Cheap effective degassing vacuum?

[sour_grapes]

So you're of the opinion that when you're vacuum degassing keep at it even though you're pulling up the bigger bubbles not anymore small ones?

Thanx...

I think we're missing the point. A can of soda or beer, once opened, degases itself completely without heat or vacuum. To degas your wine, you don't need to pull a high vacuum for a long time. Once you see the foamy little bubbles dissipate, the CO2 is gone.

In fact, if you aren't in a hurry, the wine will naturally degas itself just fine as it bulk ages.

On this, I agree with Jim: degas until you reach the desired level of degassing. I am not 100% sure, but it probably does not require you to continue pumping on it in the "big bubble stage."

My setup allows me to monitor the amount of gas coming out. As I have mentioned before, I use a half-filled carboy and agitate it to speed the gas evolution. Since I am agitating, it is a little hard for me to know when I am in the "big bubble" stage, but this much is true: after 20 minutes or so, the actual amount of gas coming out is very small, even when bubbles are still being produced. (There is not much gas in the bubbles due to the PV=NRT relation referenced above.) Even though there is not much of it, I also taste the gas to get an idea of what it is. Believe me, it is CO2!

 

[richmke]

I picked up a Schuco (medical aspiration) pump off Craigslist for $50. I then bought the tubing from All-in-One wine pump for $60 (vacuum wine bottle setup, racking cane for vacuum degassing while racking, and 5 feet of hose). The vacuum wine bottle setup is expensive because of the high quality brass relief valve. Tell Steve the size of the connector to your vacuum pump, and he will custom make the tubing.

 

[Funksavage]

I bought the blichmann engineering degassing vacuum pump and degas kit and it pulls down to 650 mmHg, which is a little more than 25.6 inches. 1 Atmoshpere is 760 mmHg or 29.9 inHg. I'm seeing bubbles about 1/16" in diameter. This is my first attempt at vacuum degassing because I get tired of holding my drill and I don't want any more air getting to my wine. It has been almost a year and it's still not flat through bulk aging AND 20 minutes of whipping... Thus my splurging and experimentation. I'll let you know how it impacts the taste and if there is any alcohol left.

 

[drainsurgeon]

I've been a member here for about 2 months now. I am really surprised at the effort some go to, to degas a carboy full of wine. For years I've made kits and degassed, in step 3, with a SS wand with w small paddles on the end. I whip the wine for 5-7 min (with a drill) while adding the fining agents and back sweetening. I've never had a cork push out or experienced a sparkling wine in over 70 kits.

That being said, I still ordered a AIO wine pump about 6 weeks ago. It does degas effectively, but I bought it so I didn't have to lift heavy carboys full of wine anymore. I had a couple of close calls over the years and it was just a matter of time until I had a disaster. I've seen pictures here of what happens when you drop a full carboy.

Big boys DO cry!

 

[AZMDTed]

I've been a member here for about 2 months now. I am really surprised at the effort some go to, to degas a carboy full of wine. For years I've made kits and degassed, in step 3, with a SS wand with w small paddles on the end. I whip the wine for 5-7 min (with a drill) while adding the fining agents and back sweetening. I've never had a cork push out or experienced a sparkling wine in over 70 kits.

Be thankful that whatever temperature, altitude, pressure, phase of the moon, time of day, Mars transiting Venus or whatever other magical combination your under let's you do degassing easily. For some of us, it's a major problem.

While I've never had a cork pop out or truly sparkling wine, I've had a lot of lousy tasting bottles that were too sharp only because of the residual CO2. Sadly this is one of those areas where if you don't have the problem it's too easy to minimize the challenge the rest of us face. I've been trying to figure it out for a year and a half and still haven't gotten it perfect. But it's either keep trying or give up wine winemaking. I'm leaning towards temperature and atmospheric pressure being the two most important factors. Room temp consistently over 75 during secondary appears to be key for me to successful degassing.

 

[Mismost]

We seem to seldom discuss letting the wine breathe...open a bottle some time BEFORE you drink it.

As stated above, the CO2 will out gas on it's own, given the chance. Open a bottle, pour a smallish glass, plug the bottle top and give it a good shake...I may do that a couple of times...then let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour. Taste the little glass you poured, I think it will amaze you how much better the wine gets in only 30 minutes...it smooths out and opens up.

We preach TIME, give it more TIME all through the process. Then we pop the top, pour, and drink it just like a beer! A little more time at the opening is also worth investing in.

Not saying don't worry about CO2...we should be bottling very still wine and trying to elimenate CO2. But, if it's there, it ain't the end of the world.

Back to orginal topic...buy the time you buy a vacuum pump, the hoses, the fittings and go through the hassle...the All-In-One reprsents a complete package that is well thought out and exactly what you need. I did it both ways and prefer the AIO.

 

[drainsurgeon]

Be thankful that whatever temperature, altitude, pressure, phase of the moon, time of day, Mars transiting Venus or whatever other magical combination your under let's you do degassing easily. For some of us, it's a major problem.

While I've never had a cork pop out or truly sparkling wine, I've had a lot of lousy tasting bottles that were too sharp only because of the residual CO2. Sadly this is one of those areas where if you don't have the problem it's too easy to minimize the challenge the rest of us face. I've been trying to figure it out for a year and a half and still haven't gotten it perfect. But it's either keep trying or give up wine winemaking. I'm leaning towards temperature and atmospheric pressure being the two most important factors. Room temp consistently over 75 during secondary appears to be key for me to successful degassing.

