Degassing wine with age

How long can this take? I mean I leave a cup of beer out overnight and it's flat. What gives with wine.

I've got some batches that are going on 6 months. They're still dropping a few lees, not ready to be bottled. That said they're really getting clear. I haven't added any clarifying agents, just ingredients and time.

Anyone patient and use time to degas their wine? If so how long do you wait? I do all my beer in buckets so I won't need my carboys again till next fall with new batches of wine (aside from 1 for dandelion wine this spring). Thoughts?

Bump

I have had 10 gallons of home-crushed grape (unknown variety) wine in the basement for 4 months and would really like to bottle it.

Fermented in buckets for a week, then stored in airlocked carboy since. The wine is crystal clear but the I am concerned about residual gas.

I can just picture the gas slowly pushing the cork out of a bottle on its side and the whole thing glugging onto the floor (whether or not this would actually happen).

We need some Yooper wisdom.

While I'm nowhere near a Yooper type of smart....

I've never had a wine that needed much degassing after 6-9mos with rackings every 2mos or so. Out of habit, I'll still give it a degass after stabilizing but rarely get much out. Usually goes in the bottle a couple weeks later and haven't (yet) had a cork pop.

Same. I have yet to pop a cork from any of my wine. My methods usually include a few months of bulk aging, with a TOTAL of perhaps 3 to 4 rackings (including to a bottling bucket).

Thanks a lot guys. I have one more rack (to bottling bucket) to make 3, sounds like I should be ok after that. I crushed 100lbs of grapes by hand for this stupid wine so it better be worth it.

While I have you here...I used 1 Campden tab per gal after crushing the grapes. Do I need to sorbate before I bottle? I would rather not add any more sulfites.

I would. You don't plan on bulk aging? If you do, i'd add more sulfite.

WilliamSlayer said:

I would. You don't plan on bulk aging? If you do, i'd add more sulfite.

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It has bulk aged with sulfites for 4 months. I'd like to get it into bottles to sit for awhile, but didn't realize I should sorbate/sulfite again.

Could I just sorbate and avoid the addition of more sulfites or should I bulk age longer then sorbate? It is a ~11% ABV white wine from Lalvin EC1118.

Thanks for the comments.

ColoHox said:

It has bulk aged with sulfites for 4 months. I'd like to get it into bottles to sit for awhile, but didn't realize I should sorbate/sulfite again.

Could I just sorbate and avoid the addition of more sulfites or should I bulk age longer then sorbate? It is a ~11% ABV white wine from Lalvin EC1118.

Thanks for the comments.

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If you don't add sulfites before you bottle, don't expect your wine to last more than 1 year.

novalou said:

If you don't add sulfites before you bottle, don't expect your wine to last more than 1 year.

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Ok, 1/2 campden tab per gallon? How much do I need? Sorbate also?

Why will it not last? Oxidation or spoilage?

ColoHox said:

Ok, 1/2 campden tab per gallon? How much do I need? Sorbate also?

Why will it not last? Oxidation or spoilage?

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I don't use campden tablets, I use 1/4 tsp meta bisulfide powder per 5 gallons.

Yes, your wine will oxidize early without it. The sulfite binds with oxygen in solution.

ColoHox said:

Ok, 1/2 campden tab per gallon? How much do I need? Sorbate also?

Why will it not last? Oxidation or spoilage?

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No sorbate, unless you're sweetening the wine. But definitely "yes" to sulfites! I use 1 crushed campden tablet, dissolved in a little boiling water, per gallon at every other racking and at bottling. I don't have an SO2 meter, so that's an "guestimate" of 50 ppm. 50ppm is below the taste threshold (and much less that is usually in commercial wines) but it's enough to help prevent oxidation and help preserve the wine.

As far as degassing, you only need to degas if the wine is gassy. A good way to check is to just pull a sample and put it in a glass. Look for bubbles and clarity, by holding it up to the light. Then put your hand over the top of the glass and gently shake. When you take your hand off, if you got a "poof" of air, or some bubbles, then the wine is a bit gassy and should be degassed (or left to sit and degas naturally).

I've only had one wine (besides kit wine) that needed degassing. But it NEVER degassed on its own, and I have no idea why. All of the rest of my wines have always been fine and not gassy after becoming clear and no longer dropping lees.

Lol, As usual, Yoopers on top of things for a good explanation!

+1 to yoopers advice

Yooper said:

No sorbate, unless you're sweetening the wine. But definitely "yes" to sulfites! I use 1 crushed campden tablet, dissolved in a little boiling water, per gallon at every other racking and at bottling. I don't have an SO2 meter, so that's an "guestimate" of 50 ppm. 50ppm is below the taste threshold (and much less that is usually in commercial wines) but it's enough to help prevent oxidation and help preserve the wine.

As far as degassing, you only need to degas if the wine is gassy. A good way to check is to just pull a sample and put it in a glass. Look for bubbles and clarity, by holding it up to the light. Then put your hand over the top of the glass and gently shake. When you take your hand off, if you got a "poof" of air, or some bubbles, then the wine is a bit gassy and should be degassed (or left to sit and degas naturally).

I've only had one wine (besides kit wine) that needed degassing. But it NEVER degassed on its own, and I have no idea why. All of the rest of my wines have always been fine and not gassy after becoming clear and no longer dropping lees.

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Thanks a bunch Yooper. Are you aiming for 50ppm concentration per dose or cumulative (I'm assuming per dose, as some of the sulfites get oxidized over time and blown off). I only sulfited at crush and not since, should I use a higher dose at bottling because of that?

Thanks for helping the amateur cross the street into wine making.

ColoHox said:

Thanks a bunch Yooper. Are you aiming for 50ppm concentration per dose or cumulative (I'm assuming per dose, as some of the sulfites get oxidized over time and blown off). I only sulfited at crush and not since, should I use a higher dose at bottling because of that?

Thanks for helping the amateur cross the street into wine making.

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Most of the sulfites added at crush will vaporize during fermentation. Also, sulfites added at each other racking will get consumed by reacting with oxygen.

You want 50ppm or so of free SO2 at bottling, so you add 1 campden tablet per gallon at bottling.

novalou said:

You want 50ppm or so of free SO2 at bottling, so you add 1 campden tablet per gallon at bottling.

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Thank you. Ill think fondly of all of you when I finally get to drink some.

Cheers! Hope you get to enjoy it with good friends and loved ones.