Degassing the manual way

I have read alot how to degass wine by stirring, but i'm not sure the exact steps. This is what I have done in the past:
-Leave about 3 - 4 inches space from bottom of rubber plug
-Stir vigourously different directions for about 1-2 minutes
-This creates a foam about 1 - 2 inches
-Keep airlock off until foam goes down (up to 1 hour)
-Stir again (repeat process)
-Put airlock back on
-Do this 3 - 5 times per day for a few days

For this batch it has been 48 hours and still lots of foam. My question is... HOW and WHEN does the CO2 escape? During the stiring or when the foam goes down? The reason I wonder about this is if oxygen is getting into the wine by leaving it sit WITHOUT the airlock on it may be harming the wine. Is it best to stir and then immediately put the airlock on? Or will that hinder the degassing process?

Degassing can be very frustrating because if you stir the wine hard enough, it will always produce some bubbles or foam. So it is hard to tell if the degassing is completed. If degassed for a week before and kept getting bubbles. But all in all, my wine tastes great and have never had a cork pop.

Degassing is everyone's least favorite part of home winemaking and everyone has their own technique which, of course, is better than anyone else's. When I first began winemaking I too tried stirring but quickly tired of the work involved. I bought a drill mounted "whip". You can see various kinds here.

FWIW, I eventually used this method: Rack the wine to a primary and use the drill mounted whip. It takes about five minutes and you don't have to stop every few seconds for fear of an overflow in the carboy. Then rack back to the secondary it just came from and allow it to age for several more weeks.

Now I simply bulk age for a year in the secondary and that also serves to degass without any work or any exposure to the air.

I saw somewhere.. .I think it was Yuri, who hooked his wine carboy to a food saver and it basically vacuumed all the gas out without even having to stir.. ill look for that video and post it in here

I couldnt find his post but I did find this:

A lot of people use a brake line bleeder too. I have one I ordered from Harbor Freight for under $20 but, like any degassing chore, it's a PITA. Bulk aging is the easiest and probably the best method.

Oops, was my method of shaking the heck out of the bottle not a good idea? I got frustrated trying to stir through the little hole in the carboy- I felt like I was in a Mr. Bean sketch.

Soltstice-am I correct in thinking you rack to the carboy after the primary fermentation and then simply leave it alone for a year? Do you periodically add Campden Tablets to ward off oxidation or do you just leave alone?

What is your method prior to bottling? Do you rack to a bottling bucket then bottle? Do you add any Campden Tablets at that point?

Thanks in advance for you comments.

Texron said:

Soltstice-am I correct in thinking you rack to the carboy after the primary fermentation and then simply leave it alone for a year? Do you periodically add Campden Tablets to ward off oxidation or do you just leave alone?

What is your method prior to bottling? Do you rack to a bottling bucket then bottle? Do you add any Campden Tablets at that point?

Thanks in advance for you comments.

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This is also what I do, but that food saver with the tapered tip looked freaking sweet!!!

You don't need to worry about warding off oxidation in the secondary texron. The secondary has an airlock on it so nothing gets in. You can just leave it alone.

No reason to add campden at bottling either I wouldn't think. If you are careful with your siphon you won't oxygenate your wine.

You will generally be racking periodically to a clean carboy to leave behind secondary lees/etc in bottom. Aren't going to just rack from primary to carboy and leave it for a year (and yes, there are uses for leaving it on lees, etc. I said generally )

Texron said:

Soltstice-am I correct in thinking you rack to the carboy after the primary fermentation and then simply leave it alone for a year? Do you periodically add Campden Tablets to ward off oxidation or do you just leave alone?

What is your method prior to bottling? Do you rack to a bottling bucket then bottle? Do you add any Campden Tablets at that point?

Thanks in advance for you comments.

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Tex, I ferment in a primary and rack to a secondary (carboy) prior to the fermentation finishing - usually at 1.010-1.020 - to get it off the gross lees. I'll let it finish fermenting for another couple of weeks and rack it a final time, leaving still more lees behind. I stabilize and add the k-meta at this time. Like Brandon said, I put an airlock with the red cap on the carboy, place it in my dark unheated and uncooled wine room, and let it bulk age for 8 months to a year before bottling. No additional sulphites are added.

If you are using a Better Bottle, I read you can put a tennis ball underneath, in the punt and rock the Better Bottle back and forward

What would happen if you used N2 and an aeration stone?

Loweface said:

What would happen if you used N2 and an aeration stone?

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I think that sometimes we tend to create more work than is necessary. Of course, for a true geek this is half the fun. Myself, I'm kinda lazy and I prefer passive approaches like bulk aging for several months.

What happens if you don't degas the wine enough?

bobjohnson77 said:

What happens if you don't degas the wine enough?

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Then you have gassy wine!

Bulk aging works wonders.

Personally I use a wine whip, then a Mityvac (brake bleeder) to finish it off. Along with bulk aging, this produces gas-free wine.

osagedr said:

Personally I use a wine whip, then a Mityvac (brake bleeder) to finish it off. Along with bulk aging, this produces gas-free wine.

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Am I right in thinking the whip gets the majority of the gas out, and the brake bleeder to get the last bit out?