Has anyone tried degassing their wine by using an electric vacuum pump and agitating the wine with a rod at the same time?
I've read many threads about vacuum racking. But I only rack my kits one time before fining and I don't enjoy washing carboys.
I remember reading somewhere that someone used a fiberglass rod through an orange rubber cap with two holes and a vacuum pump connected to the other hole. I think they used a brake bleeder.
I tried this using a fiberglass bowfishing arrow (new and sanitized) and a hand brake bleeder. Stirring the wine with only a mild vacuum to start with quickly brought about 3/4" of heavy foam to the surface and instantly dropped the vacuum from about 10"hg to 1-3"hg. This was after using a MixStir for 15 to 20 minutes.
I would then have to pump the vacuum back up by hand and repeat the process.
After about 4 or maybe 5 cycles I removed the rod and orange cap and used a one hole bung and pumped the vacuum up to 20"hg. I did not notice any bubbles coming up so I left it for 15-20 minutes and the vacuum held at 19-20". Thus I decided the wine was thoroughly degassed.
To start I could only get 9-10"hg. But after the 2nd or 3rd time it would get up to 15-16"hg. I'm guessing I just couldn't pump fast enough to keep up with the CO2. But stirring with the rod dropped the vacuum almost immediately.
The fiberglass bow fishing arrow is only about 5/16" to 3/8" in diameter and whips through the wine quite easily. It seems to agitate the gas out of the wine more quickly than just using the vacuum alone.
So, I was thinking, if we tried this using an electric vacuum pump while stirring the wine, a 6 gallon carboy could probably be completely degassed in maybe 10 to 15 minutes without using the MixStir first. I hope to find out when I try it in just over a week.
Thus my question, has anyone tried degassing by stirring the wine while under a vacuum with an electric vacuum pump?
Dave
I've read many threads about vacuum racking. But I only rack my kits one time before fining and I don't enjoy washing carboys.
I remember reading somewhere that someone used a fiberglass rod through an orange rubber cap with two holes and a vacuum pump connected to the other hole. I think they used a brake bleeder.
I tried this using a fiberglass bowfishing arrow (new and sanitized) and a hand brake bleeder. Stirring the wine with only a mild vacuum to start with quickly brought about 3/4" of heavy foam to the surface and instantly dropped the vacuum from about 10"hg to 1-3"hg. This was after using a MixStir for 15 to 20 minutes.
I would then have to pump the vacuum back up by hand and repeat the process.
After about 4 or maybe 5 cycles I removed the rod and orange cap and used a one hole bung and pumped the vacuum up to 20"hg. I did not notice any bubbles coming up so I left it for 15-20 minutes and the vacuum held at 19-20". Thus I decided the wine was thoroughly degassed.
To start I could only get 9-10"hg. But after the 2nd or 3rd time it would get up to 15-16"hg. I'm guessing I just couldn't pump fast enough to keep up with the CO2. But stirring with the rod dropped the vacuum almost immediately.
The fiberglass bow fishing arrow is only about 5/16" to 3/8" in diameter and whips through the wine quite easily. It seems to agitate the gas out of the wine more quickly than just using the vacuum alone.
So, I was thinking, if we tried this using an electric vacuum pump while stirring the wine, a 6 gallon carboy could probably be completely degassed in maybe 10 to 15 minutes without using the MixStir first. I hope to find out when I try it in just over a week.
Thus my question, has anyone tried degassing by stirring the wine while under a vacuum with an electric vacuum pump?
Dave