Other Did my local FoP skimp on the degass?

[jsiddall]

I made my first few kits at a local ferment-on-prem place. They make you bottle according to the manufacturer schedule -- 6 weeks in my case.

At the 6 month mark I opened a split of RJS WS Super Tuscan and poured a glass through a vinturi since I figured it needed all the help it could get! I noticed some pink foam on the surface that I have never seen with commercial wine.

So I capped the end of the bottle with my thumb, gave it a few good shakes, and got a significant "pffft" when I let my thumb off. Hmmm...

I tasted the "shaken" wine and it was better than at bottling but still not anything I would call good.

Now I have a few questions:

1. Does all this indicate it was this not properly degassed? I asked the FoP place about it when I made the kit and they told me they vacuum degass all kits but I have no idea how thorough they are.

2. If yes to the above then is there anything I can do about it now?

3. If I do nothing but let the bottles age another year or two will I end up with a nice well aged wine or does some residual CO2 in the bottle mess with the aging process also?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[sour_grapes]

I am certainly no expert, but let me take a crack:

1. Yes, I certainly think that all indications are that the wine was not adequately degassed.

2. Yes, you could uncork all the bottles into a carboy, and either age it or vacuum degas it. When the batch was adequately degassed, you could rebottle. Alternately, you could try to degas each bottle with, say, a Vacuvin and/or shaking.

3. This is probably the most important question. Unfortunately, I have no idea of the correct answer!

 

[calvin]

With my first wine I noticed if I shook it, it would foam. Almost get a beer like head on it. I then tried a commercial wine and got a similar result. So I didn't worry about it anymore

 

[Floandgary]

I too have experienced the effects of insufficient degassing. A slight "pop" when pulling the cork, a rather harsh mouth-feel and the noticeable bubbles in the glass. The result of some fermentation restarting, poor stabilization or something else???? No doubt a misstep on my part. I've expended a lot of corks and in addition to patience have learned to be sure all is well before bottling. Using a homemade device similar to a butter churn plunger I perform what is essentially a radical splash-racking (done in a 6 gal. juice bucket) when I do a rack-over every several months. Careful not to incorporate any air in the process.

 

[SouthernChemist]

You should notice small bubbles in the glass if the wine is not adequately degassed. Foam itself doesn't mean anything necessarily. As far as aging is concerned, a small amount of residual CO2 should not affect the wine much . If there is still a significant amount of CO2 in the wine, though, you could affect how the wine will age.

 

[tonyt]

I have never experienced foam in dry still wine. Take a bottle back to the bop and have them tell you that it's their best work.

 

[jsiddall]

Thanks for the replies.

My first observation was a light pink line of extremely fine bubbles around the edge of the glass. I did not notice any distinct fizziness to the wine as you would expect from even a lightly carbonated beverage when I first drank some.

So what is a good test to know if a wine is fully degassed? I have a vaccuum pump I can use to drop down to about 25 inches of mercury. Should I be able to get any bubbles out of room temperature wine at very high vacuum, or is that even a valid test?