2 replies to this topic

[Laurence Monaco]

Hi all

Just wondering if I purge C02 as a capping on my wine ,How long does it stay there for .(enclosed vessel and open to air)

Kind regards

Laurence

[Bunghole]

Hi all

Just wondering if I purge C02 as a capping on my wine ,How long does it stay there for .(enclosed vessel and open to air)

Kind regards

Laurence

If the wine is still active in fermentation the Co2 that you add will be pushed out the airlock sooner or later.

Without knowing exact fermentation rate, volume of Co2 etc etc etc it would be hard to say how long the gas would stay in the carboy.

Give a little more details as to what you trying to achieve

John

[Jack Keller]

Just wondering if I purge C02 as a capping on my wine ,How long does it stay there for .(enclosed vessel and open to air)

Laurence, we had a related discussion just a few weeks ago, but the focus there was on using CO2, argon or other heavy gases to completely replace the air in a carboy and thereby remove all O2 before adding the must so no premature oxidation can start. I don't recall the name of the thread and I have no desire to search for it since I already know what was said, but you might. Try searching the word "sparge", as I used it in that thread.

The thing to remember (and part of what was discussed previously) is that CO2 is a gas and follows the laws of all gases, which means it will act in accordance to the natural properties it is endowed with and react to environmental influences, but one gas does not push all other gases from a space just because it is heavier or colder or newly introduced.

In a closed environment, like a carboy with an airlock, CO2 created by fermentation will quickly fill the ullage and "push out" most of the air that was in that space through a process best thought of as pressurized dilution. But even after 5-6 days of vigorous fermentation and continuous bubbling away, if you measured the air in the ullage you'd be surprised to find there is still some oxygen, hydrogen, helium, etc. in there. You wouldn't think so, but there is. It won't be much, but there will be some.

Now, if you lay a blanket of CO2 into a primary and cover it with a nice thick towel, it is still open to the air but not quite as susceptible to wild yeast and dust contamination. Under these conditions the CO2 will begin dilution almost immediately -- through the towel. It won't be a fast process, but it will start at once and continue at a rate dictated by temperature, humidity, turbulence, atmospheric pressure, etc. Gases simply want to mix, and if "open to air" they will do so. If they did not, all the CO2 in the atmosphere would be laying around next to the earth and we would all suffocate. So, even though I cannot answer your question as to how long your blanket of CO2 would last, I would imagine not more than an hour or two.