Oxidized Wine

[david_the_greek]

Now I started a kit a whiles back and during my first racking I aerated the living bajebus out of it. Now I'm not throwing this away or anything, and wouldn't do anything to it till it has aged a while and I could decide if indeed the product was negatively impacted, but what have you all done with wine that has come out poorly. Would excessive aeration turn out a product to the point that it is unpleasant to drink and you'd rather just not? All legalities and other factors aside, could a poor tasting wine be able to make a decent brandy if condensed? I'm not going to jump to any conclusions about what to do with this wine for a looooooong time, but with that said I'd like to hear what some of you guys have done with poor quality product.... aside from plugging your nose and drinking it quickly. On a side note I broke the cane on my autosiphon.

 

[Smurfe]

Short of putting the carboy in a paint shaker and shaking it for a while I really doubt you aerated the wine too much. Kit wines actually can benefit from a little aeration to drive off the trapped CO2. When I degass a wine I use a power drill with a mix stir devise on it and I beat the snot out of it for at least 10 minutes. After fermentation is stopped and the wine degassed it is much more critical to protect the wine from oxidation.

 

[Petunia]

Short of putting the carboy in a paint shaker and shaking it for a while I really doubt you aerated the wine too much. Kit wines actually can benefit from a little aeration to drive off the trapped CO2. When I degass a wine I use a power drill with a mix stir devise on it and I beat the snot out of it for at least 10 minutes. After fermentation is stopped and the wine degassed it is much more critical to protect the wine from oxidation.

Smurfe, would you please explain why you degass a wine in the first place? What happens to the quality if you don't do this?

Thank you,

Petunia

 

[Smurfe]

Smurfe, would you please explain why you degass a wine in the first place? What happens to the quality if you don't do this?

Thank you,

Petunia

If you don't degass a wine it will be "fizzy." Almost like it is carbonated. Trapped CO2 in a wine can also attribute to off tastes. Many times you read about someones wine that may have a sulfur taste or some other off taste and they believe they had a contamination. It is usually CO2. Kit wines are more gas prone than country wines as there is less racking. The more you rack, the more gas you expel. Country wines are normally bulk aged much longer than kit wines.

If you let a wine sit long enough it will degass itself as long as there is a place for the gas to go. In barrels it is absorbed into the wood and then to the atmosphere. In a carboy or stainless tank it is let out through an airlock. This takes considerable time though. The temperature of the wine will dictate the speed of gas emission also. The warmer the wine is the quicker it will give up the gas. Barrels degas quicker than gas or steel.

 

[david_the_greek]

I sure do hope you're right! Thanks for the replies about this.

 

[Smurfe]

I sure do hope you're right! Thanks for the replies about this.

I am sure you will be fine. Like I said, wine is much more forgiving than beer is. In fact, I recommend buying a decanter to decant your wine prior to drinking when it is ready. This is actually going to oxidize the wine more and help disperse any residual CO2 that may not have released during degassing. It makes a world of difference in the taste of your wines.