Wine aeration question

[mr_beer]

The current literature recommends aerating your wine prior to consumption.  In theory the aeration enhances the flavor.  I read where one fellow poured the wine into a blender and blended it for a minute or so. 

So I elected to try the same process I use for wort ? use an aquarium pump and an air stone in the liquid.  Easy, peasy ? what could go wrong?

Fresh bottle just opened and dropped the air stone into the wine and started the pump. 

After several minutes the wine started bubbling out of the bottle.  Time for a bowl under the bottle.  Several more minutes and my wife is laughing and scratching as the wine kept coming out of the bottle.  And I was glad we did not have guests.

The question is regarding the process ? was my aeration thinking incorrect?

Anyone care to offer opinions or knowledge?

[brewfun]

Anyone care to offer opinions or knowledge?

Well, we seldom learn anything from what we get right. 

The question is regarding the process ? was my aeration thinking incorrect?

Incorrect? Actually, "bold choice" comes to mind.... 

Soooooo.... Someone used a blender for 1 minute and you thought that "several" was insufficient because upon seeing the life ebbing from the bottle down to a catch basin bowl inspired you to press on for "several more" minutes?  Were you wearing an Aztec Puma headdress for this sacrifice?

Like all aspects of fermentation, the dose makes the poison. Making wine turn to foam is not an easy task, Just as with fresh wort, there is a difference between aeration, oxygenation and oxidation.

I suspect by the time you saw bubbles coming out of the bottle, you were more than done with aeration, and well into oxygenation. After "several minutes," I suspect you were in oxidation territory, which you likely would notice if any were left over the next day.

wife is laughing

Probably still laughing. And wondering when you're going to stop messing with the simple pleasures of a glass of wine in the evening! Good on her for being a sport.

Pro Tip: You may someday be informed that many fine cheeses have mold in or on them.... A block of Kroger cheddar left to go green will only produce dysentery.

[dtapke]

ONLY use pure O2 to aerate your wine with an airstone. I find 15 minutes at 10 liters per minute to be ideal. Everyone knows this.

decanting is for novices. That's why its the most popular method of "letting wine breathe" along with those silly store bought pour spouts that aerate.

as far as the blender goes, perhaps you watched "Sour Grapes"? i think they discuss that in there. That individual had a palate that could fool 90% of professional sommeliers.

[dtapke]

TBH I used to host monthly blind wine tastings, generally 12 bottles of wine of varying prices from 10-200. we would all sample and make notes, then aerate with a aerating pour spout and make notes again, often the best wines fell of, the cheapest wines moved up. but generally only a spot or two.

[mr_beer]

Thanks to those who responded. 

brewfun offered the best notion -- I got carried away with the time.
dtapke wanted pure o2 but that is not in the cards for our kitchen.  Since contamination is not an issue my notion is that regular air will work.

My next iteration will be to toss the airsone and just use the hose in the bottle for a shorter time. 

I will report back.


BTW, putting the wine in a blender is often discussed on wine blogs/forums.  Larry Elison and others boast of the technique.  My view is that it is too much of a PITA so I decided on this experimental approach since Mr. Elison has substantially more money to spend on spoiled wine than I do.

 

[dtapke]

pure o2 was purely sarcasm.

just decant and let breathe for a bit.

[mr_beer]

Well, I was not going to give up.  So, I removed the airstone and had the small tube from the aquarium pump to the bottle with a small weight on the end.  And I let it pump and stopped after about 5 minutes.  Bubbles came through the wine but no foam.  The wine seemed better than if I had not ?force decanted? it with the air pump.

brewfun said 

Just as with fresh wort, there is a difference between aeration, oxygenation and oxidation

  I certainly do not understand the difference and would appreciate an explanation of the difference. 

So the question now is regarding my beer wort ? should I ditch the airstone in favor of just the air hose??  With the airstone I get lots of foam in the primary bucket prior to pitching the yeast.  I thought that the foam indicated good aeration and it was beneficial.

[GigaFemto]

brewfun said 

Just as with fresh wort, there is a difference between aeration, oxygenation and oxidation

  I certainly do not understand the difference and would appreciate an explanation of the difference. 

So the question now is regarding my beer wort ? should I ditch the airstone in favor of just the air hose??  With the airstone I get lots of foam in the primary bucket prior to pitching the yeast.  I thought that the foam indicated good aeration and it was beneficial.

Aeration means the introduction of air into the liquid. Air is 80% nitrogen, with oxygen, carbon dioxide and some other gases in smaller proportions. Oxygenation means the introduction of oxygen into the liquid. Oxidation means that a chemical reaction has taken place that incorporates oxygen into one of the molecules involved in the reaction. Oxygenation can lead to oxidation, but they are not the same thing.

When you use the stone you get very fine bubbles, when you just use a hose you get larger bubbles. For the same volume of gas, the larger bubbles will rise to the surface with less of the gas dissolved into the liquid on the way up than with the small bubbles because of the smaller surface area to volume ratio. The foam you see is the result of having smaller bubbles. The stone is a better way of getting oxygen dissolved into the wine or wort.

--GF

[dtapke]

Wine - aeration good

Wort - aeration ok, oxygenation best, oxidation bad.

Beer- Just Don't