Degassing wine trick

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The physics makes sense and I myself just bought the vacuum pump. It should be here later this week so if you want to wait till then I can give you a review on it. I have also seen people use their shop vac to aid in degassing the wine but I don't think that is too sanitary.
 
Along with taking forever, I am not sure how much suction those wine savers get. I got a mitivac. I leave it on for a few hours. Giving it a few pumps every 10 - 15 minutes to keep it where I want it.
 
mightyvac or why not just get a cheap HVAC vacuum pump and rig up a 1/4 flare or 1/2 ACME adaptor to a rubber stopper. Could be put together for less than $100 and it would be lightning fast!
 
I also use a mityvac hand pump. I use it quite a bit in the beginning, then I let time work out the rest. I usually have one more go at it right before bottling too.
 
I need to acquire some parts and I'd be happy to. My concern is pulling too much vacuum but it would be pretty easy to tell... Hmm
 
I agree, I was just concerned it could reach a vacuum level that would cause the alcohol to boil
 
I agree, I was just concerned it could reach a vacuum level that would cause the alcohol to boil

I watched a vid on youtube where a guy removed pressure from a container with just water. It boiled at room temp at about 27 mm Hg on his gauge. I was wondering what pressure alcohol would boil at room temp so I asked one of those answer sites. The response I got was:
At 68F, ethanol will boil at 44 mm Hg. Ethanol has a higher vapor pressure than water so at the same temperature it will boil at a higher pressure.

Don't want to test his response for accuracy though.
 
I wouldn't worry about it. The carbon dioxide will come out of solution well before the alcohol will. When the carbon dioxide is done coming out of solution there should be a gap in pressure before anything else comes out so you turn it off then.
 
I was concerned about this too at first, then I used a few engineering calculators and found that the alcohol would only start to boil at 100F, at a pressure of -25 PSI. Those mityvac pumps can get to 25 PSI, MAX. So if you're at less than 100F, you will not have anything to worry about.
 
I use one of those pumps. I usually wine whip it first to get the bulk co2 out and then attach the pump. I pump it every few minutes for the first couple of hours then let it sit and pump it whenever I am by the wine. It takes a day or two but is hardly physically taxing or annoying. Much better than using the whip the whole way through. If my winemaking takes off like my beer making, I will get a mitivac, but until then, this works.
 
Unferth said:
Anybody done this? Seems like it might actually work.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=ZjL80hXkHdI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZjL80hXkHdI

I know there's a way to embed the video, but I'm technologically incompetent.




So I have had the pump for a week and the rubber gasket blew out. I bought another one only because my local brew/wine supply store just started carrying them. I learned a little trick that makes them very good and would make an electric vacuum pump awesome. Pick up some stainless steel screws from your local hardware store or fasten all, drop them in and then do it. It gives you lots of nuclear ion sites and speeds up the process. You get more bubbles at lower pressures. I am going to try sanitizing the end of my shop vac and seeing if that will work. I will post something on how that works later this week.
 
So I have had the pump for a week and the rubber gasket blew out. I bought another one only because my local brew/wine supply store just started carrying them. I learned a little trick that makes them very good and would make an electric vacuum pump awesome. Pick up some stainless steel screws from your local hardware store or fasten all, drop them in and then do it. It gives you lots of nuclear ion sites and speeds up the process. You get more bubbles at lower pressures. I am going to try sanitizing the end of my shop vac and seeing if that will work. I will post something on how that works later this week.

I'm not going to pretend to understand how screws make your wine bubbly... Though bubbly wine often makes me screwy :D

Any word on the shop vac?
 
Unferth said:
I'm not going to pretend to understand how screws make your wine bubbly... Though bubbly wine often makes me screwy :D

Any word on the shop vac?



Shop vac seemed to work. The wine I had was already greatly degassed so it wasn't easy to tell but bubbles were coming out really well. I didn't like holding the vacuum hose so I will have to figure a set up to where it can just run. I have another batch of wine that I will be degassing in about 2 weeks so I can say more then.
 
Can I use a mityvac to degass my wine in a better bottle carboy? I am afraid the pressure will cause the bottle to collapse, is this a serious concern? I bought a second better bottle for cost reasons and am now thinking I should have stuck with glass for the secondary fermentation and degassing of the wine before bottling.
 
can i use a mityvac to degass my wine in a better bottle carboy? I am afraid the pressure will cause the bottle to collapse, is this a serious concern? I bought a second better bottle for cost reasons and am now thinking i should have stuck with glass for the secondary fermentation and degassing of the wine before bottling.

do not depressurize a better bottle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
They are plastic and will not have the rigidity to withstand the vacuum pressure. Glass is solid and fairly thick so it will be ok with the vacuum (to a certain level).
 
I bought a glass carboy and mitivac for this purpose alone. I secondary all my wine and degass in it. If you make enough wine, the investment is worthwhile for your sanity!
 
Check my process, I feremented in a plastic bucket and racked to a 6 gallon plastic carboy. Letting it settle for a bit, then transfering to a 6.5 gallon glass carboy to add the rest of the additives and degass. I am concerned about head space and oxidation, is this where I back sweeten which will take up some head room and possibly add a similar style of wine before bottling in another week or so?
 
Is this a kit? If so it might have an f pack with extra juice in it you can top up with. If not just use a similar wine or (less optimal) water.

Again, if its a kit, it will probably have a package of clearing agents like bentonite. You should add those after fermentation.

What kind of wine or kit are you making?
 
It is a kit, a simple shiraz from Vino Italiano. I bought Yellow Tail Shiraz to top it off. I got a 6 gallon glass carboy that I am going to transfer to in another week. Then I will degass and add the rest of the additives which include what you listed above. The guy at my LHBS suggested the 6 gallon instead of the 6.5 gallon so I just went with that. I think I am going to buy a higher quality kit next time with grape skins. It will require a bigger fermentation bucket but I am hoping after that, all my equipment will be purchased and can do one or two wine kits a year.
 
Yeah you sound like your on track. The wine should be clear,degassed, and stable ( no longer fermenting) before bottling.
 
Picked up a 12v "modellers" vac pump, connected to demijohn with a hose and bung, left the pump running for about 10 minutes...it was like cracking the top on a bottle of lemonade..the gas was fizzing out, really pleased with the results from a £10 pump off ebay.
Also applied vac to a fermenting bin, although the sides started to implode due to the vac inside, it still created enough vac to induce more CO2 to bubble off...very impressed. The wine (pinot grigio kit) then settled and cleared exceptionally quickly :)
 
I use a food saver with the accessory tube and a carboy cap. It works great.
 
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