Degassing - Should I take a chill pill

Good evening! I'm degassing my first kit and I'm finding out that it's as big of a pain in the a** as everybody seemed to imply it. It's been in the carboy for 12 days at 75-76F and it's at 76F (and 0.992) at the time of degassing. Newbie here is trying to stick to the instruction of the first attempt. For the last three days the "S" airlock has leveled.

Tonight I have attempted to degass and stabilize. I have "drilled" the stupid thing for 20 minutes after adding K-Meta and K-Sorbate. Than I have vacuum pumped it for another hour. Then I added Chitosan and "drilled" it for another 20, pumped it again for 30 minutes, then "drilled" it again for 20 minutes and... *drum roll* ... yes, you guessed it, it's still not degassed. The "test tube on palm test" still fails. There is still plenty foam being generated.

Should I just put an airlock back on it, leave it and try back tomorrow? Does it hurt anything? At this point the drill is tired.

Thanks,
-m

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53970

milant said:

Good evening! I'm degassing my first kit and I'm finding out that it's as big of a pain in the a** as everybody seemed to imply it. It's been in the carboy for 12 days at 75-76F and it's at 76F (and 0.992) at the time of degassing. Newbie here is trying to stick to the instruction of the first attempt. For the last three days the "S" airlock has leveled.

Tonight I have attempted to degass and stabilize. I have "drilled" the stupid thing for 20 minutes after adding K-Meta and K-Sorbate. Than I have vacuum pumped it for another hour. Then I added Chitosan and "drilled" it for another 20, pumped it again for 30 minutes, then "drilled" it again for 20 minutes and... *drum roll* ... yes, you guessed it, it's still not degassed. The "test tube on palm test" still fails. There is still plenty foam being generated.

Should I just put an airlock back on it, leave it and try back tomorrow? Does it hurt anything? At this point the drill is tired.

Thanks,
-m

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milant said:

Good evening! I'm degassing my first kit and I'm finding out that it's as big of a pain in the a** as everybody seemed to imply it. It's been in the carboy for 12 days at 75-76F and it's at 76F (and 0.992) at the time of degassing. Newbie here is trying to stick to the instruction of the first attempt. For the last three days the "S" airlock has leveled.

Tonight I have attempted to degass and stabilize. I have "drilled" the stupid thing for 20 minutes after adding K-Meta and K-Sorbate. Than I have vacuum pumped it for another hour. Then I added Chitosan and "drilled" it for another 20, pumped it again for 30 minutes, then "drilled" it again for 20 minutes and... *drum roll* ... yes, you guessed it, it's still not degassed. The "test tube on palm test" still fails. There is still plenty foam being generated.

Should I just put an airlock back on it, leave it and try back tomorrow? Does it hurt anything? At this point the drill is tired.

Thanks,
-m

Click to expand...

LOL, it's just a challenge. Like a soda goes flat, so will your wine. Top it off, air lock it, and as you suggest, take a handful chill pills, time will ease your woes.

Start some new wines and let Mother Nature take over. You can risk oxidizing your wine by drilling the life out of it, and by introducing oxygen, use up some of your free SO2. I rarely degas anymore, as I generally leave my wines in carboys or barrels for many months before bottling. You got the easy gas out, let it ride.

LOL, trying to degass my first Dragon Blood a few weeks ago was almost identical. Drilled that sucker for almost an hour! My Allinone pump showed up a few days later so I splash rack now which is much easier and faster. If I'm still getting a fair amount of bubbles after the first racking I just go back and forth between 2 carboys. Usually once or twice is enough though. An Allinone will help you get off the meds. Where do you get those chill pills anyway??

drainsurgeon said:

Where do you get those chill pills anyway??

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I've never really been able to find any, for me, it's more like "diversion pills". I keep making new stuff to I don't have time to over evaluate and over process the stuff that's better left alone!

I guess my real question is this: with the wine somewhat degassed and stabilizers/clarifiers mixed in, do I need to do anything else? The general warning of "not degassed wine may not clear" is what concerns me - will Chitosan do its thing with semi-degassed wine? Do I get in there and vacuum pump it for several more days (that way I won't agitate and oxidize it) to degas it. If not and the recommendation is "just leave it in the carboy, it'll go flat on its own", what is that time period: 2 weeks, month, three months... Or is it check and see kinda thing. I'm trying to stick to the instructions as much as possible on this first one.
Again, total newb here - any and all advice helps.
-m

You will be fine and I bet it will be clear in a few days.

