Any Tips and Tricks to Degasing

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rstar26

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Anyone out there have an tips or tricks to degassing wine? My kit suggested that over 24 hours to stir the wine 6 times vigorously for 3 minutes each. I am on stir number 5 and it appears as though there are still quite a few bubbles. I am using the handle of my stir spoon to stir the wine. I live out of the city and do not have access to a vaccum pump or anything, any other suggestions? How much gas out is enough? This is only my first rack of the wine, I am supposed to be adding the chitosan to clear the wine after the 24 hours of stiring post sorbate/sulphite addition. Will the wine suffer if i delay the addition of the chitosan to keep stirring the wine?
 
I bought a whip that goes on a drill for degasing. I'm new at this and havent used it yet, it was $10
 
Stirring using the long handled spoon is one way to go, but I use the drill mounted stirrer that you can buy from several suppliers. As far as degassing is concerned, be sure that the temperature of the wine is in the low 70 degrees F and stir vigorously until you no longer see bubbles forming. Splash racking also helps, which, as the name implies, entails letting the wine splash into the receiving carboy to introduce as much air as possible.

What is the SG reading at present?
What brand and variety of kit do you have?
What do the instructions say regarding the addition of Keiselsol and Chitosan?

Normally the order is to ferment to dry (i.e. SG 0.995 or so), de-gas comletely, add K-meta, add first the Kieselsol and then the Chitosan, stirring both in very well. Lastly, add the K-sorbate and stir. These instructions vary slightly from one manufacturer to another, so check what came with your kit. If there are no instructions, these will work fine.

Also, if you are handy and have access to a power drill, you can fashion a stirrer from a heavy, steel wire (e.g. from a heavy, unpainted coat hanger) that will work in a power drill. Bend the wire in the shape of a question mark (?) using the profile of the carboy as a model and insert the straight end into the drill and the curved end into the carboy. I did this an it works very well. I have a variable speed drill and start slowly, keeping the wire away from the wall of the carboy as much as possible. It really whips the wine and de-gasses very well.
 
Wonderful Idea!

My kit fermented to 0.991 so its well dry (recommended anything lower than .995 but I started with a higher OG as i concentrated the juice a little more) After fermenting it had me add the sorbate/sulphite pack, then the kielsol and stir vigourously. Then it told me to keep stiring over 24 hours to degass, after 24 hours it said to add chitosan and stire gently then top the carboy up into the neck and let rest for 15 days or bulk age it.
 
A vacuum pump is the best way to degass. It's super easy, and guaranteed to work. The drill and stir method is a long boring, tiring process.
You can also splash rack and then just let it bulk age and let it work itself out.
This will also let it clear by itself before you add any fining agents.
Unless you're in a real hurry to bottle (need the carboy) bulk aging, at least a few months, is better than in the bottle.
 
A vacuum pump is the best way to degass. It's super easy, and guaranteed to work. The drill and stir method is a long boring, tiring process.
You can also splash rack and then just let it bulk age and let it work itself out.
This will also let it clear by itself before you add any fining agents.
Unless you're in a real hurry to bottle (need the carboy) bulk aging, at least a few months, is better than in the bottle.

Yes I was planing on giving it at least an additional month or two to bulk age in the carboy though the suspense of tasting my first batch of wine will likely kill me! :ib
 
Taste away as long as you have something to top it off with.

I just finished bottling a chianti I've had aging for about 6 months. I needed some space and had clean bottles sitting there waiting to be used.
3 more batches to bottle and then I will be able to get some other stuff started.

I had my carmenere from grapes and the chianti from a juice bucket with no fining agents and no filtering and they look very clear. I did vacuum degass the chianti but the carmenere didn't need it (or I forgot i did it). Have to update my notes and see what I did and when I did it.

Patience and tasting along the way is a good thing if don't in moderation. Or get smaller carboys to rack into as the level goes down more than you can top off with.

Just starting out is tough. You want to drink it but you know you can't because it's not ready. I've bought more bottles of wine this year than any other year and I have about 8 batches sitting there laughing at me. Hmmm that reminds me, I need to test one of them :)
 
Yeah, I have a feeling ill be purchasing a lot more wine this year too! I think so my next batch though I will try something along the lines of a fruit wine that doesn't require alot of aging (peach or something like that) and use the slurry off of that to try skeeter pee with.

My big challenge for this fall is that i want to attempt to make a port wine out of a berry that is native to the prarie region i live in. It's called a saskatoon berry and is by nature a very sweet berry. At this time if year you can get large quantities of it for as little as .50 cents a pound and I have a port carboy just begging me to use. Though I have NO experience with making a must or juice from scratch will need alot of advice from here on how much of what to use and when to do it!
 
I will be trying a fruity port from scratch soon. Not sure what to use yet. Might go with strawberry chocolate that seems to be a hit here.
I'd like to try a blackberry port too.

