Degassing with wine whip - glass carboy with lots of oak cubes present

[Sourgrape]

I have a question: Is it OK to use the wine whip with a whole bunch of oak cubes potentially rattling around the carboy? Or do they even rattle around? Maybe they just stay at the bottom and behave? I can't imagine any cubes gaining enough velocity to crack the glass, especially with frequent reversing, but I've never whipped with with a bunch of oak cubes present in the must before, so I thought I'd at least ask to see if anyone else has.

I had started this thread with a long preamble as to why I will be degassing with oak cubes present, but for brevity, I edited it out.

 

[Ike64]

If you keep the whip in the center, away from the sides and bottom, then I think you should be okay. I try to keep anything from banging in to the sides.
IMO - Time is also a best way to degass.

 

[NorCal]

If you can, I would opt for letting time be your method for degassing, to give your wine some time to come together and prevent oxygen exposure.

But given, you are going to whip, I would remove them. Here is why. I’ve had cubes impart some edgy tannins and would want to remove them with as little disruption as possible. When I need to degass, like a white or Rose under vacuum, it will always be my last step before bottling. I’ll do a final rack, degass the clean wine and then bottle the next day. If you did that with the cubes in it, you would need to rack again, but I guess you would avoid the rack before.

 

[winemaker81]

I agree with removing the cubes, before degassing. However, going gentle can be done, although it will take a bit longer.

When I need to degass, like a white or Rose under vacuum, it will always be my last step before bottling. I’ll do a final rack, degass the clean wine and then bottle the next day.

CO2 can hold sediment in suspension -- do you get sediment in the bottle?

 

[NorCal]

I agree with removing the cubes, before degassing. However, going gentle can be done, although it will take a bit longer.


CO2 can hold sediment in suspension -- do you get sediment in the bottle?

I degass white/rose before bottling. My fallout in the bottle has been due to tartrates. This year’s white/rose wine spent a few weeks in the fridge this year, so hopefully it will be clear of any sedimen.

 

[winemaker81]

@NorCal, my question was unclear. I meant: If you degas just before bottling, do you get sediment in the bottle because the CO2 was holding sediment in suspension and the wine lacks time for it to drop before bottling?

My first thought was you'd get sediment in the bottle. However, the cold stabilization acts as a fining agent, so sediment being precipitated even if the CO2 is hanging onto it makes sense.

 

[NorCal]

@NorCal, my question was unclear. I meant: If you degas just before bottling, do you get sediment in the bottle because the CO2 was holding sediment in suspension and the wine lacks time for it to drop before bottling?

My first thought was you'd get sediment in the bottle. However, the cold stabilization acts as a fining agent, so sediment being precipitated even if the CO2 is hanging onto it makes sense.

Not sure.
My degassing protocol is to rack the wine into glass carboys. I will then bring a few of the carboys at a time into the house where they will get close to 70 degrees. I will then rack 1/3 off of two of the carboys into a third. I’ll use bungs and one way valves and apply a vacuum to all the carboys. That alone will bring out a lot of CO2 in the 5 month old wine. I’ll then tilt the carboy and in a circular movement, create a whirlpool in the carboy, getting a lot of trapped CO2 out. I’ll do that a few times over a few days, keeping the partially filled carboys under vacuum at all times. There may be a more efficient way, but it works for me.
I won’t bottle any of the wine until I finish all the carboys, so in reality, most wine is sitting for days until the last one is degassed before I bottle. I hope that the cold crash will solve the tartrate sediment issues in the 25 gallons of white/rose I’ll be bottling shortly this year.