Degassing - Different size bubbles

I read this before, but forget where I saw it and my searches have failed...I either get every post on bubbles in airlocks...or degassing threads about how great vacuum pumps are... I know how good they are but I am in Canada where I would pay x2 for a mityvac type pump and on and on a budget so a real pump is not an option

What is the difference in the bubble sizes when degassing wine.

I think the smaller bubbles are CO2 that cause the wine to be fizzy...yes/no?

So what are the larger bubbles that seem to never go away? I always thought they were air was stirring into the wine when I used my drill setup, but with a vacuvin test I am doing, I seem to get mostly larger bubbles and it doesn't seem like it is working (no small bubbles) even though I have pumped until it 'clicked' (and then some more) many times.

Cheers

I've never seen different bubbles when degassing a wine- they all seem to be co2 bubbles.

I don't have a mity vac- I use one of those "sticks" with little wines that go into my drill. I start slow (to avoid a volcano and electrocution!) but speed up as the wine is degassed. It works great, and takes less than about 10 minutes. I think those things are called "wine whips" or something like that.

I've noticed different size bubbles when I make cider. I think it's co2 pockets just under the surface of the lees. It builds up co2 until the lees can't hold it back, then it's released all at once in a bigger quantity. The smaller bubbles I assume originate closer to the surface(or on the surface), therefore being released at a lower volume and higher frequency.

However, this is just a guess.

Rahahb said:

I've noticed different size bubbles when I make cider. I think it's co2 pockets just under the surface of the lees. It builds up co2 until the lees can't hold it back, then it's released all at once in a bigger quantity. The smaller bubbles I assume originate closer to the surface(or on the surface), therefore being released at a lower volume and higher frequency.

However, this is just a guess.

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Good response Rahahb. I thought the same at one point. I tested this with a newly racked wine though, and got the same results.

Here is just another idea I was working on before I retired from wine making.

CampFireWine said:

Vacuum Degassing VOC's

I have been a big fan of vacuum degassing CO2 when racking from primary to carboy. After another trip through the fusals and volatile organic compound pages today, I have came to a realization that I was inadvertently removing the minimal amount of VOCs I was making during fermentation. I have also came to realize that if the proper vacuum was used, most VOC's could be vacuumed off. I will be scouting for a regulator to be able to adjust the suction so I can continue the experiment to a more exact level.

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CampFireWine said:

Here is a video of the degassing with the food saver. You can hear me feathering the throttle to keep it from sucking foam up the hose and into the spit cup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIoHAYHb3s

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The video is a little over a minute but I vacuumed for 7 to 10 all together.

Once the gas is removed in the rapid bubbles, the vacuum causes the lighter weight liquids to start boiling off.

This guys is a freaking genuis:



Degassing on the cheap!

CampFireWine said:

Here is just another idea I was working on before I retired from wine making.





The video is a little over a minute but I vacuumed for 7 to 10 all together.

Once the gas is removed in the rapid bubbles, the vacuum causes the lighter weight liquids to start boiling off.

Click to expand...

Nice, I hope to have a rig that effective soon...

RedOctober said:

This guys is a freaking genuis:


Degassing on the cheap!

Click to expand...

All flooring, no vacuum . Seems simple, but dirty...would hate for any sort of suckback to happen.

I have a mity-vac pump (auto-tech here) and after thinking about it, I think that would take FOREVER to pump and degas wine with. I bought it for bleeding brakes on vehicles, and quickly realized that hand-pumping a vacuum is a lot of labor. I don't use it for brake bleeding anymore, but it does have other purposes in the automotive field. I think the household floor-cleaning vacuum setup is an awesome way to go if you can easily rig-up a carboy attachment for vacuuming. I don't think you would have to worry too much about being sanitary during the vacuuming, as everything is being sucked out of the carboy, and there's not really anything to get sucked back in.

Rahahb said:

I've noticed different size bubbles when I make cider. I think it's co2 pockets just under the surface of the lees. It builds up co2 until the lees can't hold it back, then it's released all at once in a bigger quantity. The smaller bubbles I assume originate closer to the surface(or on the surface), therefore being released at a lower volume and higher frequency.

However, this is just a guess.

Click to expand...

I can't speak on the topic of degassing but I can say that I have seen large CO2 bubbles released from a yeast cake and carry a plume of trub with them.

Granty said:

All flooring, no vacuum . Seems simple, but dirty...would hate for any sort of suckback to happen.

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Agreed!

But, the coat hanger whip is something I wanted to buy, now I'll just make a trip to the closet.