More on degassing

[skinfiddler]

I bought one of those nifty(overpriced) stirring gadgets that operate in a drill chuck. I'm working with a merlot kit.

How do you know when the wine is degassed sufficiently? I stirred it twice and get the same amount of foam rising up. Do you do it until it stops foaming up? Should you start the racking/clarifying immediately after sirirring?

The instructions in the kit are unclear

 

[Yooper]

Well, you are supposed to degass until you have no more gas! There is a LOT of gas in those kit wines, so it may take quite a while.

I have some Winexpert kit instructions in front of me, so I'll go by those. You need to add the sulfite and sorbate (if using) to it. And then start the degassing process.

Here's what it says in the notes: Vigorous stirring is required during this stage. Without vigorous stirring, gas in the wine will prevent clearing. At each stirring, whip the wine until it stops foaming.

I used to do this by hand, until a friend gave me the wine whip. My procedure used to be to stir until my arm fell off, then do it over and over and over.

After you are done degassing, top up with water to the level you are supposed to, and wait 2 weeks for the wine to clear. After that, you can rack it and either bottle or bulk age it.

Let me know if you have more questions!

(I moved your post here in a new thread because I thought it would get "lost" where it was!)

 

[skinfiddler]

I went ahead and stirred the bejesus out of it a couple more times. Then I added the metabisulfite and sorbate stirred and added the chitosan and stirred again and then topped up. It cleared up considerably overnight.

Hope I didn't bone it up. Those kits are pretty expensive.

Thanks,

JW

 

[Yooper]

oh, you didn't bone it up! Check for gas, though. Maybe pull out a sample today, and see how it is. If it's still gassy, you can shake the carboy and/or start degassing again. If it's not, then you're golden!

 

[Wade E]

I bought a Mityvac brake bleeder for degassing wine. If you make as much as i do it will be well worth the $27. Just looking at a dial and seeing that evidence is priceless.

 

[Coffee49]

Degassing scares me, as you degass you are inviting oxidation, 10 minutes seems like an hour and foam still surfaces. I would like to have a heavy duty shaker plate that could vibrate that 60# vessel while keeping an airlock on the opening.

 

[Henbrew]

Degassing scares me, as you degass you are inviting oxidation, 10 minutes seems like an hour and foam still surfaces. I would like to have a heavy duty shaker plate that could vibrate that 60# vessel while keeping an airlock on the opening.

Potassium Metabisulfite is typically added before degassing and should help scavenge oxygen. Oxidation is more likely to occur by leaving too much headspace in the secondary vessel after fermentation. It's possible to attach a Vacu Vin wine stopper to a carboy bung and pull vacuum on the vessel. I do this after degassing with my whip drill attachment to ensure all CO2 is out.

 

[cottonwoodks]

Whoa--I think I missed something major in making wines. I don't remember reading anything about degassing in any of the fruit wine recipes I've made. Is this just for grapes, or have I missed something really important. My wines have all cleared without it.....What's going to happen to them?

 

[Coffee49]

In theory wine will degass over time in a carboy after 2 rackings and 10 months, I still discover c02 in the bottles after this time frame, the threat of oxidation isn't worth the risk. Adding teaspoon of s02 at bottling and whipping for 5 minutes would be max I would do.

 

[cottonwoodks]

In theory wine will degass over time in a carboy after 2 rackings and 10 months, I still discover c02 in the bottles after this time frame, the threat of oxidation isn't worth the risk. Adding teaspoon of s02 at bottling and whipping for 5 minutes would be max I would do.

How does having CO2 in the wine cause oxidation?

 

[Coffee49]

Trick is to degass before bottling, degassing too long will invite oxidation,