degassing

[ctshep97]

do people or should you degass a fruit wine[strawberry or peach ],1 gallon,i think i read most people do not but i can't find it. t

 

[fivebk]

You need to degass every wine no matter what size it is. On one gallon batches I just swirl and shake the jug with the airlock in place until most of the activity in the airlock quits

BOB

 

[Tom]

I agree that all wines should be degassed. Degasing will aid in clearing also. Degas prior to adding clairifiers.

 

[smurfe]

It depends on how soon you are planning to bottle. You do need to degas if it doesn't degas itself with time. Many people make the fruit wine and follow a recipe they found online or in a book. What these recipes don't state is they may be in the carboy for a year clearing with numerous racking to clear the wine. The wine will degas itself in this manner. If you are going to ferment and then clear with a fining agent and then bottle you will need to degas.

 

[PolishWineP]

As fivebk said, you can degass gallon batches just by shaking the jug. I've been known to sanitize my hands and just put the palm of my hand over the opening with my thumb through the handle and shake it that way. When you release your hand you can actually hear the gasses escape from the jug. Be sure you have a good grip with both hands though!

 

[Wade E]

Every wine needs to be degassed. Some will do it itself over time but doing right after fermentation is done helps it clear on its own much faster. The only wines that dont need degassing are wines made from grapes and I mean you pressing the grapes after fermentation as the process of pressing the grapes does a really good job of degassing the batch.

 

[Jeff D]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I find some white wines and especially sweetfruit wines to be more to my liking if there is some gas in them. I made a strawberry honey melomel, fermented cold and kept cold to hold the CO2, it's a winner in my book.


Jeff

 

[ibglowin]

I'll second that.

One of my wife and I's all time favorite Chardonnay's is the Acacia Chardonnay from the Carneros area in CA.

Much the same feeling. If its not CO2 its got so much fruit forwardness it makes your tongue tingle!

 

[Brewgrrrl]

I got into wine-making because I made a sparkling mead that was terrific. 'Love the bubbly...

 

[vcasey]

I got into wine-making because I made a sparkling mead that was terrific. 'Love the bubbly...

So care to share. I made a maple mead that I have plans to force carb to make sparkling, but it will be a while before its ready. I started what is basically a clean out the freezer wine that I may fo the same thing with, but I really want a sparkling mead.
VC

 

[Wade E]

Do you plan on keeping it kegged and serving from tap? If so you will want a longer tap line for balancing the higher carbonation or youll just pour foam at a very fast rate. I serve my sparkling wine on tap at 19 psi with a 19'line and get a very nice pour. I never really understood balancing but after time after figured out that to me what works good is a foot of line per psi at least with the 3/16" hose, other sizes will change this.

 

[vcasey]

I think we are planning to bottle, but I'll give him this info.
VC

 

[Brewgrrrl]

For mine, I actually used a sparkling mead recipe from Charlie Papazian's "Microbrewed Adventures" (which, if you brew beer, is worth buying just for the great recipes - although the stories are fun too). I bottled in champagne bottles and naturally carbonated it. It's aged over a year now and everyone I share it with really likes it. It looks and tastes a lot like champagne actually. Also - it makes great mamosas.

 

[vcasey]

Surprisingly that was one book we did not have. So I picked it up today and at first glance all 3 of the meads look very good. Did you add the ginger and is it a heavy or light taste in the mead. Looks like when I make this, which I will just a matter of when, I'll need to stabilize so I can sweeten it and we can force carb. I like dry wines just not dry sparkling wines!
Wade my husband said thank you for the info.
VC

 

[Brewgrrrl]

I'm talking about the sparkling mead/tropical champagne recipe. I did add the ginger and it's actually a pretty subtle flavor (although a friend of mine did notice it when she tried it just recently). It really does come out a lot like champagne. BTW - if you also homebrew and you like stouts, the Brooklyn's Original Chocolate Stout recipe is AWESOME. I've made it plain, as a raspberry stout and also as a cherry chocolate and it comes out amazing every time.