Degassing, fining and clearing question.

MattN · Sep 9, 2013

Hi folks

I have followed the instructions on the Muntonâs Premium Cellar kit that I am currently doing and the most recent stage was to rack into a second FV stir the must to de-gas for 30 seconds, add part one of the two stage fining then, after an hour stir in stage two.

Since I have done this I have researched the degassing in a bit more detail and I clearly didnât do this for long enough. So my intention is to rack it again (in 3 or 4 days) degas with my drill and a stirrer, and then do another two stage fining.

Do you think that this is the best course of action?

Regards

Matt

Chippy_Tea · Sep 9, 2013

I would degass it with the drill in the DJ it is in now and see how it goes.

MattN · Sep 9, 2013

Chippy_Tea said:
I would degass it with the drill in the DJ it is in now and see how it goes.

Righty-ho, thanks CT

bobsbeer · Sep 9, 2013

While degassing is important, there is no need to go overboard. A good shake is all that is needed. A 1 gal DJ is easy to do, by putting your hand over the top and shake it a few times. You will soon notice that the gas coming out has reduced significantly. A 20lt plus carboy is a bit harder, but if it's plastic you can just rock it back and forth. Not recommended with a glass one though. I do this with my better bottle type carboy and have never had a problem.

hypnoticmonkey · Sep 9, 2013

A vacuum wine stopper thingy works well at drawing gas out of the wine. Quite how necessary it is, I don't know.

One of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vacu-Saver-Vacu ... B0000AQVO2

When I still had the tops (which don't actually cost much to replace, I just haven't got around to it yet) I would give it a few pumps, watch the bubbles draw out rapidly and then repeat once they'd stopped. Repeated this process 2 or 3 times.

As bobsbeer said, most people would just shake it about a bit and that's fine. I just like using the vacuum pump.

Chippy_Tea · Sep 9, 2013

bobsbeer said:
While degassing is important, there is no need to go overboard. .

Bob is right of course and if you have lots of time you don't need to thrash it to death it will clear fine on its own after a few shakes.

I found in the early days of making wine that the shaking method is fine but clearing can take 7 - 10 days with Vinclear (thee only one i can get locally)

When i finally got my plastic coat hanger degassing tool made for my drill i found i got it down to a couple of days to clear using Vinclear.
If you are like me and do not have the space to have many DJ's on the go or space to store the finished wine getting the stuff thoroughly degassed is a dig time saver.