Degassing first LaClair Riesling
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The Riesling wine tested today near full dryness at 0.994, so it was time to de-gas it. I racked out about 1 gallon of the wine into a sterile carboy so as to create some room for the expected foaming. I added the metabisulfite and potassium sorbate to the wine and used my cordless drill and degassing wand to whip the wine. My goal is to get all of the gas that is still dissolved in the wine to come to the surface. By whipping it, the gas seperates from the liquid and rises to the top. I added the packet of Isinglass (to assist in fining) to the wine and whipped it again for a few minutes. It appeared that the foaming stopped to accumulate on the surface, a sign that the gas was fully removed. What I figured out during this racking is that I could get a better "whip", or more agitation while degassing if I kept the degassing wand toward the top of the wine in the carboy. Intuition told me to submerge the wand as far into the bottle to stir up what was on the bottom. However, it did not agitate the juice on the bottom nearly as much as when I kept it toward the top. Who knew? I reattached the airlock and moved the Riesling into the cellar, where it will settle for the next month or so before bottling. Tastes great by the way. Looking forward to drinking the first LaClair Riesling. Here is some video I took and the tip about keeping the degassing wand toward the surface:
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