Cheap effective degassing vacuum?

I'm fed up with my degassing rod breaking and am looking at investing in a degassing vacuum.

I have heard people use everything from wine saver pumps to brake line Mityvac's to $200 allinone wine pumps.

What should I spend the money on to get it all done effectively?

Is there anything available at Home Depot or Canadian tire I can pick up that'll work? I want done way of measuring the amount of vacuum so I know that I'm not putting too much pressure on the carboy..

Ps: my wife is limiting my budget on this, but my birthday is coming up so I may be able to get her to budge a little if it's really worth it to go all out.

Well if you want my opinion, get the all in one wine pump. You will not regret it.

You can build something, you will have about 175.00 in it and it won't work as well as the AIO.

I have an all-in-one, but I don't use it to force degas, I just let time do it's thing as I rack and some gas comes out naturally. It takes about four rackings to remove it all, so after about 6 months, I have done four rackings and I have no more gas.

I second that. I have used my allinone for nearly two and a half years. It has performed flawlessly, is very cost-effective, and Steve is a sharp guy. He's on it if you have any problems or questions. The allinone is great for transfering, filtering, and degassing. Thus the name!

You will not be disappointed. I have no financial interest in Steve's business, but like I tell everyone, if you don't love it, I will buy it from you.

Is there anywhere cheaper than $200?

I've had my all in one for only a few weeks, I can honestly say that is the best money I've spent in nearly ten years of brewing beer and making wine! Like others have said you can piece something together but you will spend nearly what it cost to buy the aio.. I looked for weeks finally after reading the review thread here, I ordered one. No regrets! You will love it!


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

You can get a really cheap vacuum pump from Harbor Freight. Not advising, just saying.

The pump from Harbor Freight is oil-sealed. Some say oil-sealed is okay. I personally use an oilless pump, for fear of contaminating my wine with oil vapor. I rigged up my own plumbing, etc., from commonly available nylon tubing, bungs, and racking canes.

I also pull a deep vacuum on my Italian carboys, so I don't think the gauge is really an issue for those vessels. YMMV. (In the past, when another person made such a statement, many on the forum castigated this person. To forestall such comments, I should say that I have very extensive and intensive experience with vacuum equipment and procedures.)

dralarms said:

You can build something, you will have about 175.00 in it and it won't work as well as the AIO.

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Pricing-wise you may be in the ball park but the statement regarding quality is completely subjective. It really depends on the individuals DIY skill right?
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JDesCotes

Your highest sunk cost will be the pump. If you feel like fiddling I would go the DIY route. It sounds like, however, that you want a COTS product so you can jump right in. If that's the case I would say the All in One is probably the better value (time to $)

I am probably 170 in. That includes pneumatic parts from grainger that allow me to extend the pressure gauge and relief to the Carboy.

Well figuring in my normal wage versus time it would take ME to build something like the AIO. I can say it's cheaper for me to buy it. Besides Steve is a great guy to deal with and customer service is a big factor in any purchase.

I use a brake bleeder pump from Harbor Freight. It has a vacuum gauge attached. It's a fair amount of hand squeezing but it gets the job done. It really, really, helps to warm up the wine to mid 70s or so when you degass by hand.

http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-69328.html#.UxevXYWwV-I

I use a hand Vacu Vin style pump. It takes me the course of 1-3 days, maybe 10-20 pump sessions a day, to degas a 6 gallon batch. Being a macho former Marine it is impossible for me to understand how anyone would choose to do it differently. I really do think that manully degassing results in a far superior tasting wine.

Thank you everybody for your insights!

WI_Wino said:

I use a brake bleeder pump from Harbor Freight. It has a vacuum gauge attached. It's a fair amount of hand squeezing but it gets the job done. It really, really, helps to warm up the wine to mid 70s or so when you degass by hand.

http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-69328.html#.UxevXYWwV-I

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I was looking at something like this originally. How long does it take to degas? also... How many pumps would you estimate?

The All in One is looking very good. Being able to rack from the floor is a HUGE bonus as I wouldn't have any chance of dropping the carboys on my cement floor... Plus I'm weary of keeping my carboys on my make shift ikea shelf... This is my setup last time I bottled:

Here is another option - a bit cheaper but not that much. You still need some hose to hook up to it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Medical...854?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d9a8d4be

JDesCotes said:

I was looking at something like this originally. How long does it take to degas? also... How many pumps would you estimate?

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Lots of pumps! I usually do a carboy over the course of a couple hours but I'll pump it up and let it sit. Then pump it up again, repeat. The first degassing session takes the longest.

JDesCotes said:

Thank you everybody for your insights!




I was looking at something like this originally. How long does it take to degas? also... How many pumps would you estimate?

The All in One is looking very good. Being able to rack from the floor is a HUGE bonus as I wouldn't have any chance of dropping the carboys on my cement floor... Plus I'm weary of keeping my carboys on my make shift ikea shelf... This is my setup last time I bottled:

View attachment 14226

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Well for one thing you won't have the waste that you have now. When I was gravity filling I would loose 1/2 bottle or more due to the overflow problem and the fact the stupid thing didn't shut off all the time.

With the AIO I bottled 96 bottles at one time and I might loose a tablespoon.




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In reality why do you need a vacuum pump to degas let nature take it's course. Bulk age in the carboy and there is no need to degas. Patience is a virtue.

If you have a compressor you can get " the gas getter" for about $80+/-.

JDesCotes

If you have any questions regarding using vacuum - please pm me and we can talk over the phone.
Yes some people are hesitant at first with the 200 dollar sticker shock, but the first time they use it they luv it.

That is why I can put out a 30 day money back guarantee and a 1 year warranty !!

There are not alot of things that have a 1 year warranty ?? Why not ??

farmer said:

Patience is a virtue.

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Patience is for suckers.

Hey, I knew Steve would show up for a plug!

I splash rack with a vacuum and then use a brake bleeder. don't really spend a lot of time degassing.