I guess I've just been lucky Ted. I mostly brew in the summer and the temps are warm at that time of year. I do believe that stirring the must during fermentation helps. I think that quit a bit of the co2 is removed with vigorous stirring during the primary ferment. The whip I use is quite effective however. It gets a 6 gallon batch spinning like a tornado in the carboy. I start slow (especially with reds) so I don't spew wine all over the kitchen LOL. I've had a couple of guiser's that made a good mess and taught me to go slow at first. I also use a 6 1/2 gallon carboy at first racking which gives me a little head space for degassing. Maybe we spin a little faster this far north??

 

[Floandgary]

We seem to seldom discuss letting the wine breathe...open a bottle some time BEFORE you drink it.

As stated above, the CO2 will out gas on it's own, given the chance. Open a bottle, pour a smallish glass, plug the bottle top and give it a good shake...I may do that a couple of times...then let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour. Taste the little glass you poured, I think it will amaze you how much better the wine gets in only 30 minutes...it smooths out and opens up.

We preach TIME, give it more TIME all through the process. Then we pop the top, pour, and drink it just like a beer! A little more time at the opening is also worth investing in.

Not saying don't worry about CO2...we should be bottling very still wine and trying to elimenate CO2. But, if it's there, it ain't the end of the world.

Back to orginal topic...buy the time you buy a vacuum pump, the hoses, the fittings and go through the hassle...the All-In-One reprsents a complete package that is well thought out and exactly what you need. I did it both ways and prefer the AIO.

Application of the "TIME" factor is most evident when applied to bulk/carboy aging. I typically apply a year for reds and at least 6 mo. for whites. Natural degassing AND gravity clearing occur while you sleep!!! Save the drill for drilling

 

[Hinermad]

I've been degassing with a handheld vacuum pump, the kind you use to evacuate plastic baggies. I think I paid $20 for it on Ebay. It has a tapered nozzle tip that I mush down into a hole in a rubber stopper in the carboy. Thumb the switch and watch the fizz! I stop it and break the seal occasionally so it doesn't end up sucking the stopper into the carboy. I only do that on glass though. It doesn't work very well with my plastic carboys. They want to collapse under the pressure.

I also modified an aquarium air pump to pull a vacuum. I use it with a Buon Vino bottle filler.

As you might guess, I'm a cheap so-and-so.

 

[AZMDTed]

As you might guess, I'm a cheap so-and-so.

I don't know if you're cheap with your money, but 5 posts in 7 years? Now that some stingy posting

I just enjoy seeing what topics draw some people out.

 

[Hinermad]

I don't know if you're cheap with your money, but 5 posts in 7 years? Now that some stingy posting

I just enjoy seeing what topics draw some people out.

I'm just getting back into making mead, and discovered I still had an account here from back when I first got started.

 

[AZMDTed]

Excellent, welcome back

 

[drainsurgeon]

I've been degassing with a handheld vacuum pump, the kind you use to evacuate plastic baggies. I think I paid $20 for it on Ebay. It has a tapered nozzle tip that I mush down into a hole in a rubber stopper in the carboy. Thumb the switch and watch the fizz! I stop it and break the seal occasionally so it doesn't end up sucking the stopper into the carboy. I only do that on glass though. It doesn't work very well with my plastic carboys. They want to collapse under the pressure.

I also modified an aquarium air pump to pull a vacuum. I use it with a Buon Vino bottle filler.

As you might guess, I'm a cheap so-and-so.

I'm not sure how much of a vacuum you are drawing, but be careful not to implode a carboy. I've read other posts here that warn that its possible. The glass isn't that thick evidently. If you are drawing to the point of almost sucking a bung into the carboy, that might be too much. Some here even put a gage to measure the vacume and I remember the numbers correctly 24'-26" is plenty. Wouldn't want to see you get sucked into a bottle.

 

[Hinermad]

Wouldn't want to see you get sucked into a bottle.

Hah! Fat chance. (Literally)

But you're right, vacuum in a glass container is dangerous. I used to work on televisions back when they still used big picture tubes, which had vacuum inside, and I learned early on to respect those things. When one shattered it could be scary.

Whenever I'm using vacuum to degas I stop occasionally and let air back into the container. The saving grace to using the cheap aquarium pump is you can hear it bogging down when the pressure is getting too low.

 

[StBlGT]

Anyone ever here of a fresh saver. It is used for sealing food and removing air from the bag. Seen a video on youtube of a guy degassing mead....seemed like it worked well.

Also, for those using a vacu vin, what procedure do you do. How much and how often?

 

[Hinermad]

Anyone ever here of a fresh saver. It is used for sealing food and removing air from the bag. Seen a video on youtube of a guy degassing mead....seemed like it worked well.

I use something similar called a Vacu-Seal. It looks like this:

The tapered nozzle fits into the hole in a rubber stopper, and as long as you hold it in place it seals well enough for the vacuum to draw out the gas. The tip also has a small moisture trap in it so if your product foams up it won't immediately contaminate the pump. I thought it might be good for starting siphons too but I haven't had a lot of luck with that.