Argon & CO2

[Rich]

After racking my Trebbiano and finding I had way too much head space, got me thinking. I've seen others that cover their wine with an inert gas. On a good look through my tool box, I found an old disposable gas cylinder with argon/CO2 mix, plus the regulator.

So, I've 'topped up' my carboy with inert gas, and it's slowly clearing now with no oxygen contact. Not sure on how often I should be 'topping up' the gas though.

Cylinders are about £10 or so from Halfords, Think the regulators are about the same price. Hopefully Bob will be on later to tell us exactly, when he's picked up an Argon bottle..

[lockwood1956]

Fantastic Rich
cheers, as you know (telephone conversation this afternoon!) I have been looking for Argon for some time, great find cheers dude (I'm off to Halfords in the morning...I'm off to Doncaster wine circle this evening )

regards
Bob

[fatbloke]

{snip}I have been looking for Argon for some time{/snip}

BOC? Airproducts? They'll have s**t loads

Seriously though, if you see any of those cheapo/crappy "gift" catalogues of tools, like those that sometimes arrive with the sunday papers, they often have very cheap MiG/TiG welding kit with throwaway gas cyliners. That's probably gonna be CO2 or Argon.{/serious}

What's it actually for ? Because since "they" have been removing BCF fire extinguishers from public access areas i.e. buses and trains etc, you might be able to get a couple to experiment with (though Bromochlorodifluromethane is one of the "sniffers delight" substances so if it wasn't successful you could always pass them off to the local kids on any street corner ).

Continuing with inert gasses used in firefighting, you might be able to get some halon? (hell to really "kick the QUACK!QUACK!QUACK!QUACK! out of that question - what about "fridge" gasses? a local disposal service might be able to provide Freon, though you'd have to make sure about anyone smoking in the vicinity, as if it's inhaled through a ciggie, apparently it becomes Phosgene - VVV nasty).

Ha ha! I'll put my mind to it and see if I can come up with any more impractical "inert" gasses for you to try!

regards

fatbloke

edit: p.s. erm, what about small quantities of dry ice ? a tiny chip in each bottle of wine? When it's turned to gas then bang the cork in ?

[lockwood1956]

Argon is inert and used extensively in the commercial wine world, thats why i want to use it

BOC and Air product shave the gas but its £80 per year for rental so sent my CO2 cylinder back.

doesnt matter if they are mickey mouse cannisters, I'm just blanketing wine with it,to prevent oxidation and spoilage.

CO2 is produced by fermentation so is not harmful to the wine, and argon is inert and not as harmful as other inert gasses.

cheers
bob