Degassing/vacumn

[termini]

I was looking thru the posts, and saw a couple of suggestions or comments on people using vacuum pumps to additionally degass the wine.I am brewing two batches at once: a Island Mist Strawberry White Merlot, and the Limited Edition Australian Reisling.. When we did stage 3 ,the stabilising and clearing, we used the drill motor paddle and tried to stay away from creating a vortex by switching back and forth from fwd and reverse. Well I brought home a little hand vacuum pump from work, hooked it up to a carboy plug, and tried to keep the vacuum at 15 to 20 inches( coudn't keep up with my hands 0-- boy! I could not believe the amount of bubbles rising up, and then as the bubbles released, watching the sediment fall to the bottom before my eyes!
QUESTION: if practical, how long should a vacuum be kept on?( or would doing it by hand for about 20 minutes be satisfactory- already better than what the kit is set up to do)Should I look into getting a unit from Harbor frieght like I saw someone suggest?

 

[termini]

Should I have posted this in a different area? ---not sure how to submitt a topic...

 

[swillologist]

termini I'm not the smartest person to ask butI'll give you myMHO. You will need to keep pumping until you can hold 15 to 20 inches of vacumn. This may take a day or two. I give my hands a break. If you are still getting small bubbles you haven't got all the gas out yet. I'm sure someone else can give you better explanation.Edited by: swillologist

 

[grapeman]

You are seeing why some folks like to use the vacumn. I can aid in degassing and speed up the process. The exact vacumn device isn't important, so get what you can afford or find. The brake bleeder from Harbor Freight is well made and relatively inexpensive. Just do a search on it in the form and you will find a lot of posts about it.


When you want to create a post, just go to the forum section you think appropriate and select new topic. It will be placed in that section. I moved this for you from the Mosti section so folks can find it easier here.

 

[Wade E]

Does your pump have a gauge on it as this is a great indication of wen you are done. If it does then pump for awhile and let it sit and then return. Do his until you can hold a vacuum of 15-20" on the gauge. If you dont have a gauge then you 1st start watch the size of the bubbles, they are very small and more abundant and after awhile the bubbles become big and less abundant, this is just pressure being drawn the the wine and you are done degassing. Now it is time to add your fining agent or let time just do its thing.