Bubbles. How the hell do you get rid of them

[Dabillskid]

Ok so I’m on my second year doing this. We are doing it from pressed juice buckets. We degas with a drill, ferment to completion then sulfite, bulk age for around 6 months while sulfiting every 2 months. Sulfite the bottles and the corks, bottle the wine. It taste great for about two months then somehow gets bubbles back????? I hate it!!! How is it taste great for two months, not a bubble in it with sulfiting and completing fermentation to all the sudden bubbles. I hate bubbles lol.

 

[Ajmassa]

No real need to degas before fermentation. And You really don’t need to manually degas at all if you plan to bulk age. 6 months is on the light side but closer to 9+ months is better to rid the co2.

Also, Are you also racking the wine when sulphiting? Racking off the gunk that drops out also degasses as a byproduct. Routine transfers will get rid of all the co2 usually.
Many different opinions on racking schedules. But a real easy one to log to memory is the 3-3-3 method.
After fermentation (about a week for buckets) and being transferred into the carboy.
3 days after initial transfer.
3 weeks after that
3 months recurring.

I’m Assuming your wine has co2 in it even if not detected easily at bottling. If it truly is developing more in the bottle it could be a few things- but the sulphites isn’t one of em.
If you shake that bottle up and decant for a little bit it should still taste just as good as it was. If it doesn’t taste the same at all then could be residual sugars fermenting in the bottle. Do you use a hydrometer to check sugar before and after fermentation? If not, you should start. It’s Only real way to know its finished and only costs like $8.

 

[Jal5]

another fix for that residual CO2 in the bottle is whenever you open one use a vacuvin, that manual pump that is used to pump air out of a partial bottle of wine to finish the next day or whenever. I do that a couple of times on the batch of bottles that still has CO2 and that usually fixes it. But decanting before pouring a glass works too. Joe

 

[Dabillskid]

Thank you. I do use a hydrometer to completion. I’ll let them decant for a while and see how it tastes. I have some Barolo in bulk. I guess I let that bulk age longer than 6 months. I usually rack it every 2-3 months and add 1/4 tsp of kmeta at each rack while bulk aging. Is this what you guys do

 

[merrickwine]

Thank you. I do use a hydrometer to completion. I’ll let them decant for a while and see how it tastes. I have some Barolo in bulk. I guess I let that bulk age longer than 6 months. I usually rack it every 2-3 months and add 1/4 tsp of kmeta at each rack while bulk aging. Is this what you guys do

 

[merrickwine]

I found if your going to degas your wine either through a vacuum or using a wand you have to make sure your wine is at 72 degrees. If the wine is too cold it will not get rid of co2 and there for it will not drop sediment either. I vacuum pump to degas my wine then rack it 3 days afterwards then bulk age it for 6 months before bottling. I hope this helps you

 

[Ajmassa]

Thank you. I do use a hydrometer to completion. I’ll let them decant for a while and see how it tastes. I have some Barolo in bulk. I guess I let that bulk age longer than 6 months. I usually rack it every 2-3 months and add 1/4 tsp of kmeta at each rack while bulk aging. Is this what you guys do

Yep pretty much. I actually do even less than that. closer to 3-4months or more. And not bottling before 12 months. Tho I’m not as careful with o2 exposure either. Sometimes I think avoiding any o2 all the time can be counterproductive. I’ve never been one to fear o2 and i let the wine get accustomed to it in an open fermentation, splash racking, not worried about pulling samples/ being topped to the tippy top etc...
It’s Just a theory but I think allowing the wine get accustomed to oxygen can buildup a tolerance somewhat. And will be less susceptible to oxidizing later. And in turn will let any residual co2 to release as well as help the wine mature a faster yet healthy rate—-while maintaining proper So2 throughout based on the wines ph. I have yet to have a co2 issue and without the need to ever manually remove.