Bottled Pinot Nior tastes good but slightly carbonated

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mog44net

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Hi everyone,

Last year I had the pleasure of starting a new hobby in an attempt to spend more time with my parents. We had a fun time being creative and just working side by side.

I bought a bunch of gear online including a wine kit we selected, the 'SONOMA VALLEY PINOT NOIR (ECLIPSE)'. We meticulously followed the instructions and recorded our steps in a journal. One of those steps had us adding materials to completely stop fermentation. Later when the instructions indicated we degassed via a whip tool on an electric drill. We spend at least 20 minutes degassing.

We bottled 5 gallons in October of 2015, just under a year ago. Every few months we opened one to try it out and see how it was coming along. Each time it was better than the last, however it had a little bite to it the same way a coke kind of kicks you back a second when you haven't had one in a while, but more subtle.

The taste continued to get better but now after almost a year in the bottle it is fantastic except there is a bit of carbonation to the taste. Researching this symptom two things came up: 1. re-fermented wine and 2. not properly degassed wine. From the chemicals we added to stop fermentation, another round of fermentation seems unlikely to me especially as there were no bubbles in the carboy air lock during the subsequent stages of instruction before bottling. However it seems just as unlikely to me to be lingering gas from the wine pre-bottling as we degassed it a long time and had almost no 'foaming' left when we stopped.

Again I have to point out that the wine tastes good, no yeast smell or popping bubbles.

Any tips on what happened and what if anything I can do now that its already bottled?
 
Uncork each bottle, shake it (to extract air) for 5 seconds and pour into a big carboy. Just let it sit for a few mins, and then bottle it back up. All residual fermenting should be done, and shaking will degas it. Add a touch of K-Meta to ensure freshness, and your done! You do lose your corks though...
 
It is hard to stabilise red wine because the red pigments bind to the sulfite and deactivate it over time, then you can get an in-bottle MLF which will give a slight fizz. You can pour out all the bottles and degas again or pour the wine into a decanter and leave to air for a few hours before drinking. This sort of thing used to be a lot more common ages ago which is why decanters were invented.
 
Thanks for the interest and great info.

I'll try opening one bottle into a decanter and let it sit for a few hours, if that fixes it then I'll discuss degassing the batch and bottle again with my folks.

Just for my beginer lingo can you give the full names for K-meta and MLF so I can better understand the terms?
 
Also, you stated that you followed the directions to the letter. That is not the best way to make wine, it is the quickest way to finish a wine so that you will buy another kit.

You should let the wine sit a minimum of 6 months in the step prior to bottling and use a vacuum tool to get the excess CO2 out of the wine.

Research "extended wine kit directions" on the google and your wines will be much better.
 
Thanks, I'll research extended directions for kits.

Is it possible to over-degass? We seriously used the whip on it for 20+ minutes in an attempt to fully remove gasses, when we stopped there was only a minuscule amount of 'foaming'.
 
It is not possible to over-degas (for a home winemaker without a multi-thousand dollar vacuum pump), but it is very east to over-whip. Whipping actually exposes the wine to many times the oxygen it should ever see. A stirring rod switching directions when a vortex appears is a better technique.

Oh, and I have stirred for 20 minutes every day for a week and still had CO2. Degassing is a real headache for kit winemaker! The best thing you can do if you are going to keep making wine is get yourself an All-in-One wine pump. It racks, degasses and bottles without a lot of oxygen exposure, and makes lifting heavy carboys no longer necessary.
 
OK, I'm confused, I was under the impression that you wanted to agitate the wine to release the trapped gasses and that using a whip at the end of a drill was one of the better methods to do this. I don't really want to go out and drop $200 on a pump, I don't mind moving my carboys around a little to rack. Even in the extended kit directions it only recommends degassing twice (@ day 30, @ day 140).

Stirring the wine for 3-4 minutes, waiting 15 and going again seems like it would take weeks to degass.

Edit: Did a little research, what are your thoughts on using a simple/cheap food saver style vacuum to degass?
 
Edit: Did a little research, what are your thoughts on using a simple/cheap food saver style vacuum to degass?


Mog44...been there done done that and burnt up a Foodsaver and really ticked off the redheaded wife! It can work....it was too small.

I also used a real vacuum pump that is used for AC work and it too worked, but it was loud and smelly used inside the house....it was too big.

Then i got the All-In-One pump and it was just right...The Goldilocks of wine vacuum pumps. Not just for degassing, for racking, filtering, and bottling...it is an awesome piece of equipment. By the time you burn up a very good Foodsaver, buy another one, buy all the hose and little bit of stuff to make your life easier, you find the AIO to be a real bargain. It is a work horse. If you and the folks continue to make wine, you will all be glad you spent the money.

Just for the record, I do not endorse very many items...ain't wearing Nike or Heat Gear labels...heck, I take the dealership badges off my cars when I buy them. But, the AIO is just a fine little tool.

NOW...CO2 in your wine...go back and read DoctorCAD's reply about 6 more times, then do that. Even so, you may still get CO2. Fear Not! For tis only a gas! Pull the cork, pour a small glass, stick your thumb in the bottle and give a good shake like you did Cokes when you were a kid....release the gas...repeat a few times. Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour and then drink it. Gas comes out, the wine will be much nicer...see more time at the end helps too.

Next batch you bottle, do the shake test FIRST....see if you can pop the top...if you can, better stir it some more or let it sit longer. Gas or no gas, the sun will rise in the morning. Relax and deal with it.
 
Gas or no gas, the sun will rise in the morning. Relax and deal with it.

I agree with this 100%, co2 isn't a normal taint, it will go away, unlike something like vinegar. If you bottle with corks it will gradually escape in a year or two. For me the biggest problem is those relatives who delight in pointing out every negative. I have relatives who, every time they drink my wine say "oh it's a bit fizzy". yes, you said that the last 20 times. They are quite happy to drink it but can't resist the little dig.
 
Quit giving the relatives your wine. Buy a gallon of Gallo and rack it into bottles. Tell them it is your wine. Keep yours for good friends and forum posters!
 
How big a fault is CO2? I just racked some red wine, and I drew off 4 bottles and added 2.5 grams of sugar to each to carbonate it just a little instead of adding sulfites. (I like Lambrusco, which this isn't but I'm trying to achieve the same thing)

The rest of the batch I added a little sulfite to, and will probably bottle it still in a month or two.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys, I'm new to this and love the learning process.

Just to confirm, is this the pump in discussion - http://www.allinonewinepump.com/ ?

I did open one bottle, shook it up and even used a generic little hand pump (wine preserver gadget) to try to pull some gas out, after about 45 minutes sitting at rest it tasted a little bitter to me, but much better on carbonation. Next day the bitterness was much less and the carbonation taste was almost completely gone.

If it will gradually go away (corked), and I can simple shake and/or decanter it for an hour or two before drinking, I might just leave it as is.

Next batch I'll definitely look into better techniques and potentially a pump.
 

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