burping wine

[troutab81]

I bottled my wine, per the instructions and got as much gas as I physically could (pumping via hand pump for days, vigorously stirring with drill mounted stir stick). The "burp" test still revealed some trapped gas, but it was very clear, had a good taste (no gassy taste detected)

Question is whether or not periodically I should "burp" my bottles which are a screw top claret. Or should I be OK? Fermentation was definitely complete....

 

[Honda88]

I have never heard of burping wine bottles before, I don't think its a common practice in the wine industry, sounds like you might need to degas it more and bulk age it.

 

[Dicky]

If it doesn't have any gassy taste it's probably ready to bottle. The 'burp' you described could well be so2 being shaken out.

Dicky

 

[troutab81]

Thanks. So how can I distinguish between so2 and co2 to determine degassing is complete?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks. So how can I distinguish between so2 and co2 to determine degassing is complete?

I never degas wines, except for kits which are rushed to bottle. If you're finding the need to degas, maybe the wine hasn't had time to finish degassing on its own.

Once fermentation is complete, usually just being racked a couple of times to get the wine off of the lees is all that is needed to degas a wine.

Kit wines are different, since they are rushed to the bottle, so the package instructions should be followed.

 

[Dicky]

I wouldn't worry about SO2 being in the wine. It's from sulphates put in to do various things.

As yooper said, kit wines are rushed to bottling, so, get on it!

Dicky

 

[Captive]

A little bit of CO2 is also fine in wine. If you strip it out completely, it can give your wine a "flat character". If you can't sense it on your tongue, and if you don't get bubbles forming on the sides of your wine glass, you're probably OK if you think the taste is fine.