racking w/ vacumn pump

[rob]

I watched a buddy rack with a vacumn pump and it seamed that there was alot of oxygen being released in the wine???

 

[AlFulchino]

co2 was being released from the wine.....any o2 exposure is really minimal and should be be worried about....the bubbles you see would be co2 unless the racking was done after a good dose of s02 which can also be pulled out during a vacuum racking

 

[Wade E]

Either that or he had a leak between one of the hoses where they hit the racing cane. Lots of times with any type of racking (Even Gravity) when you pull up the wine up the racking cane and then into the hose right where the hose meets the cane there can trap some 02 right there and it will look like here is a lot of air getting into yoyr wine when actually its just void in the flow. If you take that hose and hold it up for one second that void will be released and youll get a constant flow of solid wine. When not using any type of pump this can often break the suction and stop the transfer of wine. If this was an issue with these units I wouldnt be using one none the less selling them!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AlFulchino]

your're right Wade...i didnt think of a leak in the line...but if there is a leak he should hear something to signify it or at least have a bit of trouble getting the prime going if it the leak is before the pump

 

[Wade E]

Like I said it doesnt even have to be a leak, just a air bubble in the hose and that can make it look like its sucking a lot of air. I get this almost every time right where the hose meets the racking cane. I just pick the hose almsot straight up for 3 seconds and that small air bubble travels down the line and then its all good. Like I also said this can happen with any type of racking, it just looks mor severe the faster you rack it.

 

[Lurker]

When I vacuum rack, which is always, I know that there is no air going into the system from the full carboy. To ensure that, I only use the cane to keep my tubing straight. I mean that I tie the cane to the outside of the tubing so that there are no joints in the system. I make certain that the tubing goes down about an inch further than the cane. The cap thing used to prevent sucking up sediment fits on the tubing. This way there is one piece of tubing going from the supply to the empty and no chance of a leak and of course, no O2 going through the system. Just my 2 cents.

 

[roblloyd]

I did my first vacuum rack yesterday. A lot easier then moving jugs around. I then did a degassing which was amazing to see how much came out. This was after lots of "vigorous stirring" and what I thought was all degassed.

I didn't get any air bubbles but there was some splashing until I figured out the best way to do it.

Wade - I wanted to transfer back to the better bottle but wasn't able to because I didn't have a double bung for hooking the vacuum to. But is that possible to do with plastic?

 

[Wade E]

There is someone on here who says he does it very slowly and even then he usually has to stop and release the pressure or the Better Bottle starts collapsing on itself. I dont sell thise bungs but if you get one I can make some nice clean holes in one for you now. I am not going to supply these as many people may think then that it will work fine to use one and that is just not the case.