Too much fizz

With reds in particular it is important to degas very thoroughly. Personally, even though I bulk age for over 9 months, I really make sure that I have removed as much of the CO2 as possible before racking into my bulk aging carboy. I have found that bulk aging alone, in glass, under a fermentation lock as I do, is not enough to ensure that the gas has dissipated on its own.

Some white wines, especially Muscadet, or Sauvignon Blanc, are enhanced with a touch of "pettilance"

-- a good hint of fizz -- and when I make those particular wines I don't degas at all -- but the bulk aging alone reduces the CO2 to the right level. It is a bit hit and miss but most of the time it works for me. And in general white wines don't suffer in the same way as reds through excessive CO2!

So with your reds, once they have been bottled, will retain any CO2 that is remaining in the wine. So they benefit by being decanted and left at room temperature for about an hour before drinking to let the gas dissipate. The warming of the wine promotes a quicker dissipation of gas too. It is probably why decanters where so popular in times gone by - and not just for ensuring that the lees in the bottles remained there!

HTH!

How late in the bulk aging process can you stir/shake to degas?

Hmmm. I suppose it doesn't really matter providing that your readjust the SO2 to prevent the onset of oxidisation. That being said, with kit wines in particular, I am a great believer in leaving well alone with minimum fiddling and re racking etc once fermentation has finished. I only make 23 litre batches and I suspect that larger volumes are less susceptible to "interference" Since degassing also helps the process of the lees settling out, it seems to be common sense to do it earlier rather than later. After degassing I will normally leave a kit wine for about a month so that most of the lees have settled and then rack to a clean, sanitised carboy. Hopefully, after that I would not rack more than one more time and that only if the sediments looked to be more than a "dusting". With red coloured country wines in particular I bulk age for at least 2 years ( my various Blackberry/Elderberry combinations) which certainly ensures a low level of retained CO2 I rarely use finings and I haven't filtered in eons. Even my fortified elderberry chugs along on its own throwing of sediment usually for 2 or 3 years into maturity ( I aim to bottle at about the 3 or 4 year point or at least break the 23 litres down into 5 x 1 gal ( imp) carboys so that I bottle 6 at a time as needed)

Trevor,

Thanks for the long reply.

I'm guessing that it's degassing. I've been following the advice of this newsgroup and other sources that indicate manual degassing isn't necessary if it's left to bulk age long enough. Now your response has me wondering about that.

Are you saying that you degas before transfering from the primary bucket into a carboy? I'm usually doing that transfer about a week after adding the yeast. Do you use a degassing wand attached to an electric drill (or equivalent) or do you get good results with a vigorous stir?

Let's say that I taste a wine that has been sitting in a carboy for 4 months or so and I detect CO2 (which is true for me at the moment). Any advice on degassing at this stage?

Dave

John, I occasionally notice a small bit of sediment. I've been assuming that was a byproduct of not filtering or fining. Dave

NO, NO, NO, NO!!! You do not degas until all fermentation has ceased!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clearly it would have no effect since the continuing fermentation will only create more CO2 and goodness know what would happen to your wine.

When fermentation has stop I rack off the debris of lees dead yeast and wood chip/beads or whatever into a clean carboy and then degas!

But I do use a "wand" on my electric drill to degas.

I see little point in postponing the degassing until 4 months down the line. I don't know which kits you are using but you are still very much on the initial learning curve. It is my strong recommendation to follow the instructions given by the kit. Certainly the more expensive/"better" kits make quite acceptable red wine and excellent white wine. Manufacturers like "Winexpert" ( Brew King as was) have spent a lot of time, effort and money to produce a varietal wine kit and include detailed instructions which will give you good results all the time.

I have been making wine for some 35 years -- in early day it was always "country" fruit wines and when "real" wine kits emerged they were pretty basic and rough! But there are so many kits available these days and , especially with white wines, you can achieve a quality in your home made wine that equals and even beats some commercially produced wine.

If you are fortunate enough to live within a wine grape growing "zone" you will be able to buy you own grapes (or even grow them yourself) or freshly pressed grape juice.

It really is worth reading Berry's book " First Steps in Winemaking" but it is in Imperial measurements and follows the British seasons. Terry Garey's book "Home Winemaking" is good and is easy to read and is based on US units. Also visit Jack Kellers website

which has a huge amount of information ( and he is also very helpful on this group too).

It is a most fascinating hobby and bears fruitful results a well!

Dave, I agree with the others. I make country wines in 1 gallon batches. My first wines turned out to be fizzy too, probably too much carbon dioxide dissolved in the wine. I was surfing the web at the time and found this step by step instruction on bottling homemade wine on the David Butler Website. Step 4 & 5 talk about splitting the wine into two demijohns and agitating the wine to disperse the Carbon Dioxide for about a minute or so to avoid the fizzy(s), and then proceeding to bottle the wine. I have done that ever since, and have avoided fizzy wine. The only time it didn't work (or wouldn't have worked) was when a batch started to ferment again after I had bottled it. The result that time was almost Champaign-like wine (others call them bottle bombs). Now I don't do wine kits, so I guess I would follow the other poster's advice on degassing since he has experience with wine kits. Good-luck. Darlene

SCyoooze me fer buttin in: I have =never= degassed. I just let it settle fully in the primary carboy, to a clear finish, and add campden tablets and let it clarify again, it takes months. Then, I rack it to a secondary carboy and add sorbate. When it is clear as glass ( I use a flashlight to see through it) I bottle it. Takes almost a year. But then, I am a patient man.... My tuppence, Bob<

I have a cheep kit of whilte currently with somewhat the same problem... Not sure yet what it is... it was on sale .. really cheep.. might have been old stock... like maybe an old yeast... It started off normal... then slowed and stopped a little sooner than normal for time... like 2 weeks in the carboy instead of the normal 3-4.. this was 2 months ago. I racked it yesrterday... first racking.. hmmmmm fizz on the tongue... somewhat sweet still... I should have checked the SG to make sure.. but I think it is stuck it came with a spagnols yeast.. I added a fresh packet of EC1118... and stired... poooooof it puked all over.. A day later now it has settled down and brewing slowly again ... we shall see.

The degassing for me is a natural I do a final rack... add a tsp of pot. sorbate and stirr hard. till clear... then bottle.

cheers Marv

I usually bottle my country wines at about 7 months or so, which is okay but I still have to watch out for too much fizz. My limited understanding of wine kits comes from reading posts and responses; seems to me the purpose of a lot of these wine kits is to give a drinkable wine in a 1-3 months (short period of time). Others tend to let the wine kits go longer for a better product. Anyway, I can understand why a wine kit might be fizzy, because of the shortened period from making it to bottling it. Darlene