degassing for an hour or more with a degassing tool

[shanek17]

its degassing time with my red barolo wine kit and im having problems! im using a plastic degas tool in my drill and iv been degassing for it all day on and off. it just keeps foaming! is there an end!? iv probably degassed today for over an hour alltogether, and whats funny is the kit instructions say to use a spoon! im using the drill on highest speed and the foam just keeps coming. I think ill give it a break for today but i would like to get this guy filled with the additives and ready for clearing.

 

[shanek17]

oh i forgot to mention, iv been degassing this wine every 2 days well in secondary, as the kit instructions suggested. so its not like i just started today. im just wanting to get this sucker degassed and let it sit in my cold basement.

 

[Deezil]

Are you pulsing the drill? Or turning the wine into a vortex?

The first is what you want, the latter could possibly/most likely inject oxygen into the wine.

I use a vacuum pump myself, so im not the most experience on the manual degassing.. But from what i've read, people have had greater success with a back-and-forth motion, as opposed to the round-and-round motion..

So maybe give the spoon a try? Or pulse the drill, if you weren't originally.
Should work.

You could always put it in the basement as it is, and see how well it clears. If it doesnt clear all the way, address the degassing issue again later on.

 

[shoebiedoo]

I've always swirled the drill counter clockwise to counter ank the clockwise motion on the degassing bit. I've always had great success this way. I also keep the paddles fairly low in the carboy to keep foaming (O2) to a minimum.

 

[shanek17]

Are you pulsing the drill? Or turning the wine into a vortex?

The first is what you want, the latter could possibly/most likely inject oxygen into the wine.

I use a vacuum pump myself, so im not the most experience on the manual degassing.. But from what i've read, people have had greater success with a back-and-forth motion, as opposed to the round-and-round motion..

So maybe give the spoon a try? Or pulse the drill, if you weren't originally.
Should work.

You could always put it in the basement as it is, and see how well it clears. If it doesnt clear all the way, address the degassing issue again later on.

well ill let it spin one way down at the bottom first then bring it up near the top. and then after everyonce in awhile ill switch it up and go the other way for a bit. i had it spinning well but no vortex was being created at all. perhaps its from the way i made my homemade plastic drill attachment. like the shape i made it, it spins in circles in a smaller diameter. that way i could use it in my smaller carboys and in my big carboys. Yea i guess i could just add the additivies and put it in the basment for clearing and degas it later. but im just trying to follow the instructions. is it okay to degas later after additives and clearing?

 

[aylamarie]

I have a problem with degassing to, can't ever seem to get it done all the way. And I do the one way then reverse it with the drill. Thinking of going to the vacuum.

 

[cpfan]

I don't see any mention of temperature. Temperature of the wine is very important for degassing. Cool wines do not degas readily. Try at about 74F or 24C.

Steve

 

[aylamarie]

I don't see any mention of temperature. Temperature of the wine is very important for degassing. Cool wines do not degas readily. Try at about 74F or 24C.

Steve

Haven't ever checked temp. But my house stays around 74 to 77 f, so it should be close.

 

[shanek17]

I don't see any mention of temperature. Temperature of the wine is very important for degassing. Cool wines do not degas readily. Try at about 74F or 24C.

Steve

thanks for mentioning this, it was something i had no idea of months ago. but i have been using that rule for degassing now. actually my digital thermometer says my wines are in the 75.5 F area. so its not a temperature issue for me.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I use a vacuum pump myself - don't have much experience with the manual degasser.

I would do a test on it - put a bit in your hydrometer test tube - shake it like crazy - take you hand off - see if you hear what would sound like opening a soda can when its hot.

If it does - then it is just really gassy.

 

[shanek17]

I use a vacuum pump myself - don't have much experience with the manual degasser.

I would do a test on it - put a bit in your hydrometer test tube - shake it like crazy - take you hand off - see if you hear what would sound like opening a soda can when its hot.

If it does - then it is just really gassy.

oh its got lots of tiny bubbles and foam still, as soon as i start degassing i see them. iv even tried manually churning with my J tube for siphoining and it works okay. So maybe its just this type of wine that is gassy? my other small batch degassed rather quickly. this big 23 liter batch is proving to be difficult

 

[loumik]

I used a mix-stir for several years before getting a vacuum pump. Here's how I did it:

Get wine temp up to approx. 75* F. Sanitize mix-stir attach to drill and insert into carboy.

Set drill on high speed and start degassing with end of mix-stir near bottom of carboy. When vortex starts to form, reverse direction of drill rotation. Repeat for 5-10 minutes. When you stop operating the drill you should see very tiny bubbles rising to the top of the wine and forming foam.

When the quantity of bubbles appears to be much reduced insert the mix-stir into the carboy again and repeat degassing as instructed above but this time set drill to LOW SPEED.

If you spin mix-stir near the surface of of the wine or spin at high speed until a vortex is formed you may be introducing oxygen into the wine which is undesirable. If the bubbles become large you have probably removed all the gass that your going to get. Now would be a good time to test the wine as WINEMAKER_3352 suggested above. When you use a drill to degass your wine there will almost always be some bubbles forming in the wine but they are not necessarily CO2. Good Luck and keep asking questions.

LOUMIK

 

[Bartman]

Do you plan on aging this Barolo kit for six months or more in your ~72 degree house? If so, I would stop worrying about degassing it - given several months of bulk aging after your drilling efforts, I would be shocked if it was not fully degassed by the time you went to bottle it. I would wish you good luck, but I don't think luck has anything to do with CO2 content in your wine.

 

[grapeman]

The first thing I picked up on and is surely the problem is that you said you are spinning it at full speed, this is creating the bubbles, not degassing. Slow that drill down when degassing and like said, reverse directions often.

 

[tcavan01]

Gas

Put it in a carboy with an airlock and wait 6 months. Are you sure it is even done fermenting? Patience is the key.

 

[shanek17]

Do you plan on aging this Barolo kit for six months or more in your ~72 degree house? If so, I would stop worrying about degassing it - given several months of bulk aging after your drilling efforts, I would be shocked if it was not fully degassed by the time you went to bottle it. I would wish you good luck, but I don't think luck has anything to do with CO2 content in your wine.

well i could let it bulk age. but i dont really feel comfortable with that idea. this is just a cheap-o wine kit so im not going to give it to much luxury. and im just a newbie in this hobby, meaning im not making quality wine. when i get good at this i wont mind letting a good wine bulk age and get better. and not to mention i have 2 other male roomates who like to party lol im just hoping that it will go undistubed in our basement so it can atleast clear and be bottled.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

 

[shanek17]

The first thing I picked up on and is surely the problem is that you said you are spinning it at full speed, this is creating the bubbles, not degassing. Slow that drill down when degassing and like said, reverse directions often.

i tried spinning it at a lower speed and the foam and bubbles were occuring less. as soon as i put it on high speed there is s big difference. i assumed the high apeed would get it done quicker. im looking for thousands of tiny bubbles rite? they float up and have foam riseing up with them.

 

[shanek17]

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

yea i was just getting to that. im pretty sure its done fermenting... The air lock has shown no activity for a week or 2 and my hydrometer is telling me its in the areacof being done. I fermented it in a warm area around 75 or 77 degrees so it wasnt a cold fermentation. the kit instructions say it should be done in 14-18 days for secondary and today is the 18th day since i transferd to secondary.

maybe id get a vacuum pump. what kind did you get? was it expensive?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

I must agree once I moved to vacuum degassing all my problems went away ( well some of them - LOL)