Degassing before carbonating

[pottergt]

Hey guys,

I've searched the forums and not found anything remotely close to what I'm looking for.

I made a Gewürztraminer Wine from a kit and am thinking about making it sparkling. I have a 3-keg setup and am used to force carbing my beer, so that isn't hard, but all of the forums say to degas a wine before bottling (in my case kegging). I'm thinking that I could skip that step, but I'm somewhat worried about the wine clearing up. Should I degas, add isinglass, let it sit a bit, -then- keg and carbonate?

Is there anything else I would lose by skipping that step and carbing it up?

 

[novalou]

Hey guys,

I've searched the forums and not found anything remotely close to what I'm looking for.

I made a Gewürztraminer Wine from a kit and am thinking about making it sparkling. I have a 3-keg setup and am used to force carbing my beer, so that isn't hard, but all of the forums say to degas a wine before bottling (in my case kegging). I'm thinking that I could skip that step, but I'm somewhat worried about the wine clearing up. Should I degas, add isinglass, let it sit a bit, -then- keg and carbonate?

Is there anything else I would lose by skipping that step and carbing it up?

You've got the right idea. Degas, add your clarifier, and let it sit to clear before you keg it.

 

[Honda88]

wine needs to be degassed before making it sparkling because the gases that build up in the wine can cause off flavors, wine is higher gravity then beer so the yeast get stressed more and produce a great deal of gas that must be removed.

 

[pottergt]

So the gas in there isn't just co2?

 

[Yooper]

So the gas in there isn't just co2?

Nah, it's just plain ol' co2. If it's clear, keg it and and don't bother degassing.

I mean, why degas and then add the gas back? That's just a way to risk oxidation and handle the wine more than necessary.

The only reason a wine ever needs to be degassed is that it's rushed to bottle- I've had ONE wine that actually was a bit gassy after a normal amount of time aging. It's true that sometimes co2 can hold up some particles and so the wine may not be clear- but that doesn't matter either to you, since you're kegging and it will clear when it's cold anyway.

 

[pottergt]

Thanks Yooper! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Btw I used the yeast cake from that wine to make skeeter pee, so I'm hoping everything works out!

 

[Honda88]

its best to use a yeast starter for skeeter pee, it might work but anyways good luck, most people dont reuse wine yeast because of the high alcohol % the yeast get pretty worn out or dead.

 

[roadymi]

Original recipe recommends a yeast cake. Wine yeast can be stressed but they usually arn't unless you are taking the wine to absolute abv limit of the yeast strain.

 

[Honda88]

it depends on the yeast that was used, if it has a high tolerance for alcohol then it might be okay..