De-Gassing

winemaker_3352 · Oct 8, 2010

You are right - but i bet it will pull enough vacuum that if left long enough it would do fine.

I once put a drilled bung on a carboy attached a siphon hose - used my mouth to create the suction and the clamped the hose - that degassed it. Hard as hell and i won't do it again

- but my point is that it will work to some degree.

Can it pull as much as a vacuum pump - no - will it work if you don't want to spend $100 - $200 dollars on a vacuum pump - yeah - it is better than nothing IMO - unless you bulk age it and let nature do the rest.

jdeere5220 · Oct 8, 2010

djrockinsteve said:
Make sure you don't remove all of the CO2 as your wine will taste flat.

Really? First time I ever heard that one. Is that for all wines or just certain styles? Learn something new every day!

As for the vacuum pump, I use my wife's little freezer-bag food storage pump in combination with the stirrer-whip-erator. I stir first to get the bulk gas out, then use the pump. I try to hold a good vacuum until the bubbles have 90% stopped (5 - 10 minutes), then call it done.

xoltri · Oct 8, 2010

winemaker_3352 said:
You are right - but i bet it will pull enough vacuum that if left long enough it would do fine.

Can it pull as much as a vacuum pump - no - will it work if you don't want to spend $100 - $200 dollars on a vacuum pump - yeah - it is better than nothing IMO - unless you bulk age it and let nature do the rest.

It won't work. Someone on another forum measured the vacuum pulled by a shop vac and it was only 3". That's not nearly enough to vacuum degass. Vacuum cleaners are high volume / low pressure as opposed to the aspirator pumps which are low volume / high pressure.

Here's the post in question:
http://www.winepress.us/forums/inde...ump-degassing/page__view__findpost__p__396398

winemaker_3352 · Oct 8, 2010

Yeah - however i did see on you tube where someone used a shop vac - it actually did alright.

gesnipes · Oct 9, 2010

gesnipes said:
Harbor freight has a vacuum extension and hose with an attachment that connects to 1/2 inch tubing. I'm going to try it out with my older shop vac and see if it creates enough suction to rack the wine. I also use vacuum to filter my wine with my disc filter. Much better than gravity.

If it works, I'll post to the group. The attachment kit is only $9 - opposed to $99 to $150 for a used pump.

The attachment worked like a champ. I racked 22 gallons of wine today and vacuum pumping made it so much easier - and quicker.

I didn't try degassing and probably won't. I'm thinking it would be too much strain on my shop vac to pull a hard suction for 20-30 minutes. I would hate to burn it out.

Here's the poor man's vacuum racking kit.