Bottled two months ago, opened one and it's fizzy?

[Jal5]

I don’t understand it. How is it that even with vigorous degassing and racking that CO2 still doesn’t get released?

 

[Johnd]

Degas your wine with 100% success with a $100 vacuum pump in under 5 minutes, every time, no second thoughts, no multiple rackings, no dumping bottles back into carboys, period. Mine has degassed hundreds of carboys, so it’s less than $1 per carboy, 3.3c per bottle, and gets cheaper with every one I do.

 

[meadmaker1]

I use my vacuum pump. I watch it long enough to make sure it doesnt bubble so much foam getts sucked out, and I walk away. Come back later when hoses are sucked flat. Usually only do one per day.

 

[GaDawg]

Y’all need an AIO wine pump. Degassing is so much better!

 

[Zintrigue]

A girl can dream!

 

[kevinlfifer]

I'm pretty sure mine had some kind of secondary reaction going on. It wasn't holding on to CO2 when I bottled it.

It tastes fine once the fizz is gone. I'll use those for topping off.

 

[Zintrigue]

Yeah I'm pretty sure I'd know if mine was holding on to CO2 when I bottled, too. I've been drinking it since bottling day and it's been perfect. The fizz is a recent thing. The only thing I can think is maybe MLF in mine, which I suppose is fine in the long run, it just doesn't make it too drinkable right now. Either way, I'm keeping an eye on those corks.

 

[heatherd]

+1 on the Poof test. It's saved me on many occasions!!

 

[Elizajean]

Degas your wine with 100% success with a $100 vacuum pump in under 5 minutes, every time, no second thoughts, no multiple rackings, no dumping bottles back into carboys, period. Mine has degassed hundreds of carboys, so it’s less than $1 per carboy, 3.3c per bottle, and gets cheaper with every one I do.

John, which vacuum pump do you use? Can they be used with plastic carboys? I've only found vacuum pumps under $25 and so far, none on wine suppliers websites.

 

[Johnd]

John, which vacuum pump do you use? Can they be used with plastic carboys? I've only found vacuum pumps under $25 and so far, none on wine suppliers websites.

This is the little dude that I use, have had it for years and degassed countless carboys and used it for racking:

https://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html

You can't use a vacuum pump to degas in a plastic carboy, the walls aren't strong enough and get sucked in as the vacuum increases. Note that the pump has two vacuum inlets, one is connected to a hose and the hose through a reservoir and then to the carboy through a stopper, pretty easy stuff.

I use the second inlet to control the strength of the vacuum, by unscrewing the cap on the inlet, you allow air into the system, decreasing the resulting vacuum in the carboy. You'll find that when you initially start to degas a carboy, that the foam is immense initially and can get sucked up into the vacuum hose if the vacuum is full strength. Start with the second inlet open and slowly tighten the cap, slowly increasing the vacuum to control the foaming as the CO2 is removed. As you slowly increase the vacuum strength, you'll see the little CO2 bubbles change to very large bubbles, then you are done, 2 -3 minutes tops......

It's a good idea to have a reservoir in the loop just in case you suck up foam, don't want that getting into your pump. A wine bottle or 1/2 gallon glass jug with a stopper, drilled with two holes (one inlet, one outlet) works just fine. So your hose would run off of the pump, into the reservoir, and another hose out of the the other hole in the reservoir and into the carboy stopper.