WineXpert Luna Rossa - bottled and slightly gassy

[MN-winer]

I've warned others on this site to not be in a hurry to bottle, and I think I've not followed my own advice. I assumed that after much degassing and racking I was OK with the Luna Rossa, so I bottled it. During bottling I noticed that some foam was forming in the bottles but continued on. No blown corks or anything but upon opening my first one there is slight effervescense. After decanting it mostly goes away. I am not going to un cork and recork. Am I to assume the bubbliness will never go away and I will have to decant all these before drinking?

 

[robie]

It will not go away. When ready to drink, open the bottle, give it a good shake (Best to keep your thumb over the hole while shaking - ); and decant it for a couple of hours. Every once in a while as you pass by the decanter, give it a good whirl and shake. It should be fine.

If you should decide you want to give a bottle to a friend (I'll take one!), open it, decant it, and recork it. Just tell them to drink it fairly quickly.

 

[ibglowin]

Vacuum pumps are handy things to have!

 

[robie]

Vacuum pumps are handy things to have!

True! After I bought me vacuum pump from Wade, I decided to check out how well I had degassed some of my wines, which were degassed with a drill and stirrer before I bought the pump. I was really surprised at how much CO2 I had left in the wine. Wine really foamed up. The Vacuum pulled it right out, though.

The taste of CO2 is close enough to the taste of green wine, that I wonder how many young, homemade wines I have tried and didn't think were ready, which were likely more gassy than green.

The taste of CO2 IS different, yes, but I think it enhances the green taste.

 

[MN-winer]

Thanks all. I've done as you say Robie, and its tasted fine. I'm impressed with this Luna Rossa for the price. Luckily I don't have any blown corks yet.

 

[Runningwolf]

Glad to hear everything worked out. Smart guy that Robie is.

 

[jdeere5220]

Can you provide a link to a vacuum pump? I'm using my wife's "food storage vac" that sucks the air out of plastic food bags. Not sure that has enough ooommph.

How much vacuum can a glass carboy handle? I can't imagine the terrible thought of an imploding glass carboy....

 

[ibglowin]

Never pull a vacuum on an empty carboy. It will implode! Full carboys are safe as the force of the volume of wine offsets the vacuum.

PM Wade to see if he has any Pumps left over to sell. There is a thread in the Classifieds section on pumps.

 

[robie]

Can you provide a link to a vacuum pump? I'm using my wife's "food storage vac" that sucks the air out of plastic food bags. Not sure that has enough ooommph.

How much vacuum can a glass carboy handle? I can't imagine the terrible thought of an imploding glass carboy....

Yeah, that little food storage vac just is not the answer in the long haul, but I guess it will get the job done.

Wade puts threads on here frequently and offers good, used vacuum pumps he picks up from various places. That's where I got mine and I am very happy with it.

Most used pumps won't pull more than about 25 pds. Mine pulls about 18 at most and that's not a problem at all for a full carboy. Now I can't say how much a partially filled carboy can withstand. Maybe someone on here has done some test, but not me.