Mixing 1st batch of red

Hola !

I just mixed my first kit of red Shiraz wine. I did it yesterday and fermentation is slowly starting today ! I did a lot of research and I read that I should mix it daily during 1st fermentation. Apparently I have to mix enough to get all co2 out.

Can I use an electric hand mixer (sanitized of course). Or will the blade kill the yeast and/or destroy the proteins chains ?

Just seems to me a hand mixer would be so much easier and do a hell of a mixing job compared to the spoon I use to spank my wife (lol).

To get ALL the CO2 out? Is that what the instructions suggest? Mixing has the benefit of aerating the must and the yeast need oxygen. They also don't want too much CO2 so removing some of the CO2 benefits the yeast. Unless the instructions are very specific I think that all you need to do is stir vigorously for a couple of minutes a couple of times a day... Generally speaking, I use a long handled spoon ... but I don't make wines from kits... and the kit manufacturers may have very specific instructions and if this is your first kit I would follow them fairly narrowly...(not least to protect your warranty should anything go wrong)

Old_el_Paseo said:

I did a lot of research and I read that I should mix it daily during 1st fermentation. Apparently I have to mix enough to get all co2 out.

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The instructions say nothing about mixing it. It's from the research I did on the net on making wine. I thought it was to remove the co2. But it could be for oxygen for the yeast also.

Does it have the skins in the kit? Shiraz is usually mixed a couple of times a day to extract the flavour from the skins. If it doesn't have the skins there is no point mixing. CO2 is constantly being produced so you won't get rid of it that easy. The time to worry about degassing is when you want to bottle, should be in a few months time.

Follow the instructions to the letter, leave the electric beaters for making icing.
If you age the wine long enough, mother nature will remove the CO2 naturally.

You are confusing aeration (necessary for good yeast activity) with degassing (which is done well after the fermentation is complete).

Gentle stirring for a few days, wait until step 3 hard stirring with a paddle or long spoon. You need to be deep into the wine, a mixer just wont get deep enough.

DoctorCAD said:

You are confusing aeration (necessary for good yeast activity) with degassing (which is done well after the fermentation is complete).

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I never heard of anyone aerating wine.

gregbathurst said:

I never heard of anyone aerating wine.

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Some claim that the yeast get a better start by aerating the must gently for the first couple of days. I also think that some setteling of the grape solids may keep the yeast from getting to all of their food, so stirring may help that.