sorry I'm not clear but this is all new to me.
If the SG for sweet wine is normally 1.010, then I'm ok. I'm not looking to ferment, I just want to bottle the wine - it's been over a year and a half since I started this and it's making me crazy. I added the sorbate about one month ago and the wine looks clear. I didn't want to bottle because I noticed tiny bubbles. that's how this thread started - should I degas or not.
Sorry for the misunderstanding, I am sure you are frustrated by now.
An SG of 1.010 represents some sweetness in the wine. If you add more sugar, the SG reading will go up. Don't worry about the SG, if the wine is as sweet as you want it. At this point, it is not important.
Your wine is old enough to have lost a lot of the tartness that comes with a very young wine. Some of us get the taste of a young, tart wine mixed up with the taste of CO2 in the wine. You should not have that problem at this stage. As a result and at this point, if you taste the wine, you should be able to tell if it still needs degassed or not. here's how:
If tasting the wine produces a tingly, fizzy, sparkling feeling on your tongue, that is CO2 and it needs to be removed (degassed). Champagne is a good example; it is loaded with CO2; that's what makes it "sparkle" or tingle. If your wine is not a champagne, it should not have that sparkle or tingle; not even a little bit.
If it still has CO2, first, if the wine still has sediment in the bottom of its container, rack the wine completely off that sediment before you try to degas it, because degassing it will stir all that sediment back up into your wine.
Make sure the wine is warmed up to something around 74F. Stir the wine really well for a minute or so. If it is degassing, you will see small bubbles come to the surface. After each stir, let it set for about 5 minutes, then taste it again. Repeat this process until the CO2 (tingly, fizzy feeling) is gone.
Once it is all gone, you can bottle it.
An alternative for your first batch:
If you choose to leave the CO2 in the wine, you can still bottle it, but you will have to decant each bottle before you drink it, so the CO2 can escape. This was the case for my first batch of wine. What is left of it is still loaded with CO2, so I just decant it for several hours, shaking it up a little every thirty minutes or so, until the CO2 is gone.
It's not the end of the world if you open a bottle and it still has CO2. However, it does make it a little uncomfortable to give it as a gift. I never gift any of my first batch for that very reason.
Good luck!
