WineXpert Degassing question

[smurfe]

Erk,


A way to assure that your wine is CO2 free. Buy a vaccuvine pump, along with the orange carboy cover. Use the Vaccuvin and the adapter to pull a vaccum on the carboy. If you don't see bubbles, you have zero CO2. This is a no fail test.

Wait...an idea crossed my mind....Edmonton is at an elevation of over 2,000 feet....therefore less atmospheric pressure... the Vaccuvin reduces air pressure... Possibly living here I do ....the CO2 bubble are more easily able to exit the carboy. That is why I didn't see much in the way of bubbles.

JC

Thats how I do it.


Smurfe

 

[earl]

JC


I live at about 6200 ft. msl. and I am hoping that my de-gassing went well. I would imagine that less gas could be trapped in solution, so de-gassing in Colorado should be pretty easy.


earl


By the way it was about 66 degrees today, I love it.

 

[OldWino1]

why do some batchs end up with more gas that others if your vary consistant with the batches?

 

[smurfe]

The average decrease of air pressure is 1 inHg for every 1000 ft of elevation.


sea level air pressure is 29.92 inHg


at 2000 ft air pressure is 27.92 inHg


JC, You have a great headstarton degassing over us folks at lower elevations.

Guess this is why it is tough for me to de-gas here. I am right at sea level and I stir WITH a Mix-Stir usually until my battery goes dead and I still had one kit that has gas in it. I am always afraid I am gonna expose too much oxygen to the wine stirring this much.

 

[peterCooper]

Just got my Fizz-X. We'll see if any CO2 can survive the next degassing

 

[OilnH2O]

This is a little different question, but I thought I'd post here since the topic is pertinent.


We degassed our WE Vint Res. Bourgeron Rouge yesterday and added our #2 and 3 packets, then stirred for 6+ minutes with theMix-Stir both forward and backward so as to NOT create a vortex (6 minutes because after 2 minutes there was hardly ANY foam, so we kept stirring). However, we got still got very little foam except when the Mix-Stir blades neared the surface. See picture below and note foam.

So, we then added the chitisan (packet 4) and stirred with theMix-stir again, with similar foam results. We wondered if we were stirring properly with theMix-stir -- yes, it was "vigorously" but by now the battery wasweakening!--so my Able Assistant decided he'd stir with the regular spoon (the handle) that George includes in the kits (after a quick dip in One Step then a spray with the sanitizer of course!). While we were only able to stir the TOP part of the carboy contents, it did produce MORE foam after about 4-5 more minutes of manual stirring.


But I'm wondering if the foam producedwas as much C02 as just a foamy surface because we were stirringair into the must. See the next picture and note the foam.

So the question is...I guess... what do you think?I'm not so much worried here, as wondering if this is okay, after noting some of the foamy pictures elsewhere on the site -- we thought there would be MUCH MORE foam then we produced....


Lastly, we thought you'd enjoy the next pic which is for all those who think they DON'T need the fizz-x or mix-stir -- it's entitled: "faster, FASTER!"

Thanking you all in advance!!!

 

[masta]

6 mins with the mix-stir is way more than enough to degas the wine. The foaming action is common when doing this and some wines do it more than others.


Foam when stirring does not mean there is still CO2 in the wine and is due to the aeration.


Great job and make sure you top off that carboy well after the foam subsides.

 

[Waldo]

Woaaaa Masta...get back in here now and explain to the folks about how they know when their wine is degassed if they do not use the foam as an an indicator

 

[masta]

You need to look closely at what is going on in the carboy to see whether it is foam from CO2 coming out of solution or from aeration. When using a Mix-Stir or Fizz-X I don't think I have stirred for more than 3-4 minutes total.


If you take a bottle of red wine that is completely degassed and pour it into a container then stir with you drill mounted stirrer it will foam up. Same as the must does when you stir a batch when making it up.


I hear what you are saying about not knowing if you have degassed properly if you can't use foam as the indicator but from my experience the foam on top is not the best indicator. Take a read through this old post when we all knew less about degassing and had to call in Tim to help us out:


[url]http://www.finevinewines.com/Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3 00&PN=11[/url]


I used a mix-stir for 3 years until it finally broke and I bought a Fizz-X. The Fizz-X seems to cause the CO2 to come out of solution quicker and more violentlyand still haven't got the hang of doing it without overflowing the damn carboy.


In the above post OilnH2O mentioned he didn't see any foam until he pulled the blades near the surface of the wine....aeration from pulling air into the liquid.


The only way I could see not getting all the gas out of this wine after 6 mins is if the drill was going a very very low speed.


Hope this helps and clears up any confusion...if not let me know!

 

[OilnH2O]

Masta, thanks again -- I just read the 7 page, year old thread about all of this, and learned from it too. Thinking it all through, I believe I've followed the kit directions,and Tim V's expanded version of them, to the letter. From the foam I got, I really think it was more from surface aeration -- getting the mix-stir near the top -- than "foam" from CO2. When we get to the bottling stage, maybe we'll do one of the shake-the-bottle-listen-for-the-"poof" tests -- but I feel pretty confident we're okay. That "feeling of confidence" is as much for your and everyone else's input on this thread, plus the old thread you referenced, as well as whipping "the snot" out of it a'la Tim Vandergrift!


Given its been 10 months since Laurie and CBWenger and AAA were at the bottling stage, maybe we'll all hear the postscript soon! THANKS again for your input and help!