degassing for an hour or more with a degassing tool

[hobbyiswine]

My first thought was on the lines of what tcavan01 said. Are you sure it's done fermenting? If it is still fermenting, it'll keep making new gas as you drive it off.

I started out much like you're doing. I think moving to vacuum degassing was one of the biggest steps I took to improving my wine, and it wasn't all that expensive. I use the hand vacuum pump from harbor freight.

I am saving my pennies for an all-in-one vacuum pump but out of curiosity is the hand pump one like this.???...http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-69328.html

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I am saving my pennies for an all-in-one vacuum pump but out of curiosity is the hand pump one like this.???...http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-69328.html

Even if the hand pump which is similar - everytime you reach a certain vacuum and co2 is released the vacuum will drop causing any co2 to be stopped.You would have to be able pump the the hand pump always to be removing co2

 

[Olbuscap]

To verify what "Pumpman" Steve has just said! After drill whipping my first 4 kits, I figured there had to be a better way. Last summer I went to a local auto parts store to purchase a Mity Vac kit, made a two-hole bung to fit a catch/overflow bottle, put some tubing together, and went to work. This is NOT a 5 or 10 minute job!! As Steve said, as you squeeze, squeeze, and squeeze to establish vacuum, the CO2 starts to come out of suspension. As the CO2 comes out of suspension, the vacuum drops, and you squeeze, squeeze, and squeeze some more. It does the job, but the result is -- if you are young enough, no one will want to shake hands with you, if you are old enough your hands hurt so darn much you do not look forward to repeating this exercize. After reading post after post this past winter, I decided to invest in one of Steve's pumps. Easy, painless (pun intended)racking and degassing. Bottling? What a system!!! Thank you, Steve.

 

[rjb222]

Something I do not see mentioned here is to add more kmetta add 1/4 tsp right away. You have definitely stirred off more than was intended by the manufacturer. All your degassing will be wasted by a oxidized wine if you do not. There is such a thing as over degassing your wine. Stirring until there are no more bubbles is not going to happen you will always get bubbles it depends on what they are oxygen or CO2. Even commercial wines have a small amount of CO2 left on them open one and put some in a hydrometer jar put your hand on the top and give it a good shake. you will get a small puff of CO2 when you take your hand off. The theory to degassing is you need to get enough off to allow the sediments to drop out as CO2 will keep these in suspension a long time. You want to get off enough to allow that to happen time will take care of the rest.

 

[shanek17]

Something I do not see mentioned here is to add more kmetta add 1/4 tsp right away. You have definitely stirred off more than was intended by the manufacturer. All your degassing will be wasted by a oxidized wine if you do not. There is such a thing as over degassing your wine. Stirring until there are no more bubbles is not going to happen you will always get bubbles it depends on what they are oxygen or CO2. Even commercial wines have a small amount of CO2 left on them open one and put some in a hydrometer jar put your hand on the top and give it a good shake. you will get a small puff of CO2 when you take your hand off. The theory to degassing is you need to get enough off to allow the sediments to drop out as CO2 will keep these in suspension a long time. You want to get off enough to allow that to happen time will take care of the rest.

so how do i know if there oxygen or co2 bubbles. i still get ALOT of foam and lots of tiny of bubbles when i use my drill degasser. i think my original degasser whip was not the rite shape for my big carboy, so i made another one and noticed it is working better and producing more foam when i used it yesterday. So maybe my first whip was just not efficiently getting the job done.

 

[rjb222]

The little tight bubbles are not co2. The best reference is to give a soda a small shake and compare what the bubbles look like compared to what you see. Also do this outside on the lawn or swmbo may give you a tongue lashing warm up a soda and take off the lid shake it good you will see exactly what gassing a wine will look like for bubbles you just want to be careful when gassing a wine not to produce the volcano effect hate wasting wine. Start slow pick up pace as more gas comes off. Finish at a good pace. I always counter turn my drill whip so as not to get a vortex. You actually need to beat the CO2 off not stir it off.I have used the vacuum as well but it would take too long for what I do so I use a whip and a drill.

 

[grapeman]

I stand by my statement that you are spinning it too fast and creating the bubbles. If your wine is around .994 and has remained there, it is done fermenting. It is well covered places that degassing at too high of a speed creates the foam. At first you were driving off C02 but then you just start mixing air in with it. Think of making a milk shake. You blend at high and it whips air into the ice cream/milk mixture.

All the other things are true also, especially bulk aging it will allow most of the gasses to escape on their own.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I stand by my statement that you are spinning it too fast and creating the bubbles. If your wine is around .994 and has remained there, it is done fermenting. It is well covered places that degassing at too high of a speed creates the foam. At first you were driving off C02 but then you just start mixing air in with it. Think of making a milk shake. You blend at high and it whips air into the ice cream/milk mixture.

All the other things are true also, especially bulk aging it will allow most of the gasses to escape on their own.

Nice statement , My thoughts using the whip effect was you always have to transfer it into a larger container ( to prevent the overflow effect, and now it has more air contact as well) and actually whipping the wine always seem to me that you are inducing air back into the wine. Then I would have to transfer back into the original container again.

 

[rjb222]

Doubble post sorry

 

[rjb222]

I stand by my statement that you are spinning it too fast and creating the bubbles. If your wine is around .994 and has remained there, it is done fermenting. It is well covered places that degassing at too high of a speed creates the foam. At first you were driving off C02 but then you just start mixing air in with it. Think of making a milk shake. You blend at high and it whips air into the ice cream/milk mixture.

All the other things are true also, especially bulk aging it will allow most of the gasses to escape on their own.

