Does anyone us a wine saver to degas their mead? I saw a few videos on YouTube and it seemed like a good idea. My questions are: is there any risk to this? Also can I take out too much gas?
Wine saver to degas mead
- Thread starter Bobubak
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Wine saver is used to remove air from opened bottles of wine to minimize risk of oxidation. By pumping the air out from the bottle you create negative pressure (vacuum) to seal the rubber stopper and to prevent the air from getting back inside.
What we call degassing has totally different function. It reduces CO2 content in fermenting must during fermentation process. CO2 is constantly produced during fermentation and thus cannot be removed with wine saver.
P.S. Maybe I should not say you "cannot" remove CO2 with wine saver. Pumping CO2 out with wine saver pump would be very inefficient. Much better results are achieved by mixing the must by degassing wand or by just shaking or swirling your carboy.
What we call degassing has totally different function. It reduces CO2 content in fermenting must during fermentation process. CO2 is constantly produced during fermentation and thus cannot be removed with wine saver.
P.S. Maybe I should not say you "cannot" remove CO2 with wine saver. Pumping CO2 out with wine saver pump would be very inefficient. Much better results are achieved by mixing the must by degassing wand or by just shaking or swirling your carboy.
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I agree with Squatchy. I think you need to pull a vacuum of about 20 plus inches (perhaps 22 inches) to effectively remove all the CO2. I don't think that a wine -saver can get anywhere near that kind of vacuum.
So I have an old wine saver and I tried it last night. It seemed to pull out a large amount of gas. With just a few pumps the mead really foamed up. I believe the problem will be that as Crispy said it will not be very efficient.
I spent 10 minutes or so and pumped the wine saver to pressure 5 or so times a minute. I was getting just as many bubbles at the end.
I will stay with the swirl, shake, or stir methods.
I spent 10 minutes or so and pumped the wine saver to pressure 5 or so times a minute. I was getting just as many bubbles at the end.
I will stay with the swirl, shake, or stir methods.
