# Carbonation in Wine



## tommysalamii (Jul 8, 2009)

I just recently tried a wine I made from a kit- Vitners Reserve Merlot. And it was all agreed upon by friends and myself that the wine had carbonation. I followed the directions to the tee and the wine was bottled about 2 months ago. What went wrong?


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## ruggierm1 (Jul 9, 2009)

I've got to assume that there was still some CO2 left in there. When you degassed, did you use a spoon, or something that attaches to your drill?


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## Tom (Jul 9, 2009)

Degassing will resolve this in the future. I degas before adding finning and when I rack.
The wine you have bottled I would decant which will release alot of the gas.


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## Malkore (Jul 9, 2009)

Tom is right on the money. Degassing, especially your first time, can be tricky. I have one batch under my belt, and used a drill mounted degasser, and still left the slightest hint of carbonation in my chianti. You can't see it or really feel it, but your tongue detects that slight tiny and the bit of bite from carbonic acid.

Pour into a caraf and let it sit a few minutes, and by the time you pour into glasses and start drinking, it should be gone.


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## smurfe (Jul 9, 2009)

Your question has been answered. I just had to post to say welcome and more importantly, I absolutely love your user name!


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## BettyJ (Jul 9, 2009)

*De gassing*

I have never done this (this part is lacking in most recipe guides I have seen) and have only occasionally tasted any carbonation. Is there something I am doing wrong? I do agitate a lot in the primary and usually splash well with rackings (although some say you should limit the air exposure). 

Have bottled at least 5 different batches of all types and only once had the cork pop out. On second thought, one of my recent merlot that I bottled I tasted of a little carbonation, but it immediately dispersed. If the carbonation doesn't bother you, is it ok to leave it?


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## Wade E (Jul 9, 2009)

Because you are not making wine from fruit and using a press there will be lots of gas trapped in your wine and manual labor can be very extensive to get it out. Some people say to bulk age your wine for a long time to get it out and some will come out this way but in my opinion this is n ot the correct way to do it as if its not degassed it will not clear properly either bacause gas will keep sediment suspended in your wine. If you are going to continue making wine then I reccomend buying a drill mounted stirrer and also recommend not getting the plastic shaft 1 as it will not last you very long.


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## BettyJ (Jul 9, 2009)

*fruit wine*

Early on I wine just with fruit - Mangos (almost 2 yrs ago) that didn't have carbonation. Then after several bad batches of mango and pineapple I switched to concentrates, which just turned out "OK". Now I have graduated into using mostly fruit with grape concentrates and am getting ready to bottle a batch of mango/pineapple/banana. I took some off the top for testing sweeting and flavoring (F pac + glycerin). I bottled it and chilled for friends to try and this has no carbonation at all... Am I missing something? Is it possible the humidity / higher temps (I keep my wine 75- 80 F) here are the reason?


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## BettyJ (Jul 9, 2009)

*Fruit prep*

Other than limes (which I juice), I chop up or mash the fruit by hand, freeze it and then thaw it prior to starting the fermentation if you think that could be the difference....


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## Wade E (Jul 9, 2009)

Wine like any other fluid will degas at these temps of 75 better then cooler temps also.


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## Boozehag (Jul 10, 2009)

Ok so when do you know you have degassed enough? I have a blueberry wine that I have been degassing for two weeks now usually at least once but often twice a day, so far its still gassy as! 
I use my very cool drill thingy and also shake the carboy if I dont have time to use the defizz thing.
When is enough. Im sick of this now and have put it out in the cooler to cool down and degass at its leisure.

I have been told that it is easier to degas when its warmer than cooler and then add finings at the cooler temperature if you want to add them, then someone told me that it wont defizz until it cools down?????? What is right?

I dont want to add finings yet as it doesnt seem to be degassing at all, heaps of bubbles everytime I try, its not decreasing. So what do I do?


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## Madriver Wines (Jul 10, 2009)

I am no expert on this but once has been enough so far?? Is the wine done fermenting?? I just racked my blueberry yesterday so it is a ways off from degassing but am wondering if it will give me fits as well.


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## cpfan (Jul 10, 2009)

Boozehag said:


> I dont want to add finings yet as it doesnt seem to be degassing at all, heaps of bubbles everytime I try, its not decreasing. So what do I do?


Coll:

Taste it. If it tastes carbonated, keep degassing. If it doesn't, you should be OK. BTW what is the sg and temperature?

Personally I prefer to degas and clear at a warm temp. I shoot for 23-24C. It's the way that I interpret kit instructions, and it works for me.

Steve


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## Boozehag (Jul 11, 2009)

Oh yes finished fermenting, Ive treated it with kmeta and sorbate.
The final sg was .995 and currently its sitting in my garage which Im not sure of the temperature but it s been getting as low as -3 here so I expect its cold enough.

Ill go taste it, didnt think of that.


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## Boozehag (Jul 12, 2009)

Ok I checked the sg again and its still sitting at .995 so not started refermenting, at least I dont think it has.
Ive got it in the garage where its really cold and am still degassing it but its still really full of gas. Should I just leave it and ignore it now?

My feijoa that has just finished is almost gas free and Ive only just degassed it twice.


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## cpfan (Jul 12, 2009)

Coll:

I think you said that the wine you are having trouble degassing is at -3C. Warm it up. Warm liquids release CO2 much easier than col liquids.

Steve


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## Boozehag (Jul 20, 2009)

Hi Steve,

I had it at 20C for 90% of the degassing stage and then got fed up with it so stuck it out in the garage, seems no different either way, so am considering leaving it to age gracefully and hope it naturally degasses itself.

I did taste it and it does taste carbonated which I didnt like at all.

Other wines Ive made have only needed a few times so this is new to me!


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## cpfan (Jul 20, 2009)

Boozehag said:


> hope it naturally degasses itself.



I've never really tried it, but I'm not convinced it will work. And I'm very sure that it won't work at 3C.

Steve


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## Wade E (Jul 20, 2009)

68* is a hard temp to degas at, you should get it up to 75* to degas at. Colder temps make this process much harder and is the reason why when making a sparkling wine we do the process at almost freezing temps so we dont loose much carbonation.


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## St Allie (Jul 20, 2009)

I've just been leaving mine in the barn Collette, it's a bit warmer than your garage though.. it's lined and insulated. But cooler than the house because I have the fire on all the time.... haven't had a problem with degasssing since the first apple wine batch. Once I shifted those carboys to the barn, they sorted themselves out.

Allie


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## Boozehag (Jul 21, 2009)

How cold is your barn Allie? My garage is reading between 3 and 10 most of the time. Think Ill go put the heating pad under the carboy then. Thanks for the advice.


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## St Allie (Jul 21, 2009)

Coll?

you still coming at the end of the month for the weekend?

Will drag you out to the barn darl

Allie


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## Boozehag (Jul 21, 2009)

Dragging sounds like fun!!!

Im up this weekend but onyl for a few hours...forgot about my schedule for the OSFA show finishing next week and also two commissions due by the 31st so have to actually do some work....sad huh!!!!

Ill get back to you on when Im coming up for my special visit asap! Dying to try your wine! Ill bring some of mine too


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## BettyJ (Jul 21, 2009)

*Jealous*

Wish I could be there for the girl wine tastings/visit - have a great time!


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## St Allie (Jul 22, 2009)

We'd love to have you Betty.. it's a bit of a swim for you though.

hehehe


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