I just finished a kit last week, and "degassed" it by using a long spoon and manually stirring for a few minutes, twice a day for 3 days. Was it completely degassed? No idea, but it clear up nicely within 3 days. Will rack tonight off the lees it dropped and let it sit for a month or two before bottling. I guarantee you degassed yours wayyyyy more than mine, if you use a drill for that long.

So it sounds like you have to let it sit for awhile for the clearing agents to work anyway, so I'd just re-evaluate when you rack off from that. The issue with gas and clearing agents is, if there is enough gas in the solution it prevents the clearing agents from falling out of suspension... it keeps them buoyed in the solution. Worst case is it takes a long time for it to clear as it degases.

So many variables go into whether your wine will degas, its difficult to say how long it will take or what method will work. We're still finding gas in some of our wines, and we've been at this for 9 years and have tried everything. Other people whip their wine by hand for a few minutes and they're golden...I haven't been able to figure it out. But I do know I'm not they only one judging by these forums...it seems there is a spectrum of success degassing.

I'd re-evaluate when you rack, and if you still have gas, either whip some more (always remember to create cavitation within the wine and not create a vortex which will add O2), vacuum degas, or let it sit and bulk age (I know it's not the instructions). We vacuum and bulk age for 6 to 8 months usually.

Noontime said:

So many variables go into whether your wine will degas, its difficult to say how long it will take or what method will work. We're still finding gas in some of our wines, and we've been at this for 9 years and have tried everything. Other people whip their wine by hand for a few minutes and they're golden...I haven't been able to figure it out. But I do know I'm not they only one judging by these forums...it seems there is a spectrum of success degassing.

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I appreciate the honest answer. I am gathering that despite being an exact science, degassing actually is anything but. I was hoping that I'd luck into being one of those "magic degassers" and counted on summer in Texas for help. I guess I'll have to do something that an engineer in me hates - just wait and see. It is my first batch after all.
-m

As D.J. said, it might be great in a few days. We've opened up commercial as well as home made wines that have some fizz, and after decanting for an hour they're flat and fantastic. So it is very possible it just needs a little more time to blow off.

milant said:

I appreciate the honest answer. I am gathering that despite being an exact science, degassing actually is anything but. I was hoping that I'd luck into being one of those "magic degassers" and counted on summer in Texas for help. I guess I'll have to do something that an engineer in me hates - just wait and see. It is my first batch after all.
-m

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I can tell you my personal experience from a few years doing this:

When I bulk aged for three months, my wines were fairly clear and degassed, but dropped sediment in the bottles.

I switched to waiting six months to bottle and that issue has resolved. The wines are consistently degassed and cleared.

That's a long time to wait for your first batch, I know, because I didn't wait that long for my early batches. But I had a stubborn Mezza Luna White batch that would look clear in the carboy on the floor, but then would get tornado-looking swirls when I moved the carboy to the table to bottle. So I put it on the table and let it sit for several days, and I bottled it, not knowing that it was gassy and the wine in the bottles would stay cloudy. I learned a valuable lesson!

That's why you need more carboys!

That first batch of wine is a tough one... you want to bottle it as soon as possible and then you're going to drink it way too fast. It's inevitable. And of course you want it to be perfect, and once you drink it you'll be very impressed with your first wine and drink it all within the first year. You're in a tough spot because you're getting advice from people who probably have 8 carboys of wine going and few hundred bottles of wine to choose from every night. Just know that no matter what you do and how it comes out (since it's a kit it has an extremely good chance of being very good no matter what you do), you're still going to enjoy the wine.

I've got a FEVER....and the only SOLUTION.....is more CARBOY!

drainsurgeon said:

I've got a FEVER....and the only SOLUTION.....is more CARBOY!

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Walkin Winery... I like it!

Always take the chill pill.

Kits want you to run through the process quickly and then buy another kit. Time is one of the finest ingredients you can add to your wines. Add it generously before and after bottling.

FYI...this gets a lot easier when there is wine in the rack to drink NOW. As mentioned before, more carboys help too!