Greetings and Questions!

[ffreds]

First and foremost I want to give a big thank you to everyone on this forum. I have been making wine working on two years now and all of you have been an invaluable help. Since I have been lurking on and off I figured it was about time I got on to say hello and thank everyone of you for helping me turn my first batch of wine (infamously dubbed "Dead Horse") into the mediocre Riesling I made last batch that my neighbors and family thoroughly enjoyed.

ANYWAY.... since I am already here, I might as well ask some questions I have finally built enough patience to let my wine age longer than two months. I am making wine from concentrate in 5 gal carboys. My question is when I should rack and which times (if ever) BEFORE bottling should I add campden tablets? Also, CO2 gas has been a major bummer in almost every single one of my batches (which I know is due to not aging) and this is one of the main reasons I have throwing in the towel and just bulk aging (after my vacuum and stir till your arms fall off strategy failed). I notice that, even though the wine is gassy, the airlock isn't moving at all. It is still degassing right? I know it is, I read it a thousand times... but it will degass by 4-6 months right? Right?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

There are alot of variables when it comes to degassing -

How long prior to last fermentation
temperature
time
sulfite
did you add sugar ? sorbate ?
type of yeast
hydrometer readings
more detailed specs

what were your methods of degassing ?
why do you may have a CO2 issue ?

 

[ffreds]

Temperature around 65 F
About 1 month since fermentation was done.
Havent sulfited yet
No sugar or sorbate until I bottle
errr most of the time 71B-1122
Dont remember, it has fermented to dry though. Originally it was enough to get to about 9% ABV
I tried stirring, then bought a glass carboy and used a wine saver pump to create a vacuum. that seemed to work as I saw lots of gas leaving butttt just tasted it tonight and it was still gassy after about 5 days of pumping that thing.

Edit: I am thinking I just need to wait awhile longer for it to degass naturally. Or do you think something else could be doing this? I wish I had the 200 for your little machine

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Temperature should be a little higher

1 month since fermentation - give it some time

All your other info seems to be in order - give it some time

If you ever want to communicate by phone - just PM me with a phone #

 

[salcoco]

start the following method. Insure fermentation is complete with hydrometer, once compete rack. rack again in three days, this removes the wine form any coarse sediment, add sulphite. about 1/4 tsp per five gallons. after three weeks rack again, add sulphite, after three months rack again, add sulphite. at this point you can continue to bulk age racking every three months or commence tasting to bottle. best method is to let is set another three months. during second three month period add oak if desired, taste periodically to determine level of oak desired. sulphite again before bottling.