While I do not know what other instructions say as a proper technique RJS Give times to follow when one starts this is I believe to prevent over mixing and creating the milkshake effect. After a wine maker becomes proficient they then can judge by the amout of CO2 coming off at a given time.

 

[shanek17]

okay so I thought hey i will just show you guys what is actually happening on my end with my degassing. Here are two videos , each video i tried using a different drill whip. And turn down your sound if you didnt already lol the drill is LOUD!

okay so im having trouble adding the videos directly through the attachments here. first it said there was something wrong with the token ?? and then the second attemp just said there was an error... maybe only pictures can be uploaded. anyways ill upload them to Youtube instead.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y1Si1_koiU&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLFrlL17CI4&feature=youtu.be

 

[grapeman]

Do you notice that while you spin the drill at a slow to medium speed, there are very few bubbles? As you crank that sucker up you can see the whip bending which really whips the snot out of the wine. When you see that, you are spinning it too fast - slow down. I still believe it is done degassing at this point.

 

[shanek17]

Do you notice that while you spin the drill at a slow to medium speed, there are very few bubbles? As you crank that sucker up you can see the whip bending which really whips the snot out of the wine. When you see that, you are spinning it too fast - slow down. I still believe it is done degassing at this point.

yea i had it going pretty fast , but I thought that those tiny bubbles rising up on the side of the carboy was co2 , and i also thought foam meant that the co2 is being released. So i assumed that this wine is still needing degassing, and when i whip it up at fast speed i see more foam and bubbles so that lead me to believe that it would get it done quicker. is there any truth to this.

 

[rjb222]

I am in agreement with Grapeman I believe the gassing is done. I never have had much faith in the style of tool you are using i use one that is on a stainless steel shaft and has two plastic wings on it. There are holes in the wings this tool used with a counter turn on the drill direction works extremely well. I also only degas enough to allow the sediments to drop I allow the rest to come out naturally.

 

[shanek17]

I am in agreement with Grapeman I believe the gassing is done. I never have had much faith in the style of tool you are using i use one that is on a stainless steel shaft and has two plastic wings on it. There are holes in the wings this tool used with a counter turn on the drill direction works extremely well. I also only degas enough to allow the sediments to drop I allow the rest to come out naturally.

i hope its done because i put the additives in for clearing, and the instructions say to have all degassing done before additives.

yea iv seen the winged stainless steel tool. but i dont understand how those little wings can work very well. like it doesnt seem like they would cover much surface area as compared to the long bends in ths plastic degas tool. The one plastic tool i made i put emphasis on the bends and made them bigger and i could see the difference in the carboy. it was degassing like crazy. But maybe a little too much crazy haha.

 

[Bartman]

it was degassing like crazy. But maybe a little too much crazy haha.

Degassing by bulk aging = good (IMHO); degassing with motorized tool = ok; "degassing like crazy" by any method = NOT good - there is no need to degas like crazy! You remind me of Tim Allen's character from the sitcom "Home Improvement"!

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I am saving my pennies for an all-in-one vacuum pump but out of curiosity is the hand pump one like this.???...http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-bleeder-and-vacuum-pump-kit-69328.html

That is the pump I use. It has a gauge on it, so I'll pump it to about 20" of mercury and then let it degas. When it falls to 5", I pump it some more. If I'm in a hurry, agitating the carboy while it's under vacuum really pulls the CO2 fast.

 

[shanek17]

So my wine is currently clearing and should be done within a week. But I'm wondering if my wine is still needing degassing, is it okay to Degas more after the additives and clearing stage? I don't want to introduce any more oxygen but maybe the pot meta will help protect it.

 

[rjb222]

So my wine is currently clearing and should be done within a week. But I'm wondering if my wine is still needing degassing, is it okay to Degas more after the additives and clearing stage? I don't want to introduce any more oxygen but maybe the pot meta will help protect it.

Degassing is a practice that gets more defined with experience. The more wine you make the easier it is to recognize when the degassing is done. Every one seems to dwell on degassing and take it to extreme. Even commercial wines are left with a small amount of gas on them. Try one by putting about half of your hydrometer full seal it with a solid bung. I will guarantee that when you vigorously shake it then remove the bung there will be a off come out. More so with white than red some commercial wine makers actually intentionally leave a small amount of CO2 on their whites. Not enough to make them bubbly but there will be the odd bubble rise that brings the wines aroma to your nose. I guess i am trying to say do not obsess relax and enjoy.

 

[shanek17]

Degassing is a practice that gets more defined with experience. The more wine you make the easier it is to recognize when the degassing is done. Every one seems to dwell on degassing and take it to extreme. Even commercial wines are left with a small amount of gas on them. Try one by putting about half of your hydrometer full seal it with a solid bung. I will guarantee that when you vigorously shake it then remove the bung there will be a off come out. More so with white than red some commercial wine makers actually intentionally leave a small amount of CO2 on their whites. Not enough to make them bubbly but there will be the odd bubble rise that brings the wines aroma to your nose. I guess i am trying to say do not obsess relax and enjoy.

well I dont mind having a bit of CO2 in my red wine, if that is normal, but what worries me is exploding bottles. That is the biggest challenge so far for me with this hobby. I thought that you want basically all of the CO2 out so that it wont add to the pressure inside the bottles, and thus preventing a bottle explosion.

I actually bottled a small batch recently and I used twist off caps so it made it easy for me to check the pressures inside of them. and at first I did not hear any pressure when I opened them. But then I left them sitting for weeks without touching them and then opened them and heard that pressure release sound escaping from the bottle. Is that normal ? or a sign of re fermentation in the bottle?