I've found the light!!

[tbayav8er]

So, I've been making wine at home for a little over a year and a half now. For my first 6-9 months, I was making the wine as per the instructions, bottling when it said to bottle, etc.

I was getting extremely frustrated with gassy wine. I beat the crap out of it with a wine whip for hours with my drill, tried using a brake bleeder etc. etc. but most people on the forum said "just let it sit in the carboy longer".

So, I degassed at the degassing step with my wine whip for about 20 minutes (to get most of the CO2 out), and let me LE15 Barbera, and EP Spanish Cab Sauv age in the carboy for about 9 months. Bottled the Barbera yesterday, and behold...No CO2 at all , and it tastes excellent!.

Patience is key, and now I'm a believer!

 

[heatherd]

You'll also have less sediment in your bottles, which is a bonus benefit of bulk-aging.

 

[AZMDTed]

I'm glad that worked for you, what were your storage conditions, i.e., temp, temp swings, airlock, solid bung, waterless airlock, etc?

No doubt that gassy wine is the biggest frustration for many.

 

[tbayav8er]

Temperature was steady around 17 degrees C, I used a standard airlock, half full with K-meta solution. No temperature swings. Carboy was topped up within about 2 inches of the top. Fairly dry climate in the basement, so I had to keep an eye on water level in the airlock every week or so. I decided not to use a solid bung, since I heard that long term aging is totally safe with a standard air lock as long is the carboy is topped right up. Also, the solid bung won't let CO2 escape. Perhaps if I had planned on aging the wine longer than this in the carboy, I may have switched to a solid bung, since all of the gas appears to be gone.

I'm glad that worked for you, what were your storage conditions, i.e., temp, temp swings, airlock, solid bung, waterless airlock, etc?

No doubt that gassy wine is the biggest frustration for many.

 

[wineforfun]

What was your racking and kmeta addition schedule during the 9 mos. of aging?

 

[tbayav8er]

After the degassing step (where k-meta is added for the first time), I let it age for 3 months, racked, 1/4 tsp of k-meta, and topped up. Then I let it go until now. Sanitized my bottles with k-meta, put the bottles on the tree for about 10 mins, but didn't rinse them with water. I'm thinking the residual k-meta in the bottles from sanitizing should do the trick.

 

[Mismost]

I'm glad that worked for you, what were your storage conditions, i.e., temp, temp swings, airlock, solid bung, waterless airlock, etc?

No doubt that gassy wine is the biggest frustration for many.

It is flustrating, but not the end of the world. Just pull the cork a while before you plan to drink it, give it a shake or a couple of shakes, the CO2 wants to leave, just give a chance to go! Let it breathe a while.