Do I have to Degas

[franki1926]

I never have degased my red or white and never have had any issues. It's been bulk aging since September, racked 3 times and no visible co2. I was told that you must do it any thoughts ?

 

[Calamity Cellars]

I never take a step to degas. Red wines draw a slight vacuum in the barrel so that combined with time removes the co2. With my white wines I find that I release a lot of co2 during the filtering process and it is all gone by the time a bottle. I don't make kits but my impression from reading forums is that it is a necessary step for those that do.


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[sour_grapes]

I think the critical ingredient is not kits vs. grapes, it is time. If you are going to age under airlock for a long time, then it will degas naturally over time. Kit instructions assume fast bottling times, so they specify an explicit degassing step.

 

[cpfan]

No you don't have to degas. If there is dissolved CO2 in your wine, you may want to degas. If there is no CO2, then it is not necessary to degas. Unlike sour_grapes, I don't think that aging in a carboy under air-lock allows a wine to degas, but I have never done any testing of this belief. Different winemakers use different methodologies (sometimes just subtle differences), and this will have an impact on dissolved CO2.

Steve

 

[sour_grapes]

CP, knowing your background, I defer to your opinion. However, I am surprised! I have not done any testing, either, but recall many people here who age their wine in bulk report that it degasses naturally before bottling time. Did I misinterpret them?

 

[cpfan]

CP, knowing your background, I defer to your opinion. However, I am surprised! I have not done any testing, either, but recall many people here who age their wine in bulk report that it degasses naturally before bottling time. Did I misinterpret them?

sour_grapes:

The real question is not other people, but rather what happens in your wine.

We all do things differently. Do you stir in the primary? (I don't usually)Because that will reduce dissolved CO2. Do you ferment to dry in the primary? Do you age in a barrel for any length of time? What temperature do you bulk age the wine at? These all make a difference to the amount of CO2 dissolved.

I feel certain that I have left a wine for 6 months in a carboy and it still contained CO2. The temp would have been 65-68F, I think. BUT...it was a long time ago, and I can't be positive. I wouldn't have added K-meta every 3 months. Stirring K-meta in to the wine would release some CO2.


I'll go back to my statement "If there is dissolved CO2 in your wine, you may want to degas. If there is no CO2, then it is not necessary to degas."

I don't want to be negative to any other winemaker (least of all you, sour_grapes), I just don't want people depending on bulk aging their wine to degas it.

Steve

 

[vacuumpumpman]

It is just beSt to make sure that your wine is degassed prior to bottling -

 

[Sp33dymonk3y]

I guess it depends on how you want your (wine) you want a sparking wine, champagne) or do you want a stabilized calm wine.. I think all wines are different, blueberry, strawberry, fruit wines, vegetable wines, it just depends on what kind of wine you want.. Some wines are better with co2 in it, some Re better without co2 in it. I personally like some of my wines with co2 in it and some without in it. You could make a wine 2 months before and you love it with the co2, but you could also make the same exact wine 2 months later and the wine for some reason have a different taste to it and you like the co2 to it. It's all in your opinion. What I have noticed everyone does and likes their wines different.. I would just suggest experimenting yourself and seeing how it turns out. Make 2-3 batches of the same with and without co2 (degassing) and see how you like it


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[Sp33dymonk3y]

Perfect example, look at the dragon blood wine. Most of everyone's wine of that type taste different, because of the lemon they use is different. The fruit is different, the yeast is different. So unless that prrson has used EXACTLY te same receipt you used then it's hard to get that Tate. Wow I'm off subject sorry/:


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[Turock]

If you are making an early drinking wine like DB or skeeter pee, then you want to degass manually because these wines taste better young than when aged. Kits are degassed too, if the directions on it say to do it.

But all other wines do not need degassing. The reason--because they must be bulk aged and in 6 months to 1 year all the CO2 will come out naturally, even under airlock. Bulk aging is a very important step for fruit and grape wine and in that time frame, all the CO2 will be gone. Manual degassing bears the risk of too much O2 introduction and oxidation risks. So you manually degass---why bother when the wine NEEDS the bulk aging step where it will happen by itself. It's not logical, if you think about it.

 

[franki1926]

Thanks for all the tips, I use juice not kits and i think the almost 9 months of bulk has gotten rid of the co2, I gave it a good taste (Orange Muscato) and i am super pleased, can't wait to bottle.