[shanek17]

Originally Posted by winemaker_3352

I use a vacuum pump myself - don't have much experience with the manual degasser.

I would do a test on it - put a bit in your hydrometer test tube - shake it like crazy - take you hand off - see if you hear what would sound like opening a soda can when its hot.

If it does - then it is just really gassy.

oh its got lots of tiny bubbles and foam still, as soon as i start degassing i see them. iv even tried manually churning with my J tube for siphoining and it works okay. So maybe its just this type of wine that is gassy? my other small batch degassed rather quickly. this big 23 liter batch is proving to be difficult

[loumik]

I used a mix-stir for several years before getting a vacuum pump. Here's how I did it:

Get wine temp up to approx. 75* F. Sanitize mix-stir attach to drill and insert into carboy.

Set drill on high speed and start degassing with end of mix-stir near bottom of carboy. When vortex starts to form, reverse direction of drill rotation. Repeat for 5-10 minutes. When you stop operating the drill you should see very tiny bubbles rising to the top of the wine and forming foam.

When the quantity of bubbles appears to be much reduced insert the mix-stir into the carboy again and repeat degassing as instructed above but this time set drill to LOW SPEED.

If you spin mix-stir near the surface of of the wine or spin at high speed until a vortex is formed you may be introducing oxygen into the wine which is undesirable. If the bubbles become large you have probably removed all the gass that your going to get. Now would be a good time to test the wine as WINEMAKER_3352 suggested above. When you use a drill to degass your wine there will almost always be some bubbles forming in the wine but they are not necessarily CO2. Good Luck and keep asking questions.

LOUMIK

[Bartman]

Do you plan on aging this Barolo kit for six months or more in your ~72 degree house? If so, I would stop worrying about degassing it - given several months of bulk aging after your drilling efforts, I would be shocked if it was not fully degassed by the time you went to bottle it. I would wish you good luck, but I don't think luck has anything to do with CO2 content in your wine.

[grapeman]

The first thing I picked up on and is surely the problem is that you said you are spinning it at full speed, this is creating the bubbles, not degassing. Slow that drill down when degassing and like said, reverse directions often.

[tcavan01]

Put it in a carboy with an airlock and wait 6 months. Are you sure it is even done fermenting? Patience is the key.

[shanek17]

Originally Posted by Bartman

Do you plan on aging this Barolo kit for six months or more in your ~72 degree house? If so, I would stop worrying about degassing it - given several months of bulk aging after your drilling efforts, I would be shocked if it was not fully degassed by the time you went to bottle it. I would wish you good luck, but I don't think luck has anything to do with CO2 content in your wine.

well i could let it bulk age. but i dont really feel comfortable with that idea. this is just a cheap-o wine kit so im not going to give it to much luxury. and im just a newbie in this hobby, meaning im not making quality wine. when i get good at this i wont mind letting a good wine bulk age and get better. and not to mention i have 2 other male roomates who like to party lol im just hoping that it will go undistubed in our basement so it can atleast clear and be bottled.

[Minnesotamaker]

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

[shanek17]

Originally Posted by grapeman

The first thing I picked up on and is surely the problem is that you said you are spinning it at full speed, this is creating the bubbles, not degassing. Slow that drill down when degassing and like said, reverse directions often.

i tried spinning it at a lower speed and the foam and bubbles were occuring less. as soon as i put it on high speed there is s big difference. i assumed the high apeed would get it done quicker. im looking for thousands of tiny bubbles rite? they float up and have foam riseing up with them.

[shanek17]

Originally Posted by Minnesotamaker

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

yea i was just getting to that. im pretty sure its done fermenting... The air lock has shown no activity for a week or 2 and my hydrometer is telling me its in the areacof being done. I fermented it in a warm area around 75 or 77 degrees so it wasnt a cold fermentation. the kit instructions say it should be done in 14-18 days for secondary and today is the 18th day since i transferd to secondary.

maybe id get a vacuum pump. what kind did you get? was it expensive?

[vacuumpumpman]

Originally Posted by Minnesotamaker

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

I must agree once I moved to vacuum degassing all my problems went away ( well some of them - LOL)