Degassing dry cherry wine

[psiluvu]

I'm using a recipe from the Winemaker's Recipe Handbook for dry cherry wine and the instructions mention nothing of degassing. This is only my second winemaking effort, the first being a hot pressed Merlot juice which I did not degass. The S.G. of the dry cherry is now at 0.994. Although I already transferred from the fermentation bucket into the carboy last Thursday, July 9 (as instructed by "the recipe"), I'm wondering if I should return the contents to the primary fermentation bucket, stir until much of the CO2 has been removed and then rack back into the carboy (after sanitizing obviously). Also, would it be wise to hit the wine with another dose of potassium metabisulfite when sending it back to the carboy?

 

[sour_grapes]

You do not NEED to degas. You could instead let time take care of the degassing, provided you store the wine in a carboy for 6 mos. to a year.

If you want to bottle sooner than that (and you do not want a carbonated wine), then, yes, you will need to degas. Personally, I do this by pulling a vacuum on the carboy. If degassing via vigorous stirring, then transferring back to an open bucket is probably a good idea (to prevent wine "volcanoes").

 

[Wolfe]

I've only degassed one of my wines since starting a year ago. All the others have just been left to their own devices.

The only reason I degassed one of my Pear recipes was that after 6 months it just wasn't clearing. I had tried all the usual tricks when someone suggested degassing. It soon started clearing. So I would just set aside, rack as usual and take it from there.

I've got a cherry on the go from June so will let you know how gassy it is and how it clears. Its from a CJJ Berry recipe Interestingly there is a thread going on regarding excess sediment in cherry wines.

Cheers

Dean

 

[Winorick]

I've been making wines for 43 years and I have never de-gassed a wine other than racking it. It just doesn't seem to be a needed step.