WineXpert Sparkling Wine

Will be starting tommorow thanks to Jobe. It came in today but I was to
busy working on my brother-in-laws house. I will have pictures for
this! Joan, have you started yours yet or are you waiting for me to
make the first mistakes!

Started the kits today. Good thing I got 2 kits as one of them had no
instructions or packets included but I had extra bentonight hanging
around as do I have pot-metea and sorbate. Might have them send the
Isinglass packet as all I have is SuperKleer.







Sg was 1.088 and temp was 77* so comes out to 1.090 right on the money!

My Riesling is a week ahead of your's, Wade. I racked yesterday.

Here's a question for George and the sparkling winemakers.

The Riesling kit comes with a Susse Reserve pack. Does anyone know exactly what's in it and can I use it when I add the champagne yeast instead of the sugar water?

I could not even spell that if you asked me....

Don't be all that impressed...it's in the directions! =)))

Shes bubbling away today!

Excellent!!!!

Joan said:

My Riesling is a week ahead of your's, Wade. I racked yesterday.

Here's a question for George and the sparkling winemakers.

The Riesling kit comes with a Susse Reserve pack. Does anyone know exactly what's in it and can I use it when I add the champagne yeast instead of the sugar water?

Click to expand...

What kit is it?

I think she got the Washington Columbia this time!

Looking good Wade, keep us Posted...

Good job Wade I knew you'd post good pictures so we could all learn from it. I'd really be interested in seeing the process toward the end, when you have to freeze them, and uncork. I wish you could post small 5-10 second movies. I had always wanted to do a sparkling wine out of my Johannisburg Reisling, but never had the nerve to freeze a bottle, and uncork it while frozen, then work fast enough to refill and recork wire tie and everything else that you have to do.


Glad your having fun, keep us posted.

Is it possible to do that because my camara will do that. I just dont
know how it would fit. But if not I'll take as many pictures step by
step whether they explose or not!

Masta, I'm using the Selection Estate Washington Columbia Riesling.

I'm following this one closely...


who else does sparkling here?

NW mainly, and I think RS is in the middle of one also.

Joan: I to have that Reisling in a carboy getting ready to bottle. It's one of the better Reislings that I have done, and thats all my wife and I drink, you'll like it.

Joan said:

My Riesling is a week ahead of your's, Wade. I racked yesterday.

Here's a question for George and the sparkling winemakers.

The Riesling kit comes with a Susse Reserve pack. Does anyone know exactly what's in it and can I use it when I add the champagne yeast instead of the sugar water?

Click to expand...

Joan I confirm my thoughts regarding the components of the Süss-reserve pack with Winexpert so now we all know.


I asked:


Do all the F-packs in WE kits including the Süss-reserve in the Washington Columbia Valley Riesling - Estate Series contain sorbate, K-meta, and sodium benzoate? Thanks Scott


Their response:



Hello Scott,
Yes, the f-packs and suisse reserve packs do contain potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite andsodium benzoate.
<DIV align=left>Cheers,
<DIV align=left>Linda Kazakoff
<DIV align=left>
<DIV align=left>Customer Service
<DIV align=left>Winexpert Inc.
<DIV align=left>1622 Kebet Way
<DIV align=left>Port Coquitlam, B.C.
<DIV align=left>V3C 5W9
<DIV align=left>604-941-5588
<DIV align=left>
<DIV align=left>I posted this the other day under a thread talking about using the a portion of the F-Packfrom the Island Mist kits in the make-up.
<DIV align=left>
<DIV align=left>"Just to help clarify a few things (mainly for new wine makers) regarding adding a portion of the F-pack to the juice in the initial make-up. Even though it is done successfully by people you should be aware of the risk of having a fermentation that will not start. This reason for this is the F-Pack not only contains sugar and flavoring it also contains sorbate, sulfite, and a measure of sodium benzoate.


Sodium Benzoate: As a food additiveit is used as a preservative effectively killing most yeasts, bacteria and fungi. Sodium benzoate is effective only in acidic conditions (pH &lt; 3.6) My guess would be that this is added to the mist kits due to the lower alcohol content.


But bottom line it is your kit and you certainly can do as you wish but the warranty could be at risk if you don't follow the instructions."

I recently came across an explanation of what susse reserve means. It is reserved juice when wine is made for sweetening after fermentation. It is usually frozen until such time as it is needed. Apparently WE decided that that name sounds fancier than an f-pack.


"Another back-sweetening method involves reserving a portion of juice at press time, fermenting the rest of the juice to dryness, then back-blending the reserved juice to provide sweetness and intense fruit character. Care must be taken in storing the reserved juice; usually this portion (called sussreserve) is clarified, treated with SO2 and frozen until needed."


The whole text to the article is here
http://www.grapes.umn.edu/gris/enology.html

Thanks for the clarrification, Masta and Appleman. I guess I won't be adding that to my carboy!

Shes reached 1.010. Time to transfer to Secondary. Yuck, that is ugly
looking stuff right now! Actually the picture makes it look a lot
better with the flash. Looks more like mud in real life!




Edited by: wade