The white zinfandel has finished fermenting now and is ready for clearing. This is the point where I degass the wine to get out any remaining CO2 that remains in the juice. I added the metabisulfite and potassium sorbate, included in the kit, then used the degassing wand with my cordless drill to get out all the gas.
I learned a new technique today with the degassing wand. I decided to remove about 1/4 of the wine into a second carboy, creating room for the wine to foam. Then, I inserted the degassing wand into the wine and kept the tip toward the surface of the juice. By doing this, the wand whipped the juice into an amazing foam. But, what I found was that the spinning juice at the surface created a whirlpool effect, which actually stirred up the entire carboy better than when the wand was submerged further into the juice. Sort of counter-intuitive. But…it works.
So, then I added the super-rich, very sweet grape juice to the currently dry wine to sweeten it up and give it some color. I could smell how sticky sweet the juice was that I added to the wine. I am excited to give this wine a try. It will sit for about a month now before it gets bottled.