Degassing _ Yes or no

This is about to make me hang up my hydrometer. Some say degass, others say no. I did a kit of Reisling that tastes carbonated. The instructions did not mention degassing. Can I emty the bottles back in the carboy & degass? I have rhubarb wine started May 10th. Its clear, do I need to degass this wine?

I am not a wine expert but I believe that you should be degassing all wines unless you are making a sparkling wine. As far as emptying the bottles back to degas, I will let a wine expert chime in but if you do empty the bottles do it carefully so that you limit oxidation.

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How carbonated tasting is the riesling? if its barely a tingle, just leave it. use a caraf when you wanna drink some. just pour and let it breathe a minute or two first, then pour into glasses.

wine needs to be degassed either manually, or with a very long bulk aging process.

Generally, only wines that are rushed to bottle need to be degassed. Kits are a good example. Making wine usually takes long enough that the wine is degassed on its own through multiple rackings and bulk storage.

Occasionally, though, one of my wines will come out of cold storage in the cellar a bit bubbly, since co2 remains dissolved in solution more easily in a cold liquid. Then, I'll either splash rack and use sulfites, or degas a bit. That's probably only about 1-2% of the time, though.

I think most kits have a degassing step in their instructions. Most "country wines" do not, since they generally aren't bottled until about a year old (or longer). If you make your wine out of grape juice, you will have to use your discretion as to whether it needs to be degassed manually.

Generally, only wines that are rushed to bottle need to be degassed. Kits are a good example. Making wine usually takes long enough that the wine is degassed on its own through multiple rackings and bulk storage.

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I would think so too but like in this youtube video [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjL80hXkHdI]YouTube - An Ingenious Way To Degas Your Wine[/ame] he mentions the carboy has been sitting on the shelf all winter and then starts degassing.... lots and lots of CO2 still trapped inside of the wine

That's a pretty cool idea, and I may have to give it a try. In addition, his wine only sat for 4 months, I am under the impression wine should bulk age at least 6 months, preferably a year. I will experiment with my wines when they hit the 6 month mark to see how much gas is left in them.

RoastedOak said:

I would think so too but like in this youtube video YouTube - An Ingenious Way To Degas Your Wine he mentions the carboy has been sitting on the shelf all winter and then starts degassing.... lots and lots of CO2 still trapped inside of the wine

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the key here is "sitting all winter"

cold temperatures allow more 'native CO2' to stay in solution. If you're bulk aging at 70F for a year its probably going to degas itself.
but bulk aging at 45F...not so much.


(this is why some beer carbonation caculators include a temperature for the beer in secondary, to account for how much CO2 is likely still in solution from primary)

just go get a reynolds wrap vacuum sealer, the hand held model and shove it down the bung and let her rip. The thing costs 10 bucks. Degassing never hurts and only helps.