Home Winemaking – Is Degassing Wine Important?
There is controversy about whether degassing your homemade wine is necessary. On one side, there are those that say that it is very important to making wines that you’ll enjoy and be proud of in the months and years to follow. On the other side, there are those that suggest that degassing is not that important, that the amount of carbon dioxide that remains when you bottle your wine is negligible. But this assumes that you will be bulk aging your wine for several months in the carboy before bottling, which will supposedly allow the carbon dioxide gases to dissipate.
I’m with the first camp and it is my experience that degassing wine is important. I’m not worried about pressure building up in the bottle due to the presence of carbon dioxide. I’m concerned about taste and visual appearance. Who wants to pour wine for guests that foams up in the glass?
Degassing is also an important consideration for winemakers that are planning to enter their wines into competitions. Wines are not judged only on taste. Odor and appearance are also important factors. If the wine is meant to be a still wine but has carbon dioxide bubbles, it will not score well on appearance.
Most people who make wine these days use commercial wine kits. These kits are made so that the winemaker can bottle their wine in 4 to 8 weeks. Of course, bulk aging the wine will offer benefits, but many don’t care about the characteristics that might develop in the wine in a year or two – they want to enjoy their wine now! For those winemakers, degassing the wine is vital. For winemakers that plan on bulk aging their wines under an air lock, degassing may not be as important as most of the gas will dissipate during the bulk aging process. However, there are times when simply bulk aging the wine will not be enough to rid it of excess carbon dioxide. Cool temperatures and high barometric air pressure may result in wine with excess carbon dioxide if not manually degassed.
Although it is not likely the winemaker will completely remove carbon dioxide from their wine, having too much of it can affect the taste of the wine negatively. In water, carbon dioxide is noticeable to our taste buds when it is present in a ratio as low as 200 mg per liter. In small amounts, it can enhance the tannins in wine but too much carbon dioxide can produce unwanted tastes.
There are several ways to degas wines, including manual vigorous stirring, using a device attached to an electrical drill and using a vacuum pump. I’ve covered some of these methods here that will be especially helpful to you if you make wine from wine kits.
Ian Hugh Scott has been making his own wine for years. As well as wines from commercially available kits, he has discovered the pleasures of experimenting with other ingredients such as black currants, strawberries, blueberries, and even ginger and parsnip! Follow along with Ian’s regular home winemaking activities at his blog Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/wines-and-spirits-articles/home-winemaking-is-degassing-wine-important-1393056.html
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