Wine Abnormally Gassy

[tbayav8er]

Hi Everyone,

I've filtered some Vintners Reserve Mezza Luna Red and getting ready to bottle. Prior to bottling, I gave the wine a few good stirs with my drill mounted wine whip. Holy cow, almost had a wine volcano. I thought I degassed it pretty thoroughly during the stabilizing stage. I've been giving it a few good whips every day for the last 4 days or so, and it is still very gassy. Is this normal? Obviously I'm not going to bottle it until it is completely degassed.

 

[Floandgary]

If you're using a whip and spinning fast, there's a likelihood that you're whipping air into the juice. Not really desirable. Slow it down a bit or just use the spoon/paddle to stir it around. BETTER yet,,, allow the wine to age in the carboy for a several months. It'll degass naturally.

 

[Boatboy24]

If you're using a whip and spinning fast, there's a likelihood that you're whipping air into the juice. Not really desirable. Slow it down a bit or just use the spoon/paddle to stir it around. BETTER yet,,, allow the wine to age in the carboy for a several months. It'll degass naturally.

Yep. Pour yourself a few ounces and drink it. If you're not sensing any carbonation, you're probably fine.

 

[WineYooper]

If you use your drill like I do, go forward and then reverse it & go from one to the other for short periods. In one direction all you are doing is swirling it around like water going down the drain. I bulk age and by the time it's done no more gas. Patience is a virtue.

 

[tbayav8er]

Ok, sounds good. It may have just been air bubbles that were coming up. I was stirring it near the top. I'll pour some in a glass and taste test it. Before I filtered, I sampled some, and it tasted very harsh (not rotten, just very harsh.) I'm pretty sure that was the CO2. Yes, when I degas, I drill in one direction for a few seconds, and then reverse. I find that's the most effective way. The most time consuming thing is waiting for all of the bubbles to dissipate before mixing some more. I find if you mix it while the bubbles are still rising to the top of the wine, it just mixes the CO2 back into the wine and is basically ineffective.

 

[JohnT]

Another tip: Before you whip you wine, warm the wine up to, say, 75 degrees or so. Heat will aid in pulling the CO2 out of solution.

Think of it like a can of beer. If you open a warm one, it froths up and then goes flat rather quickly (as opposed to a cold can of beer). This is the same principle.

 

[ceeaton]

JohnT, you have made me thirsty. It's Friday, doesn't take much.

You could also go purchase a brake bleeder kit ($20-30). I got one from Harbor Freight and a 6 gallon glass carboy from my LHBS. It is my dedicated degassing setup. I also have the drill mounted device, but have found the brake bleeder to work much better in a shorter amount of time, as long as the temperature is up around 70*F+.

If you do get the kit there are several threads with posts that go through how to best use it, so I won't try and repeat here.

 

[richmke]

If you use your drill like I do, go forward and then reverse it & go from one to the other for short periods.

I go in one direction until the top starts to move. Then I switch directions. I figure if the surface of the wine is relatively still, there can't be much air being whipped into the wine.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Yes the Allinonewinepump can definitely help you with the CO2 removal.

But there is a cheaper alternative if you only want to degass - purchase the headspace eliminator and a hand vacuum pump.

 

[tbayav8er]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I went to the auto parts store today and bought a brake bleeder on sale. The hose fits perfectly snug into the bung, I pumped it to 20" Hg, and it's bubbling away Much less labour intensive that whipping the wine with my drill every day and waiting for the bubbles to settle down!

 

[tbayav8er]

Well, after thousands of pumps with the brake bleeder, a numb hand, and hundreds of whips with the wine whip, my Mezza Luna is degassed. No idea why, but this is the gassiest wine I have ever made. The temperature in my basement is only about 65, so that's probably why. I put a space heater in the area where my wine making stuff is, so hopefully that helps in the future.

I can't help but laugh at the instructions "Stir vigorously for 2 minutes"

 

[cmason1957]

If you are to get one of the three prong wine whips, it doesn't take very long to degas a wine. I used to use that, before my wife invested in an all in one wine pump. Now after the normal three or four rankings you can pull about 22 in with a brake bleeder and get nothing. It could sits there all day.

 

[tbayav8er]

I just filtered another batch of wine (VR Sangiovese), and found another way of degassing while filtering. I loosened the intake hose slightly on my filter pump, allowing some air to be sucked in with the wine, causing it to aerate a little bit, and that created lots of fizz in the filters. End result, wine is perfectly degassed. Mixed in 1/4 tsp of k-meta immediately after, and going to bottle tonight.