Gassing your wine?

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scubaman2151

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Well I know some people once they rack like to lay down a layer of co2 over their wine by just pumping it in. I think I may have found a better way to do this, why cant you just take a small piece of dry ice, drop it into the wine, and put the bung and airlock onto the carboy? As the dry ice melts it produces co2, it would leave the carboy out of the airlock but some would stay in as it is heavier then air. You would only need a small amount of the dry ice, what do you think?


Scubaman2151
 
Scubaman this would certainly work and an article recently covered it's use in Winemaker Magazine. The problem is handling it safely and getting a small enough piece to be practical. There is also the problem of disposal of excess dry ice if you need to purchase in larger quantities. There is a real danger of freezing flesh with it. Also as the dry ice decomposes or whatever it is called, it does generate C02 and can actually suffocate you if not handled in sufficiently ventilated areas.


If you take the necessary precautions you can use it, but I would rather rely on simple methods of just using an airlock and degassing.
 
Ya I saw the article in Winemaker mag just didnt get a chance to throughly read through it. I was wondering becuase there is a store right down the street from me that sells dry ice, ill stop in and see how much they want for just some little pieces of it.


Thanks appleman, can always rely on you for a speedy reply :).


Scubaman2151
 
If you have access to a CO2 fire extinguisher you can make your own dry ice. Take a small cooler outside and shoot the fire extinguisher into it for a few seconds. A part of the CO2 will solidify into dry ice. That's how most labs that only need dry ice occaisionally make it - except they keep one ton tanks of liquid CO2 on hand. About 1 cc of dry ice is sufficient to protect a carboy of wine. Note that you are re-gassifying the wine, so you may have to degass again.


As others have mentioned, dry ice is very hazardous. Do not try the above indoors as you can create lethal levels of CO2 in the air. Dty ice is cold enough to induce irreversible frostbite in seconds. Wear full PPE (personal protective equipment) including a full face shield and heavy gloves when doing this.
 
This is what we do,I got the idea from one of the wineries here. They havewhat looks like a very large electric cheese grater with a blower attachment. Drop in ablock and flip the switch, instantdry ice powder, then they shoot it overanything they want protected.
The City Market here gives dry ice away to costumers who need to keep there groceries cold until they get home. Not a big demand for more cold around here this time of the year.


Jeff
 

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