When to move to cellar temperature

[Xlev]

Lots of great advice thank you guys!
One thing that Im concerned about this kit is that there seems like there is little tannin after fermentation,but maybe the oak will add more tanning during aging.

 

[Raptor99]

I found a free article on Wine Maker Magazine on this topic: Degassing Wine - WineMakerMag.com

I will quote the relevant paragraph (emphasis mine):

Higher than desired levels of carbon dioxide gas can contribute to a sense of “hardness” and can make a wine taste overly acidic and even fizzy or spritzy if levels are too high. Often a winemaker will want to adjust the level of CO2 as a wine approaches bottling. Too little carbon dioxide, especially in white wines, can leave the wine feeling flat and flabby in the mouth. Too much, however, can make a smooth Chardonnay taste not like itself at all. Wines will naturally degas themselves with time, racking, and especially during time spent in barrel.

The author goes on to say that degassing might be necessary if you want to bottle your wine "young."

 

[winemaker81]

Believe it or not. Here is what Northern Brewer is telling folks.

We've had a lot of examples on this forum of LHBS personnel who were clueless, plus examples of clueless blogs and YouTube videos. I'm disappointed in Northern Brewer, but not exactly surprised.

This illustrates the value of this forum -- we have dozens of knowledgeable winemakers of all stripes, and we correct each other, and we do it politely (well, for the most part).

Maybe these instructions are for those making kits who want to bottle 2 months after starting fermentation. In that case, you would need to spend quite a bit of time degassing.

Evidence from kit vendors indicates that degassing, as they define it, doesn't take that much time. I went to the WE site and looked at their 4 to 8 week kit instructions. I accept that WE knows what it's doing and that their instructions for beginners are solid.

Section 2.4 Agitate wine using a sterilized stirring spoon. Vigorously stir wine, changing direction intermittently for 10 minutes. Alternately, wine can be degassed using a drill with degassing attachment for 2-4 minutes at medium speed reversing direction every 30 seconds. See General Information for more detail on degassing.​

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General Information​

3. To ensure your wine is degassed:​

a) Taste your wine. Remove a small sample from the carboy after degassing. If the wine is spritzy on the tongue, repeat the degassing step. At this stage it will not taste as it will at bottling.​

b) Fill a test jar halfway with degassed wine and give it a good shake with your hand covering the opening. If there is a big pop, then repeat the degassing step. If the popping sound is small then the wine is sufficiently degassed.​

Finer Wine Kits says to stir with a drill for 30 seconds, or 2 to 3 minutes by hand. (Riesling book, fall 2021). This is less than WE, but FWK has more confidence in the ability of beginners to follow instructions (not sure I agree with Matteo on this).

IMO the WE instructions are overkill, which is typical -- tell a newbie to do it for 4 minutes and hope they do it for 2 ...

Also IMO, there is a fundamental problem in defining "degassing". It's obvious that kit vendors don't intend that all CO2 is removed -- there's no way 4 minutes of stirring will do that, and Vandergrift's statement of 2 minutes matches. But many folks take "degassing" to mean the removal of all CO2.

My practical experimentation has demonstrated that a minute of stirring is sufficient. I do this, rack the wine 2 or 3 weeks later, and give it a stir, I get very little foam, indicating very little CO2. Stirring with sufficient vigor will always produce foam, but there's a big difference between the foam produced right after fermentation, and in a wine that has been degassed.

 

[winemaker81]

@Xlev, I think we got pretty deep in the weeds on this one!

 

[Xlev]

@winemaker81 yes but thats what I like about this forum.

I wonder what the commercial wineries do that age in stainless steel vats.Do they use vacuum?

 

[winemaker81]

I wonder what the commercial wineries do that age in stainless steel vats.Do they use vacuum?

A lot use variable capacity tanks that have floating covers.

 

[Darrell Hawley]

Hi

I have finished fermenting a Winexpert Nebbiolo kit a few days ago and moved it to a secondary fermenter with oak cubes.It has been 2 weeks since I started fermentation and its completely dry. The instructions say to keep the fermenter at 68-77 degrees for around 2 months but this temperature seems to high to me. I have a cellar at 55 degrees and I am wondering when should I move it there? Im in no hurry to start drinking the wine,and I am thinking of bulk aging it for about a year.

Just opened my Nebbiolo kit and could not get all the wine out of the bag. Looks like it might be double plastic and probably had a small hole and it seeped into the outer bag. Washed out 4-5 times and the rest stays in the outer bag. Bummer

 

[sour_grapes]

That's why God invented scissors!