Vacuum Sealers as a Way to Degas

[MedPretzel]

Hi all!

Since I picked up a few AWESOME bottles the other day at the second-hand store, I went again today. And lo-and-behold! I found a vacuum sealer today and promptly thought of degassing my wine with it (just 3 bucks!)! And since I hate to degas, I thought this would be a godsend! I've read that it works with degassing wine, so I thought it was 3 buckaroos well spent.

I haven't tried it out on my wines, though, but I see a slight problem. I don't have a hose-contraption that many vacuum sealers have. It's more like a flat piece of black plastic, which will be hard to find anything to fit snugly around.

You all seem to be much more creative than I am, so I am asking, does anyone have a good idea how I could phenaggle (how the heck do you spell that?!?) a way to be able to connect sealer to carboy via a racking tube? I promise, pictures will follow soon.


Martina

 

[MedPretzel]

Well, I figured it out. I just now have to buy some longer tubing, but I think I've got a winner. I will post pictures when I have everything set up the way I want it.

 

[Hippie]

I have seen demonstrations and comments frmm others using a vacuum bag sealer to degas wines in a carboy.A whole lot of the time, most usually end up with comments like, "good grief, how many times should I pull a vacuum before all the gas is out?" and "I have been degassing with this thang for months and I am still getting bubbles". I am just about to come to the conclusion that alot more than CO2 is coming out of these wines with those tiny bubbles. Some of those machines pull a heck of alot of vacuum. Some maybe pull way too much. Maybe yours is one of the less powerful ones and will work just enough to pull out all the CO2. I have no proof, but I think it might be possible to pull the SO2 out with those bubbles. Something else is coming out besides just CO2, otherwise, 1 or 2 or maybe 3 times at the most for a few minutes each would be plenty.

Edited by: Hippie

 

[MedPretzel]

 

[Joseph1]

Hippie, I agree that more is bubbling out of the wine than CO2. As I recall from science class, Nature abhors a vacuum. When the vacuum is released, surrounding air rushes in to replace the CO2. The next time a vacuum is pulled, this air comes out of suspension and when the vacuum is released it is again replaced by surrounding air.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

I don’t know if the SO2 can be pulled out of suspension by a vacuum. However, some of the surrounding air going back into the wine is oxygen, which will combine with the SO2. Repeated use of a vacuum could reduce the levels of free SO2 in the wine although I doubt the reduction would be significant.

I use the VacuVin to create a vacuum as part of my degassing regimen for kit wines. It is used only one time after the stabilizers and fining have been added and before I top up. For my scratch wines, I let Nature take care of the degassing over time.
I have no scientific source to support these comments, it just seem logical to me. Perhaps another member can shed some light on this topic. Until I read something to convince me otherwise, I treat applying a vacuum the same as adding oak or sweetening a wine; a little may improve the wine, more is not necessarily better.

 

[MedPretzel]

I'm starting to agree here....





My wine, which I tried with this contraption, is now bubbling like crazy.

 

[Hippie]

Hhmmm...wierd.


I don't know what else to add. Thanks Joseph. Good luck Martina.


Yes, I do so know what else to add, at the risk of sounding smartassed. I never have problems degassing wines.

 

[MedPretzel]

I don't know, maybe I don't either. It's just that it seems like there's always something going wrong with my wine in the bottle.





My mom had an exploding cork about a month ago - with a wine that was in the bottle for over a year and a half.

Maybe I should give up!