Other Degassing with drill powered stirring rod

[jody]

The kit I am asking about is:
Argentia Ridge Chateau Shiraz Four Week Premium Wine Kit.

I have only used my drill powered stirring rod once before during degassing and I made a big mistake of over stirring. This time around I want to do it correctly.

Here are the instructions I have after racking:

Using a clean container, mix contents of metabisulphite packet and sorbate packet in 125ml of cool water. Add mixture to the carboy of wine.

Add kieselsol packet to the carboy of wine.

Stir the wine vigorously for three minutes with the handle of the stirring spoon. Stir hard enough to create foaming on the surface. Repeat this step at least 6 times over a 24 hour period.

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After the stirrings I have to add the chitosan.

My question is how do I do this with a drill powered stirring rod? Can I get it all over with quickly? As it is inconvenient for me to do this over 24 hours. I have a small hand vacuum pump used for taking the air out of a wine bottle that I rigged up last time that I used to check for residual gas.

I understand degassing is hard for novice wine makers. Hence my conundrum.

 

[robie]

Degassing is not necessarily hard, just sometimes a challenge to get it right. The problem seems to be knowing when and if the wine is fully degassed.

Learn to taste and sense the presence of CO2 on your tongue before you start degassing.

Put the drill stirrer all the way down into the container. Turn it on and let it run until the wine is all flowing in the same direction as the stirrer is going. Switch off and reverse the direction and repeat. Don't stir so hard you sling wine out or cause a vortex to form. The vortex will pull air down into the wine and that's not good.

I will raise and lower the stirrer into the wine, making sure I don't get too close to the surface.

Repeat this several times. Then taste the wine to determine if you get a fizz on your tongue. If so, repeat. Once the fizz is gone, the wine is degassed.

It is still good to finalize the degassing with the small vacuum pump. It will let you know if you still have CO2 present.

Later on, if you open a bottle and it still tastes of CO2, you can decant it for an hour or two and that will remove the excess CO2. If it still has CO2, you will know more about degassing it next time. It is a learning experience.

Piece of cake!

 

[Dugger]

... and just to add to Robie's post, make sure the temp of the wine is about 23*C /75F as the gas comes out considerably easier at a warmer temperature.

 

[jody]

Thats great information robie. I tried some wine earlier today and I found it kind of fizzy on the tounge. As soon as I get the wine up to 23C (thanks Dugger) I am going to start the degassing process.

Can I add the Chitosan right after I am done degassing?

 

[robie]

Thats great information robie. I tried some wine earlier today and I found it kind of fizzy on the tounge. As soon as I get the wine up to 23C (thanks Dugger) I am going to start the degassing process.

Can I add the Chitosan right after I am done degassing?

Yes you can. Just follow your instructions.

 

[BernardSmith]

One thing no one seems to mention when they talk about degassing with a drill is about how many RPM should the drill be set for. Are we talking about 300 rpm or 3000 rpm or what? Does it matter how fast the whip is spinning or is the critical issue only that we should not be creating a vortex to suck in air? Is their an optimal speed for say, the Fermtech Wine Whip Degasser to degas?

 

[jody]

Thanks again robie for the helpful information. After following your advice I believe I successfully degassed the wine. I stirred as you said and then tasted. I would check with the bottle vacuum pump after each stirring. after about half a dozen or so stirrings I could not sense the presence of co2 on my tongue and the pump could not get any more bubbles to surface. I guess time will tell if I did it right but I am aging it for another 2 weeks before bottling. That is if the clearing goes as planned.

 

[wyntheef]

the best tip i ever got on the gas issue was on this forum. put a small sample in a .250 or .375 bottle and shake it vigorously with your thumb over it. you can tell immediately whether you have too much gas or not. if you think the temp is an issue, you can warm your small sample a lot easier than you can warm 6 gallons just to possibly find out it wasn't the temp anyways.

actually the worst case scenario for me was bottling gassy wine and to fix it you would have to uncork your bottles, pour back to carboy, degas, and then re-bottle. not fun, but not exactly the end of the world either. hth.

 

[robie]

the best tip i ever got on the gas issue was on this forum. put a small sample in a .250 or .375 bottle and shake it vigorously with your thumb over it. you can tell immediately whether you have too much gas or not. .

I do this too, however....
This will work as long as you realize even plain water in that scenario will give you bubbles and a small poof when your thumb is removed. You can easily learn the difference, though. The very best method is taste.

 

[Sheepdog]

Can you agitate the wine too much?
I split the amount of a carboy into two carboys. I cover the mouth of the carboy with a sterile latex gloved hand and shake side to side.
It's a bit heavy, but an awesome upper body workout!
When the "puff" when I release my hand is minimal, I know it's degassed. I then rack into one carboy and seal with an airlock.
I also rack about once per month, which helps degas as well.
Thoughts?

 

[rhattin]

This really works well with the Wine Expert series, that make you still up the lees back into the wine before the stabilization and fining packets are added. An amazing amount of gas, for solittle effort. Don't drop the carboy!!!!
I also use a vacuum pump to rack after stabilization and again when I bottle. You can't degas too much.
Ric