Thank you everyone.

CO2 huh ...
I am located in Vancouver, Canada.
Temperatures in the winter usually get down around freezing for a couple
weeks
My wine sits outside - for convenience and for cold stabilization before
"bottling" in March.
2004 Lodi Merlot dropped out a lot of TA.

I will stir well before the final racking of my next wine (from frozen
Yakima Cab left over from 2004 harvest).

Malolactic had not occured to me.
I will get a kit and run the test.

Thanks again.

Roger


"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
. ..
> You are bottling at only 6 months old. If you are not degassing it could
> be CO2 that is still dissolved. With 4 rakings I would think that it
> would clear up by then but maybe not. It could also be a MLF fermentation
> that is ongoing when you bottle. This is actually considered good for
> your wine but can cause the fizziness if it is still going on when you
> bottle. MLF will soften a rough wine. It is hard to detect except by
> paper chromatography. If you do not want to fool with the chromatography,
> which I do not do, you can wait longer to bottle if you want to let it go,
> then use a proper dose of sulfite and make sure the ph is at a level that
> will inhibit MLF before bottling.
>
> Ray
> "RogerD" > wrote in message
> news:RVc6e.15445$VF5.12715@edtnps89...
>> Nitrogen ?
>> CO2 ?
>>
>> Although I don't notice it my wife, and several others, have commented
>> that my wine "tastes" fizzy.
>> Looking at the bottle there are bubbles clinging to the glass on the
>> surfce of the wine - that does not go away quickly.
>> Tiny bubbles can be seen rising if looked at closely.
>> If I pull a partial vacuum on the bottle - with one of those vacu-vin
>> corks - larger bubbles are drawn out.
>>
>> I keep my red wine in stainless 58 litre beer kegs.
>> When wine is required I decant it from the keg for immediate use.
>> Wine is decanted from the keg with nitrogen (not CO2 or beer-gas) running
>> at about 5-10 lb.
>>
>> Not knowing any better I have assumed the bubbles were nitrogen.
>> Recently someone suggested the bubbles are CO2 and I should "degass".
>> None of my books mention degassing.
>>
>> I make my wine outside, from grapes, in October.
>> After the primary the wine sits in a 200 litre blue plastic barrel (full)
>> under an airlock.
>> I rack three or four times with the final rack to the SS beer kegs in
>> March.
>> At that time the wine is still and clear.
>>
>> Can anyone comment ?
>> Anyone have this "fizzy" problem ?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Roger
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>