast is an issue, the same landing in a vat just isn't proportionally an issue. I think this is also why it is considered safe (and normal) to ferment lager batches of wine open (without airlocks) - certainly my red is always made like that. I have made wine for many years, and only this year purchased airlocks!! and that was mainly for storage reasons.



Brian

[ms67]

hehe, its just dawned on me that while i'm talking gallons, you are talking vats! oops

[clayhill]

My limited experience so far would agree . . . larger volumes are better value for your effort put in.
It takes me nearly as long to make, adjust or rack off a 5 litre demijohn as it does a 25 litre carboy. Yesterday I racked off 75 litres of wine (3 * 25 litre carboy) in about an hour. Today I racked off 20 litres of wine (4 * 5 litre demijohn) in about . . . an hour! I like 5 litre demijohns, they are great to experiment in small batches but when i know where im going with my wine it will be using the larger carboy.

[goldseal]

I'd agree - 5 gallons doesn't take 5 times the effort of 1 gallon. It does pay to have some bigger kit though. You can use a Harris filter for a 5 gallon carboy, but it will take about an hour. A Minijet will do it in around 5 minutes (but it will lighten your pocket ).

Of course, you can use it as an excuse to buy an Enolmatic (vacuum bottler & all round great bit of kit).

Downsides: dropping a DJ is usually messy and annoying, but dropping a 5 gal carboy would probably result in a trip to A&E to have a new foot attached.

[Cellar_Rat]

Upsides: You don't need a Enolmatic for larger Q' a £5 caravan pump is brill !

[goldseal]

How does that work for bottling, or are you just using it as a vacuum pump?

[clayhill]

Has anyone used the Enolmatic vacuum bottler? Is it any good?

[goldseal]

I have one (and Rich does, but I broke that one ).

It's great.

Do you NEED one? For 30 bottles, no, you could manage with a bottling wand, but it certainly makes the job quicker. If you are on your own, bottling and corking, you might struggle to keep up with it (which is fine because it is capable of waiting for you).

It can also be used as a vacuum pump, for uphill racking (which also helps degas the wine), and you can connect it directly to a full carboy or DJ for vacuum degassing.

So, it IS expensive, but it is versatile and a time-saver. On my scale of operations it's a luxury, not a necessity.

If the majority of your wine is in 1 gallon batches, don't bother. It would take longer to set up and clean afterwards than it would filling the bottles

[lockwood1956]

I simply LOVE my enolmatic!

[David]

My limited experience so far would agree . . . larger volumes are better value for your effort put in.
It takes me nearly as long to make, adjust or rack off a 5 litre demijohn as it does a 25 litre carboy. Yesterday I racked off 75 litres of wine (3 * 25 litre carboy) in about an hour. Today I racked off 20 litres of wine (4 * 5 litre demijohn) in about . . . an hour! I like 5 litre demijohns, they are great to experiment in small batches but when i know where im going with my wine it will be using the larger carboy.

That about sums up my thoughts (assuming a 5 gall DJ is one of those plastic so called 5 gall FVs that will hold 6 galls).

I've 9 of those that I make 6 galls in each, then rack off into 5 glass 1 gall DJs (got over 100).

I now have 6 PET 5 litre bottles for trial batches that each get racked off into a single 1 gall glass DJ. If it's OK it's made as 6 galls next time round.

Saves on footprint area, cost, airlocks, yeast starters, time, etc..............