SteveHoward

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I liked the idea of using the wine savers to create negative pressure over the wine for degassing much more than I liked the idea of stirring until my arms were tired. I tried several ideas that sounded so simple to make it work (drilling the bung, etc.) None of those worked quite as well or as easily as I had hoped. Then ... I had a sudden epiphany that made it all work quite simply. I thought I'd post it for critique, or for the benefit of anyone else who is looking for a way to make it work:

DoctorCAD

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Wow...that's going to take a while!!!

Go to Wally Mart and get a Food Saver. put the vacuum port on the hole in the bung. Every 15 minutes or so, shake the carboy. let it run an hour on two different days.

Or buy a WineGasGetter, it runs off an air compressor.

Why fight it, tool make things easy!

huesmann

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Plus those airlocks are kind of fragile...you'd have to be real careful about pumping the wine saver.

Yooper

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I've seen guys use Mity vacs- you know those tools for bleeding the breaks.

I use a wine whip and a drill, as I only degas kit wines and 6 gallons at a time! With the wine whip, it takes about 5 minutes.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

SteveHoward

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Now see, this is why I come here, and why I post here.

I never thought about a food saver - I'll have to look at that. I've been banished from the kitchen for 26+ years now, so I don't know about kitchen tools.

I've read about the wine whip, and that's what the person at the LHBS recommended. More than the work, it was the idea of something else being put into the wine that gave me the hangup. I realize it's what is done probably most often, but that was my hangup, and being able to explain it doesn't remove it as a hangup.

The idea I had started with what I read in "Strong Waters," and subsequently saw as a video on youtube. With my smallest batch, I did that by putting the wine into the bottles first, and using the wine saver to degass. It took a few days of pumping it out when I walked past. I figured the ratio of wine to headspace in the carboy was comparable to the bottles. But for the carboy, the drilling out of the bung so that the winesaver stopper would seal wasn't as easy as it sounded when reading in Strong Waters. That's what brought me to where I am.

CreamyGoodness

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Is your wine whip the one in your old avatar? :-p

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You are more likely to have a threesome with members of the Japanese women's curling team whilst spinning a plate on your head than you are likely to screw up a batch of JAOM.

SteveHoward

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This actually wasn't difficult. I put the rig in the carboy, then, about 3 times in the morning while I was getting ready for work, I'd pump it out. Then I'd do the same thing maybe 3 - 4 times after I got home from work, but before I went to bed. After 4 days, it was quite flat. It might have been flat before 4 days, but that's how long I kept it up before trying it.

The airlock turns out to not be as fragile as you'd think. I'd usually give it about 100 pumps each time I pumped it out, and I'd notice I wasn't exactly gentle, just because I couldn't really be.

I'm sure the foodsaver is easier, and you can probably get it done in one sitting, but this was cheap, and I didn't mind waiting a few days before bottling.

Insomniac

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That's exactly what I do Agreed that the airlocks arent as fragile as you might think, and are cheap enough to buy replacements if needed. I've been doing similar - 4 or 5 pumping sessions a day over a weak, the first one takes 50 to get it all out, later ones only another 15 - 20 so it's not too much effort.

One day I might go for a compressor based solution but the vacuuvin works well enough and you can then use it on bottles you've opened.

daugenet

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Please dont buy a gasgetter. you can make your own for WAY cheaper. (~$20)

I will admit that mine is not as pretty but has the exact same function. The first item has to be ordered. Everything else may be found at lowes :-)Here is the parts list.

http://www.sourcingmap.com/6mm-6mm-tube-type-plastic-pneumatic-vacuum-ejector-generator-p-116195.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&u tm_campaign=usfroogle

Plumbing section
1/4" OD polyethylene tubing (goes in bung)
3/8" OD polyethylene tubing (1/8' ID)
1/8" bard 1/4" MIP (should be brass)
3/8" to 1/4" plastic adapter (tubing reducer)
smallest stainless worm gear clamp (mine was 99 cents i believe)

Tool World
air compressor connector (I got the wrong one the first go round so check what your compressor requires)

The order of how the parts are connected goes like this;

bung, 1/4", reducer, 3/8", vacuum ejector, 3/8", barb(clamp on it), air compressor piece.



The tubing doesnt have to be as long as it is (i have 12ft total) but I have been lazy and not cut it to length just yet.

feffer

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daugenet, thx for the plans. I'm a little unclear about how it works -- please humor me. An air compressor w/tank will "blow out" a stream of air, but degassing requires a vacuum. Does that mean the part you linked to somehow uses the compressor air stream to create the vacuum? Or maybe I've got this all wrong.