Degassing

[jhudson56]

Hello everyone,
I am working on my first batch of wine, a Merlot made from a kit. I have it in a glass carboy and I am degassing it with a foodsaver. My question is this.
How long do I continue to purge the wine of gas? I have done it for 3 days now, going through multiple cycles with the vacuum, but I am still pulling gas bubbles from the wine. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Jim

 

[rjb222]

I have a couple of questions. First what temperture is the wine at? Next what size are the bubbles and how many are there?

 

[jhudson56]

The temperature is kept at between 72 and 76F. The size of the bubbles is medium large I guess, not sure how to reference that. As far as how many there are, your guess is as good as mine. They rise pretty rapidly from below and collect in a ring of foam at the neck of the carboy. As this is my first time making wine, I do not know how to determine when the wine is successfully degassed and ready for fining. Thanks for the response. Your thoughts?

 

[captainl]

I know its your first kit but I would just taste a sample. If you can feel/taste then carbonation than keep going. My guess is you are done. I'm not sure there was ever any scientific data to support it or a determined pressure, but it has been suggested that you can evaporate out the alcohol at too high of a pressure. Not sure what a food saver pulls out psi wise though. Some people on here will suggest not going over a certain PSI but that probably doesn't help you. I just use a hand powered vacuum thing for wine bottles to degas. I can keep pumping on it forever and it will pull out larger bubbles. I just stop after a while and taste it. It works much better than the stir rod I used before.

 

[jhudson56]

Re: Captain!

Yes, I am leaning the same way as I tasted it before the first racking, and again after the second racking.
The wine is bone dry, and I don't taste the least bit of carbonation. But so many who post on You Tube and on my local wine shop's advice page, place such emphasis on degassing that I was convinced you could not proceed to fining until you had properly completed this task. I even wonder if you could ever completely degas the wine, there may always be a certain amount present in solution. I may take your advice, taste it again to be sure, add the fining agent, and wait to see how long it takes to clear.
Thanks so much for the help.
Jim

 

[captainl]

That sounds like a good plan.

 

[rjb222]

Your temperatures are good. The Degassing usually happens within 24 hrs. I always when using a vacuum pull around 20 then when I do not loose pressure overnight I consider the wine degassed. You will continue to get bubbles if you keep pumping CO2 bubbles are usually small and come quickly. Bigger bubbles usually indicate you have the gas off.

 

[brothermoo]

I have already bottles my first kit and on reflection think it could have done with some form of degassing... Has anyone used the drill attachment things? Are they any good?

 

[robie]

You get bubbles if you put water in a bottle and shake it. The question is, are the bubbles the tiny CO2 bubbles or are they just air bubbles getting mixed in as you shake the wine.

Taste the wine and determine if you get a fizzy sensation on the end of your tongue, like you would with champagne. If you don't get that, the gas is gone.

 

[brothermoo]

My wine is slightly fizzy to taste, not overly, but i would like improve my wine on the next batch making it smoother on the palette

 

[QCStang]

I have already bottles my first kit and on reflection think it could have done with some form of degassing... Has anyone used the drill attachment things? Are they any good?

I use one, I prefer using the spoon, but when I get tired, I go to the drill.

 

[cpfan]

I have already bottles my first kit and on reflection think it could have done with some form of degassing... Has anyone used the drill attachment things? Are they any good?

I have a Fizz-X and use it ensure that additives are well mixed. Personally I think that round-and-round degassing is not as effective as back-and-forth (or side-to-side) actions.

Steve

 

[rjb222]

The theory is that we actually beat off the co2 rather than stir off the co2. When I use the Fizzx I also turn the drill around counter clockwise while the drill spins in a clockwise direction this serves two purposes first and most importantly it helps prevent the addition of oxygen to your wine as you do not get a vortex. Second it helps beat off the co2. I know this sounds rough but i do not know another way to describe what happens it does not bruise the wine though. If you do decide to try this method start slow with the drill and the counter clockwise movement of the drill as you can create a volcano reaction very easily.

 

[brothermoo]

Cheers for the tips i need to try this out

 

[Kabang]

To degas, I have about a 24" tool with a spoon on one end and paddle blade on the other. The spoon end will fit inside the mouth of a carboy and I just stir vigorously in one direction gripping the paddle and switch directions after the wine is rotating fast. I do the until the small bubbles stop coming to the surface of wine inside the carboy.