Beaverdale Pinot Grigio - trouble de-gassing

[Ange]

Evening Chaps,

Got to the stage with this one where it's stopped fermenting, stabiliser added then it suggests shaking a few times/day until no more ffffiiizzzzzzz when you release palm from demi top. I've been doing this, and shaking very well, for 3 days and still a lot of ffffiiizzzz, about 1cm of thick bubbles on surface, and bubbles rising from bottom...looks a bit like Lager!! How long should this process take please?

Ange
x

[rjb222]

Hi Ange. What is the temperature you are at? What is the current SG.? Has the SG changed and how long since it has changed? Some information so as to be able to help out better.

[Ange]

Evenin' rjb, at the end of fermentation, instructions suggest take hydrometer reading, it should be between 990 & 996 for 3 days running. It was 990 for 3 days running. Temp in that airing cupboard is a pretty constant 22° .

A
x

[rjb222]

Ange raise your temperature to around 24 C this will make degassing much easier. Sanitize a long handled spoon or a plastic curtain rod and stir the wine causing Cavitation not to create a whirl pool stir back and forth side to side stir one direction then the other right away. You are actually trying to beat the CO2 off your wine. With a higher temperature the CO2 will come off quite easily.How much wine is in this kit? I want to recommend a sulfite addition when you are done but I need to know how much liquid so as I can give you the right amount.

[Ange]

Thanks for replying, rjb . Just looked at it, and it settles back to absolutely no bubbles whatsoever! Until I shake it again of course... It's a 4.5l (1 gallon) kit. Once it's stopped, I'm to add: Kieselsol, shake 10 secs, replace cap and leave 24 hours. Then add Chitosan shake 10 secs, then leave in cool place 7-10 days....

Ange
x

[fatbloke]

Thanks for replying, rjb . Just looked at it, and it settles back to absolutely no bubbles whatsoever! Until I shake it again of course... It's a 4.5l (1 gallon) kit. Once it's stopped, I'm to add: Kieselsol, shake 10 secs, replace cap and leave 24 hours. Then add Chitosan shake 10 secs, then leave in cool place 7-10 days....

Ange
x

One of these type devices should do the job excellently. You'd just have to connect the pump piece to the pipe that passes through a holed bung, then operate the pump until bubbles are seen on the surface and the pump gauge starts dropping, then pump some more. Until the bubbles stop and the gauge stops dropping.

Hell, there's no reason why you couldn't do vacuum racking if you have the pipes (which are cheap) and a 2 holed bung (from somewhere like Brouwland mail ordered, and the holes drilled to match the tubes/piping you have).

It would be the cheapest option IMO........ Otherwise something like a mini-jet or up from that, an enolmatic, but both are much more money in comparison

[Ange]

Mornin' fatbloke!! Gonna pass on both your suggestions. Tell ya what, I bet 150 ago the country folk that made wines, there must have been THOUSANDS of 'em, did buy all these yeasts/nutrients/pectolase/stoppers etc etc etc... I thought this would be a gentle, not too (after initial outlay) expensive hobby. SEEMS I WAS WRONG!!! I've got the yeast/nutrient/tannin/citric/pectolase/Campdens/4 demis (+ another 4 kindly donated)/hydrometer/testing jar/piping/2 buckets/bungs with holes/bungs without holes/airlocks/steriliser powder & tablets/thermometer/corks/corker/shrink-wraps... YET STILL, it's suggested I need more equipment - p.sorbate and (possibly) tartaric acid!!! Beginning to think maybe this wasn't a good idea... ALSO apparently, need p.sorbate for when I start me tea-bag tea!!! Mail order is a good idea, yet even if I purchase 1 tub of p.sorbate, the minimum delivery charge is £2.95. My nearest friendly brewers shop is a 30-mile round trip. NOT so inexpensive for me, is it.........

A woman who's husband brewed years ago said when I started this **you will need a LOT of room** ... I know what she meant now...

OK then. Just been into de-gas and move to a slightly warmer area. THIS time, I didn't shake quite so vigorously ... maybe I WAS before? It stopped fffiiizzzzzzz'in after about 7 gentler shakes, and no where near such a head of bubbles on the surface..

Happy saturday,

Ange
x

One of these type devices should do the job excellently. You'd just have to connect the pump piece to the pipe that passes through a holed bung, then operate the pump until bubbles are seen on the surface and the pump gauge starts dropping, then pump some more. Until the bubbles stop and the gauge stops dropping.

Hell, there's no reason why you couldn't do vacuum racking if you have the pipes (which are cheap) and a 2 holed bung (from somewhere like Brouwland mail ordered, and the holes drilled to match the tubes/piping you have).

