Degassing 'speed'

[banannabiker]

I'm curious how everyone degasses their wine. I have read various methods, and so purchased a piece of copper tubing-bent it a little-put it in my electric drill-and started degassing. I found that the faster I ran my drill, the more rapidly the bubbles broke free-and you could say-the more violent the reaction. After having my carboy erupt a couple of times I became more careful, but it leaves the question-how 'hard' or 'fast' are we supposed to degass? I used to use a thin piece of wood (maybe an inch wide and 1/8" thick) and swish it back and forth by hand, but I am sure that I left a lot of gas in the wine. Some feedback of how others do it would be appreciated.

 

[Duster]

I use my cordless on low speed (still not that slow, not sure of the RPM). I also switch from forward to reverse several times during the process

 

[Chiumanfu]

Copper is not the best thing to use. Try to find a plastic rod to use.

Whipping the wine can get the CO2 out faster but it also has the downside of oxidization. I think the general guideline is stir it until a vortex starts forming then reverse the drill direction. Never let a big vortex form as this is what draws air down into the wine.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I have seen other posts where they cut a plastic coat hanger in 1/2 and use it on their electric drill. I will see if I cant find the post
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[derunner]

My variable speed had 2 settings. I think low was max of 0-450 rpms. it was not really woring at this setting no gas was being driven out. I then tried the higher rpm setting 0-1500 and that was like a eruption. So sweet spot is between 450 and 1500 rpms.

 

[GaDawg]

I have been told that wine will degass itself at about 75F. Does anyone know about how long it should take? If I add oak cubes to my CC Sterling Merlot for 6 weeks will it degass itself?

 

[Turock]

I'm really opposed to manual degassing of non-kit wines. Even if you get all the CO2 out of it in a few weeks after the fermentation, the wine is not stable enough to be sweetened, sorbated, and bottled. It's important to allow the wine to clear and age up some. Every now and then, people run up against the case of the wine being clear, but then becomes cloudy again when sweetening, refrigerating, etc.

Well, the truth is that the wine wasn't REALLY clear. Proteins and such can setttle out creating haze and sediment. On a white wine, it's possible that it will be clear, and all the CO2 out of it in 6 months. But I think that's even a little early. We like to wait 9 months to bottle a white--just to be sure it's clear, all the CO2 is gone, and that it's flavor is up to where it should be. Reds--earliest is 9 months to 1 year. Many complex reds are better when waiting 2-3 years before opening the first bottle.

What I'm trying to say is--why are you so intent on manually degassing when the wine needs more stablization and clearing? And in the time you wait for the flavor to come up, and the wine to clear--it will be naturally degassed on its own. I mean--are you THAT impatient to drink it? And it won't be that good anyway----flavors on young wines are very weak.

Degassing the way you describe is essentially whipping air into the wine and the result will be oxidation. I just disagree with the manipulation of young wines when they should be left alone to clear and stabilize by themselves.

 

[banannabiker]

I hadn't heard anything about a kit wine vs. a non-kit. None of my wines have been kit wines. I just thought I was supposed to degass. This particular wine was made using the skeeter pee recipee from their website-except I used fresh citrus fruit instead of lemon juice from the store. According to their site, this is supposed to be ready to drink early-which is why I was degassing. This is the first time I have tried a drill-and I did get a vortex several times-which was one of the things that had me worried. I have a blueberry-pomegranet and an apple-mango batch going as well right now-but they will sit for much longer than I expected to leave the skeeter pee.

Every time I come on this site I get a lot of good information. I just wanted to say "Thanks" to everyone for their information-which I know you give over and over and over again....lol.

 

[Duster]

I'm really opposed to manual degassing of non-kit wines. Even if you get all the CO2 out of it in a few weeks after the fermentation, the wine is not stable enough to be sweetened, sorbated, and bottled. It's important to allow the wine to clear and age up some. Every now and then, people run up against the case of the wine being clear, but then becomes cloudy again when sweetening, refrigerating, etc.

Well, the truth is that the wine wasn't REALLY clear. Proteins and such can setttle out creating haze and sediment. On a white wine, it's possible that it will be clear, and all the CO2 out of it in 6 months. But I think that's even a little early. We like to wait 9 months to bottle a white--just to be sure it's clear, all the CO2 is gone, and that it's flavor is up to where it should be. Reds--earliest is 9 months to 1 year. Many complex reds are better when waiting 2-3 years before opening the first bottle.

What I'm trying to say is--why are you so intent on manually degassing when the wine needs more stabilization and clearing? And in the time you wait for the flavor to come up, and the wine to clear--it will be naturally degassed on its own. I mean--are you THAT impatient to drink it? And it won't be that good anyway----flavors on young wines are very weak.

Degassing the way you describe is essentially whipping air into the wine and the result will be oxidation. I just disagree with the manipulation of young wines when they should be left alone to clear and stabilize by themselves.

Never really thought of it that way however I will tend to agree with you. I degas and then the wine sets in the carboy for several months anyway.
Well put Turock, I'll give this practice a try on my next batch.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Use vacuum, no oxidation, no whipping, no wine volcanoes!

 

[Turock]

Duster--we've been doing it this way for 24 years and never experienced any of the problems SO many people talk about on this site. But then, we are very patient winemakers---patience payoff in deuces when you have, not just good, but GREAT wines to drink.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Use vacuum, no oxidation, no whipping, no wine volcanoes!

I also recommend using vacuum - not only does it remove the co2, but there is no more lifting of carboys or chance of your wine getting oxidized.