WineXpert Topping Off & 2nd Round Degassing

[wowatracy]

I have the selection estate pinot noir kit going right now. Last night I tried degassing by hand (shaking carboy around with airlock on) for nearly an hour and added my fining agents. Even the third and final sample I took gave a small puff after shaking it in the hydrometer tube. Just noticed today that I can use a Vacu Vin pump which I have to help degass it further.

Will it be too late to degass further if the wine has the fining agents in it and has been topped off with commercial wine for 24 hours?

Also, after adding 1.75 bottles of commercial wine to top off I still have a bit of airspace left over. I thought I was using a 6g carboy but apparently I was using my 6.5g carboy. Is it too late to transfer it to my 6g, should I add marbles to the 6.5g, or should I just leave it and not worry about it?

I was planning on racking in 8 days anyways so I could just rack into the 6g then.

Thanks,
Allen

 

[ShaunDanz]

If you have a 6 gallon carboy, yes, transfer to that. Racking should help degas a little. You will want to top up to within a couple inches of the airlock. I have a drill-mount degasser and need quite a bit of headspace to use it. Therefore, I normally just use that until the battery dies and then I use the Vacu Vin pump over the course of the next week to degas the rest.

 

[wowatracy]

Ok, I'll probably rack into the 6g carboy tonight.

So you continue to degas over the week while it's going through the clearing stage?

 

[robie]

Ok, I'll probably rack into the 6g carboy tonight.

So you continue to degas over the week while it's going through the clearing stage?

Don't try to degas while the wine is still clearing. Either do it just before clearing begins or wait until afterward when the wine has been racked off the sediment.

If you get into a hurry to bottle, you wil end up with sediment in your bottles. let the wine set in the carboy for a couple months, then rack and bottle.

 

[wowatracy]

Thanks Robie, that's what I thought I should do. I'm a little nervous about racking from the 6.5g to the 6g 24 hours after I started the clearing process but it sounds like it's better to do that rather than leaving that much air space.

I'm guessing I should rack all of the sediment into the 6g as well? I thought I had read that during the clearing stage it's better to have all of the sediment in there.

Definitely not in a hurry to bottle but was planning on racking off of the sediment after 8 days in the clearing stage per the instructions that came with the kit. Will bulk age it for a month or two after that.

 

[robie]

Thanks Robie, that's what I thought I should do. I'm a little nervous about racking from the 6.5g to the 6g 24 hours after I started the clearing process but it sounds like it's better to do that rather than leaving that much air space.

I'm guessing I should rack all of the sediment into the 6g as well? I thought I had read that during the clearing stage it's better to have all of the sediment in there.

Definitely not in a hurry to bottle but was planning on racking off of the sediment after 8 days in the clearing stage per the instructions that came with the kit. Will bulk age it for a month or two after that.

Actually never thought about this before... If clearing has already started, I would not take the sediment to the other carboy. However, I would add another bottle of commercial wine, rather than rack it at this point. After all, the extra bottle is not going to go to waste.

It is OK to rack after 8 days, but you will have to rack again before you bottle. I don't like to tell people to NOT follow the instructions, but you can let the wine set 3 or 4 weeks before racking, rather than in just 8 days. Regardless, only rack if the wine is actually clear by then.

 

[wowatracy]

Ok, I like the idea of not having to rack to the other carboy. Maybe I'll sanitize some marbles, add those, then top off the carboy and myself with a little extra commercial wine.