[darvyle]

Hello, I recently created some wine from a kit and after I opened a few bottles i noticed a very slight hint of carbonation.   After some thought I'v come to the conclusion that i may not have de-gassed the wine very well but I'd like a second opinion.  I made sure that the specific gravity was below 1.000, if memory serves me mine was at .996 when I bottled.  I'v opened 3 of the 30 bottles and they were all the same, very slight carbonation.  The thing that leads me to believe i might not of de-gassed very well was that all my knowledge of beer and how oxygen is bad for it cause me not to de-gas very well and at the bottom of all the opened bottles of wine there was no sludge.  The no sludge leads me to believe that no yeast was alive in the bottling process to produce any CO2.

Do i need to worry about oxygen coming in contact with fermented wine like I do with beer?

Is there another reason why my wine might of had some carbonation?

Thanks for the input, I'd like to try wine making again but i want to get a handle on this carbonation issue first.

[mrdrysdale64]

I have had the same thing happen when I have made wine kits. I read an article a few years back in Winemaker magazine that suggested that most wine kit time schedules are too short and to double the time. Meaning if the primary fermentation is 7 days; we should do 14. If the secondary is 30 days; make it 60. The longer schedule will help reduce the CO2 in solution.

Since I started using an extended schedule I saw the problem lessen. I also generally de-gas a couple of times before using the potassium sorbate. I would add campden tablets then de-gass and wait a week and degass again.

When I have judged wine competitions and specifically kit wines; a lot of them have the carbonic bite from this problem. I call it the Don Ho Effect! Tiny bubbles in the wine!

[ndcube]

I think as long as you use the sulphite that the kit comes with you should be protected against oxydation during degassing.

Hold a grill lighter into the neck of the carboy everyone once and a while next time your degassing.  I bet it takes a couple minutes before you can keep a flame.  I don't think the wine is coming into contact with very much oxygen until all the CO2 is gone.

Also,
Make sure you hydro reading is the same a few days in a row.  Just because it reads below 1.000 doesn't mean the yeasties are done with their meal.

[mtbrewer]

It is possible that it has gone into malolactic fermentation in the bottle.

[darvyle]

Thanks for the input everyone, there is just one thing i don't have an answer to.  Do i have to worry much about oxygen contacting the fermented wine.  Can i go buck nutty in the de-gass process, with splashing and all, or do i still need to be careful not to splash or get to over zealous.  I do have one of those stir sticks that i can attach to my cordless drill, i tried to keep everything from splashing around to much and just kept reversing the direction of the drill to help with the agitation.

[mrdrysdale64]

Thanks for the input everyone, there is just one thing i don't have an answer to.  Do i have to worry much about oxygen contacting the fermented wine.  Can i go buck nutty in the de-gass process, with splashing and all, or do i still need to be careful not to splash or get to over zealous.  I do have one of those stir sticks that i can attach to my cordless drill, i tried to keep everything from splashing around to much and just kept reversing the direction of the drill to help with the agitation.

Use the campden tablets to prevent oxidation when degassing. Check out this website. He has discussions on degassing and oxidation.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/