It would be the cheapest option IMO........ Otherwise something like a mini-jet or up from that, an enolmatic, but both are much more money in comparison

[fatbloke]

Mornin' fatbloke!! Gonna pass on both your suggestions. Tell ya what, I bet 150 ago the country folk that made wines, there must have been THOUSANDS of 'em, did buy all these yeasts/nutrients/pectolase/stoppers etc etc etc... I thought this would be a gentle, not too (after initial outlay) expensive hobby. SEEMS I WAS WRONG!!! I've got the yeast/nutrient/tannin/citric/pectolase/Campdens/4 demis (+ another 4 kindly donated)/hydrometer/testing jar/piping/2 buckets/bungs with holes/bungs without holes/airlocks/steriliser powder & tablets/thermometer/corks/corker/shrink-wraps... YET STILL, it's suggested I need more equipment - p.sorbate and (possibly) tartaric acid!!! Beginning to think maybe this wasn't a good idea... ALSO apparently, need p.sorbate for when I start me tea-bag tea!!! Mail order is a good idea, yet even if I purchase 1 tub of p.sorbate, the minimum delivery charge is £2.95. My nearest friendly brewers shop is a 30-mile round trip. NOT so inexpensive for me, is it.........

A woman who's husband brewed years ago said when I started this **you will need a LOT of room** ... I know what she meant now...

OK then. Just been into de-gas and move to a slightly warmer area. THIS time, I didn't shake quite so vigorously ... maybe I WAS before? It stopped fffiiizzzzzzz'in after about 7 gentler shakes, and no where near such a head of bubbles on the surface..

Happy saturday,

Ange
x

Yes, of course I know where you're coming from.

Yet I also suffer such difficulties, my local HBS may only be 4 or 5 miles along the road, and yes he's very helpful, but he only keeps a "bog standard" range of stuff (Ritchies and Youngs chem's and a limited range of both Beer and Wine kits). My (mainly) mead making means that I have to keep an eye on shipping, and especially the currency rates for both € and US$ (particularly the US$), and I just keep an eye open for who has the most reasonable prices both for shipping and cost of the actual item. Some of the less familiar items I use have to be mail ordered from the States, as they just don't seem to be available here (or someone does a bloody good job of hiding the fact that they might sell "them").

I tend to get a selection of stuff so it makes better use of, seemingly, extortionate shipping charges.

Check out Duffbeers profile, as Karl runs a home brew setup (well he did last time I checked). He's happy to use the cheapest method of shipping, which helps to keep the £'s to a minimum.

The "mityvac" style brake bleeding pumps work a treat. Or you could even check out "vacuvin" pumps, but they work best on bottles (but can be made to work on DJ's, carboys, etc - as long as they're made of glass).

It's easy as hell, to get lots of kit and take up loads of space, but you can make wine by keeping kit and quantities down to a minimum as well.

If you, or someone you know, can turn their hand to a bit of DIY building, you could track down metal fabricators locally to you, and with a few bits of scrap/off cuts of stainless steel, make a "whizz stick" type wine de-gasser. Then it's just put in an electric drill (after sanitising it - the whizz stick, not the drill), and dropped into a DJ and "whizzed". No lifting or shaking etc....

[Cellar_Rat]

Welcome to the land of 'shiney'. Wine-making will give you a stainless steel addiction if you are not careful.

ALSO... vacuvins degas nicely - easily mod=ed to fit a DJ. Either that or an enolmatic (just teasing !!)

[lockwood1956]

see here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?904-De-Gassing

for more info than you can shake a stick at (a whizz stick even)

regards
bob

[gordonmull]

Sorry to ressurrect an old-ish thread but if it helps, a whiz stick can be made from a plastic coat hanger. Just cut through next to the sticky-up, hooky bit and put each bend, excluding the hook, into a pot of boiling water. This will allow you to more-or-less straighten the coat hanger into a long rod with a hook on the end. Fits perfectly into an elctric drill and does the job fine.

Brewing doesn't have to be that expensive, Ange. It just depends on how far you're willing to take it and how imaginative you can be. I built my kit up over the last few years on christmas/birthday presents for glassware, any cork closed bottles people want to give me, don't use shrink caps, 5L water bottles occaisionally bought from supermarkets as DJs, screw cap bottles for anything I don't need to keep long and a few bought 25L fermenters. I'm not aiming for a perfect brew, I'm aiming for something drinkable at a fraction of the price and with the #1 and #2 recipes on here, along with the guidance on pulp fermentation, I'm able to take advantage of seasonal forage fruit and supermarket reductions for ingredients.

[daniel]

Thanks for that Gordon, that post was really helpful to me.