RJ Spagnols top up question

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StBlGT

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I just racked from secondary to a new carboy and degassed and mixed in everything to stabilize and what not. I have about a 750ml bottles worth of room beneath the bung. I want to top up with similar wine from the state store, but it is president's day tomorrow and state stores are closed in pennsylvania.

My question is....will i run any risk of leaving that much head space as is until late tuesday when i can pick a bottle up after work, or should I top up asap with water? Thanks.
 
I just racked from secondary to a new carboy and degassed and mixed in everything to stabilize and what not. I have about a 750ml bottles worth of room beneath the bung. I want to top up with similar wine from the state store, but it is president's day tomorrow and state stores are closed in pennsylvania.

My question is....will i run any risk of leaving that much head space as is until late tuesday when i can pick a bottle up after work, or should I top up asap with water? Thanks.

No, wait for the wine on Tues.
 
Ok, thanks!

After i degassed i had a layer of foam and thought it would go away by morning....but it didn't. I have the wine sitting in mid 60's like the instructions said. Is this normal? Will it go after i top up?
 
If you degassed in the "traditional" way of aggressive stirring, and the temperature of the wine was in the mid 60s, my guess is that you still have lots of CO2 in the wine. It will continue to naturally lose CO2 over time (and by time, I'm talking a number of months). Warmer wine temperature during degassing will greatly enhance the effectiveness of the agitation methods of CO2 removal. Time is also an indispensable ally.
 
Thanks, david. I degassed around 70 or so, but left it in an area overnight in the 60s. Rjs instructions said to put it in an area of 59-66 degrees. So this looks normal? I dont plan to bottle for 3 months, so that is ok. This is my first batch and just paranoid i guess.

Should i keep it warm for those 3 months or cooler like rjs said?

I degassed using a device on a drill. Followed rjs instructions.
 
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Does it look normal? I would say, yes. Normal and gassy.

Wine will clear and degas on its own, given enough time. When we try to expedite the process, there are a few things we can do to minimize potentially harmful side effects and speed up the degassing timeline a bit.

The first thing we often do is manually agitate the wine. This is most effectively done with a drill-mounted stirring device. The effectiveness is also enhanced by having the wine warm. Stirring too much can potentially oxidize the wine, so a certain amount of judgment is required on how much is enough. Warming the wine means less stirring and less time will be needed during thus step. While keeping the wine warm over time might speed up the natural loss of CO2, I'm not sure there are many other benefits, and the wine might be harmed, as most advocate much cooler temps for long term wine storage. So the warming is fine for the short period of time for stirring, but I would let it cool back to the recommended range in the instructions after that.

The second thing that can be done is to place the wine under a vacuum. I use the AIO pump for racking and bottling. I do not otherwise place my wine under vacuum. Prior to purchasing the AIO, I tried placing the wine under vacuum with a brake bleeder. I think this was marginally helpful, but labor intensive.

Really, the best thing is time. Bulk aging in a topped up carboy, making periodic KMeta additions, as needed. Don't be in a rush to bottle. The only degassing that will happen once wine is bottled is if the cork blows...

If wine is slightly gassy in the bottle, you can decant it for a while prior to drinking it. That will help. You can also use a vacuvin on the remaining wine in the bottle. Seeing bubbles with a vacuvin is telling.

I bottled a fair amount of gassy wine by following kit instructions closely. They give us the earliest time a wine can potentially be bottled, not necessarily the best time to bottle.
 
I just racked from secondary to a new carboy and degassed and mixed in everything to stabilize and what not. I have about a 750ml bottles worth of room beneath the bung .

I suggest getting 2 bottles. The volume from the shoulder to the neck is deceptive, it can easily consume 1.5-3 bottles of wine depending upon the carboy. And if you have left overs, enjoy :)
 
Thank you very much, everyone. I am going to leave it a day or two in a warmer area, until i top up tomorrow night. Then i will put it in a cooler area like rjs recommended. Then i will wait at least 3 months to bottle. Hopefully it works out!
 

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