I suggest getting some 375ml bottles to when you do bottle you can fill 4 of them to taste along the way as they age every couple months. This way you're not opening full size bottles to sample.

Never heard of that berry. What's it like?
 
Its really hard to describe what a saskatoon berry is to someone who has never had or seen one before. They are about the size of a choke cherry maybe a little bigger, but look like a blue berry except they aren't blue they are a kind of dark burgandy color (the juice is anyway), they are quite sweet naturally (twice as much sugar in them than strawberries, about a quarter more than blueberries and a third more than raspberries) and they taste just out of this world. (nothing like a blueberry, in fact i dont like blue berries at all.) There really is no other way to describe what they taste like other than "saskatoon berries" Here is a video on youtube of a guy with some saskatoon berries so you can at least see them!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6FUQuOQFa4[/ame]
 
Here is a snip from an article describing what a saskatoon berry tastes like: For the uninitiated, Sandra describes the dark purple berries as tasting like a mix of fruits and nuts.

"They taste like a blend of cherries, blueberries, plums and almonds," she says. "They have a unique, fruity sweetness profile with nutty overtones. And they are marvelously juicy."

full article here: http://www.thatsfit.ca/2011/07/26/saskatoon-berries-the-next-super-fruit/
 
rstar26 - the key to degassing is the temperature - as mentioned get the temp up to about 24C and the gas will come out much easier. Stirring will do the job but it is a lot of work. When I stir I actually whip the spoon back and forth rather than around and it seems to degas better for me that way, although some others prefer stirring around. Many times I would transfer back to my bucket so I could really whip it good. I have used the drill stirrers as well with good results.
As mentioned, vacuum is an option and the vacuum pump is cadillac - I got one of Wade's pumps and it is great. Other vacuum devices are a brake bleeder, which I haven't personally used but many do quite successfully, or a vacuvin (or other names) used to seal opened bottles of wine - a special cap/stopper goes on the bottle and a small hand pump vacuums out the air. The cap/stopper can be adapted readilly to a bung on the carboy. I have had good success with this and when I do this I sit the carboy on a tennis ball and shake the carboy vigorously and then apply a vacuum and it degasses quite well.
Whichever method you use, get the temperature up.

My nephew was going to try some saskatoon berries here in NS but decided to go with blueberries instead; sounds like the s-berries would have been good!
 
Anyone out there have an tips or tricks to degassing wine?

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LMAO. sorry couldn't help it! I like to use a vacuum pump for degassing.
 
Runningwolf......

I think you may have found the solution i was looking for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Cut a Plastic coat hanger, which had a loop near one end. Cut end leaving part of the curve. Worked great.
 
Rocky said:
Stirring using the long handled spoon is one way to go, but I use the drill mounted stirrer that you can buy from several suppliers. As far as degassing is concerned, be sure that the temperature of the wine is in the low 70 degrees F and stir vigorously until you no longer see bubbles forming. Splash racking also helps, which, as the name implies, entails letting the wine splash into the receiving carboy to introduce as much air as possible.

Splash racking , i am confused about this. I have recently tried it with a cheap wine kit and it did help. But doesnt it go against the big rule of keeping wine away from oxygen after primary fermentation? please someone clarify so i will know how and if i should continue using this technique!
 
entails letting the wine splash into the receiving carboy to introduce as much air as possible.(QUOTE)

slash racking does not introduce as much air as possible, it actually help forse out the co2 easier by the use of aggitation - sililiar if you took vacuum to a vessel and shook it - it will remove alot more co2 than just putting a vacuum on it

When there is a vacuum there will be little O2 present(because there is a negative pressure), and the releasing of all the co2 will defintley forse out any remaining oxygen that could be in the receiving carboy.

I hope this simple explanation helps
 
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vacuumpumpman said:
entails letting the wine splash into the receiving carboy to introduce as much air as possible.(QUOTE)

slash racking does not introduce as much air as possible, it actually help forse out the co2 easier by the use of aggitation - sililiar if you took vacuum to a vessel and shook it - it will remove alot more co2 than just putting a vacuum on it

When there is a vacuum there will be little O2 present(because there is a negative pressure), and the releasing of all the co2 will defintley forse out any remaining oxygen that could be in the receiving carboy.

I hope this simple explanation helps

Well kind of... I have specifically heard many people sayto minimize splashing when racking the wine and now some are saying to rack it and splash it. its a big contradiction to me. Like my understanding is that the splashing can basically slap the oxygen down and introduce it into your wine. thats why i am confused here.

Are you saying that the splashing is okay because theres co2 being released and the co2 should force out any potential oxygen?
 
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When splash racking, the wine is being potentially exposed to oxygen for only a second or two. Leaving a large head in a secondary, the wine head surface is being exposed to oxygen for months. I've started splash racking and had no adverse effects.
 

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