How to de-gas homemade wine?!
Answers: I'm making my own wine from a "Make Your Own Wine" kit from Lakeview Valley Farms. I am ready to bottle the wine, but I have been warned to make sure the wine is de-gassed (from CO2) before bottling the wine. The instructions with the kit say nothing about this issue. How do I de-gas the wine?
Igmore Oikos. You don't want CO2 in the wine. The carbonic acids from the gas can leave a flavor in the wine and it changes the mouthfeel also.
Stirring it for a few minutes will pull some of the CO2 out of suspension. Do it a couple of times before bottling.
"TAKE OUT ALL OF THE BEANS?".
Ignore the warning. You want the carbon dioxide to protect the wine from oxygen. When you siphon the wine to bottles (or however you get it there), be sure not to splash it.
I've always de-gases my wines. There are several ways of doing it. You can use a sterilized spoon a stir it until your arm falls off then switch to the other arm, or you can use a paint mixer on a drill motor. There are products available to de-gas with but the paint mixer has worked for me to this point. I run the drill forward for about 2-3 minutes then reverse for the same period. I do this twice in one day and haven't had any problems. Of course if you filter your wine, that will help de-gas as well. I have heard of vacuum de-gassing, but I've never seen it done. As far as spoilage, your kit probably came with an additive to preserve it once it's in the bottle. If you don't de-gas, there is the possibility that your corks will pop out and once you have them on their side, well it's a real mess.
I use my bottle brush. It had a ring on the end I clipped that off and put it in a drill. Works great. Makes cleaning bottles easy too.