Long time brewer, first time vintner here. Working through a winexpert Pinot Grigio kit. Primary and secondary fermentation went off without a hitch. Got to the stabilizing, degassing, and clarification last night. The wine is currently in a 6 gallon glass carboy.
I added the stabilzation chemicals as the directions indicated, and stirred for the 2 minutes, as the directions indicated. I was using a mix-stir gizmo, hooked up to an electric drill. For these first two minutes, right or wrong (I’m beginning to think wrong), I was stirring full blast with the drill. Lots of gas came out. I added the clarification chemicals and stirred, full blast for 2 more minutes. A lot of gas came out again. I did the “puff test” at this point, using the thief to fill a hydrometer test tube about halfway, sealed the lid with my hand, shook it, and released my hand (instructions say puff - still dissolved gas, no puff - you’re good to go). I got a puff.
At this point I was thinking that I probably aerated the wine, and may need to stir slower. I did some research and began stirring slowly on and off over the course of the next 1.5 hours until stirring no longer produced foam the way it had earlier. At this point, it was producing very very little foam if any.
My questions are:
Did the over-zealous mix-stirring damage the wine? If the wine is not degassed (never did the puff test again after the 1.5 hour degassing marathon), how shall I proceed? What is a standard timeframe for letting the wine degas naturally? I am in no rush.
(For the sake of disclosure, I posted this at homebrew.stackexchange.com 2 days ago - no responses)
