will using a big fermentation bin ruin my wine

[chloaggi]

Hi
I'm making elderflower champagne and plan to complete fermentation in bin and then prime bottles for fizz. My recipe (slightly made up) was adding 2kg sugar, to 10L water snipped off flowers couple of lemons and mug of tea and I tipped boiling water over the flowers and used sparkling wine yeast.
So I made 10L but only could get hold of a 25L fermentation bin and no demijohn (everything seems sold out) so I left it for a week and then filtered into various sterilised vessels and then put it back into my fermentation bin with lid now on and airlock. It looked fine at that point - plenty of bubbling and the gravity had dropped from 1078 to 1062, but now I'm worried....
a) will having a big fermentation bin mean wine will oxidise- or will there be enough CO2 to stop that? and
b) 2 days on there are no bubbles coming out the airlock so I can't be sure it's still fermenting - although bubbles do come if I tap the lid. I did rinse everything after sterilising. Would you expect bubbles yet? Is it bad to take lid off and check on it intermittently to make sure bubbling or gravity still dropping?

I guess I could stick it in my PET bottles now so I can see what's happening and just keep burping them until fermentation finishes but would rather not have to.

Sorry for long question:)

 

[stan.distortion]

It should be fine, 2 days to get going isn't unusual but imo it's probably already started but the lid is leaking. You've got a tap on the bin? A hydrometer will tell you more than the airlock, if you want to be sure take a reading and see if the gravity is dropping. Not sure about using the bin for anything other than wine afterwards though, maybe it will be fine but I'd be wary of strong tastes left behind.

 

[LED_ZEP]

I'm sure it is fine.
It comes up a lot on here that people are worried that there's no bubbles in the airlock on a FV but the lids don't tend to be airtight so it's normal. As there's a big air space I'd try not to lift the lid too much and just sit tight, I've had ferments that don't kick off for 3-4 days. Remember there is a stage at the beginning where the yeast are just building their numbers (and they need and will be using the oxygen in the the FV) before they get hungry and start eating that sugar.

 

[Coomzy]

Just for the future.....
You can pick up a 5l of mineral water for less than £1 and an airlock and grommet for less than £1 too. This also gives you the option to have a play about with the separated words. Ie, you could use honey in one for example. Worth having 3 on hand imo. You will also need the correct drill bit or a step drill ideally to make the hole for the grommet