Degassing.....Again!!!

[Mark]

I tend to favor reds so that'll work - Thanks!

 

[Mike777]

Here is the cab getting cubes. a very fine layer of sediment settled so its getting moved. Payed so much attention to the sediment it spilled a little. We got a good laugh out of this.

Edited by: Mike777

 

[Wade E]

I wouldnt cry over spilled wine but I dont think laughing is appropriate either!

 

[Mike777]

Well it was just enough to make a mess but not an actual full glass or anything.

Remember I said we tasted some. Add a bag of cubes and get a half a glass to taste early. Had to, just to get it back down the neck.

Edited by: Mike777

 

[Wade E]

alright we'll let it slide this time!

 

[PeterZ]

Any recommendations on household things that are porous enough yet easy to thoroughly sanitize?I remember reading recently that someone used a marble, but those are fairly smooth.

Mark, unglazed but fired ceramic pieces would be my first choice. Chemically, they are darned near completely inert, and you can put them in the dishwasher or the oven without damage. You can also soak them in strong bleach solutions, as well as sanitizer-strength K-meta. You might look for a local ceramics shop. They make "greenware" that customers buy, take home, clean up, glaze, and then bring back to be fired. The greenware is made in molds at the shop, and is very fragile. Ask the owner to save the next broken piece of greenware and fire it for you raw. (This is a good time to trade hobbies - a bottle of wine for a lifetime supply of unglazed ceramic chunks.) Break the resulting ceramic into pieces that will fit through the neck of a carboy.

It occurs to me that this might also be an alternative for those who use marbles instead of topping up. Even if you are not doing vacuum degassing, ceramic shards could probably be had for free at the local shop. I would avoid glazed pieces, as some of the glazes use heavy metals, including lead, for color.

OK - major change!!! Just spoke to SWMBO, who used to do ceramics. The procedure is to buy the greenware, take it home and clean it up, have it fired the first time, glaze it, and have it fired again to melt the glaze. Sometimes, if there is a flaw in the greenware, the object breaks during the first firing. Voila! Scraps of unglazed ceramic. If you need them right away then buy something - a life sized bunny 3/8" thick would be about $10 here, and $5 to fire it - and just tell the owner to fire it as is. Take it home, hit it with a hammer, and you have double duty wine displacement stuff.

One final note - a porous surface is of little help unless you are A) vacuum degassing, or B) trying to boil something without a lot of splashing. It won't help for those of us who stir-degas.

 

[Mike777]

Rachig rings or ceramic saddles will do it. about 4-10 bucks for a half liter. Maybe a bit more depends on who is selling them. Easy cleanup by soaking or boiling. Made for food boiling and spirits. I just haven't got that far yet with some of these things. I would like to find some saddles in a very small bag since I'm only going to have 4 carboys total.

http://www.brewhaus.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=40003005&Show=ExtInfo

Edited by: Mike777

 

[PeterZ]

Mike,

Are the saddles small enough to fit through the neck of a carboy? The only ones I have ever dealt with are from the refining industry, and the ones I have seen are way too big for a carboy mouth.

 

[Mike777]

Hi Peter, the saddles at my local are 3/4 inch across the feet and they have the rings there also both for about 3 times the price at brewhaus. I was looking at them when I was there getting nutrient. Some of the things people sell as rings are just cut glass tube instead of ceramic.

They say you should boil them as well as sanitise to get whatever seeps in back out. I have so many things to collect yet, they are pretty low on my list. I need a gravity filter for the reisling first.

My wife is just happy to have the fermenter out of the dining room right now before company comes.

Edited by: Mike777

 

[Harry]

Mike


I guess all the women are alike, My wife also wanted me to remove my fermentor off the kitchen table when all the kids were coming over for Easter Dinner. But they drank my wine & loved it LOL


Harry

 

[PolishWineP]

Yeah, women are all the same. The nerve!

Wanting the fermenter off the table so you can eat and drink wine! Huh. What WILL we think of next?

 

[rbfarm]

Wade,
I have just signed-up for the forum and have only been making wine since December. I am curious about references to a brake bleeder to help de-gas the wine.
rbfarm

 

[NorthernWinos]

Welcome rbfarm.....hope you stay awhile and tell us about your winemaking ventures....

 

[rbfarm]

Thanks,
I am on the lower end of the learning curve and anxious to learn more about this process. I have been very pleased with the service george and his people have provided, and I plan to continue doing business with finevinewines.

 

[OilnH2O]

Welcome aboard, RBFARM!


While you're waiting for Wade (and you won't have to wait long!) use the "search" function with brake bleeder in it and I'll bet you'll turn up a lot of the old posts that spoke to this way of pulling a vacuum!

 

[Wade E]

Sorry working on putting a floor down in my wineroom tonight and just
finished! Whew! But anyway, I would only give this bleeder up for
something better like an enolmatic filter or electric vacuum pump. This
tool can be purchased at any local automotive store but I recommend the
metal one since it is rebuildable as Jobe says and that it is probably
less prone to vacuum leaks. That being said, if and when you buy one
everything you need comes with it. All you need to use is the bleeder,
the 2' or 3' length of hose, the fitting that best fits into your bung,
and the canister is not needed but I recommend using it for when you
pump it and accidently get the sudden rush of bubbles up in their, this
way the liquid goes into the canister which you can wash out and not
into your bleeder. When using it be careful cause when you start and
get up around 15 inces of vacuum, this is when the rush rises up and
cathes you off guard. Slowly keep pumping until you reach a maximum of
25. Keep checking on it when you have a chance and keep pumping it up
until 25 is reachedand still be carefull as it will pull foam each
time. When you can hold 15 -20 in. overnight your pretty degassed and
youll notice that the size of the bubbles now are much bigger as this
is just vacuum be pulled through and not really SO2 any more. I
recommend one highly since you can tell wehen it is degassed vs. drill
mounted stirrer but also recommend using the drill mounted stirrer
prior to bleeding it!

 

[rbfarm]

Wade,
Thanks for your help and I have located an air operated vacuum pump from Harbor Freight tools ($11). I plan to run it through a second 6 gallon empty carboy to gain additional volume for the vacuum. I hope to valve the setup so that when adequate vacuum is reached on the wine carboy, I can valve out the vacuum pump and allow the vacuum contained inthe empty container to do it's work. This should greatly reduce the number of times that the vacuum has to be re-established. I will let you know if it works.


My earlier wines had a lot of CO2 and I am finding out that it is a challenge to remove it from some wines. I have a homemade peach in processthat does not give up the CO2 easily.


Thanks,
rbfarm

 

[rbfarm]

OilnH2O


Thanks for the advice. I did that and found the posts that explained the bleeder and the process. I have been using the rubber carboy attachment that George offered as a sale item a month or two ago, along with thehand vacuum forresealing wine bottles. It works, but it requires many trips back to re-establish the vacuum. I am working on an idea to reduce those trips; I will let you know how it works.


Thanks,
rfbarn

 

[Wade E]

Sounds good RB, have you raed the article about degassing in this months news?