I am interested in making a champagne style sparkling wine. Does anyone have any book recommendation or info would be helpful. I am not trying to recreate Boone's Farm, Cold Duck or any other type of swill ( that yes i have enjoyed LOL). i am looking to replicate a high quality dry or brut champagne.
Champagne
- Thread starter NJTom
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Hows about just reading our forum! LOL, this is in the recipe area and somewhere else but a search on here will find just about anything you need to know. Check the link below!
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f2/sparkling-wine-instructions-2842/
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f2/sparkling-wine-instructions-2842/
Deezil
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I find the easiest way for bottle femented sparkling wine is using encapsulated yeast .
get some prorestart yeast , it usually comes in 83 gram bags from more
wine.
http://morewinemakin...83_g_1_mesh_bag
weigh out 1 gram amounts of it and fill a plastic sparkling wine stopper http://morewinemakin...gne_Stoppers_25 with a one gram of it , then push in a 1 inch fawcet screen (stainless steel , sold at plumbing or head shops I get mine here http://www.shop.pipescreenz.com/) not to tight the yeast should be able to move around a bit.
so you now have a plastic sparkling wine cork with a gram of encapsulated yeast in it secured in place with a stainess mesh screen
when you have all your corks prepped .
fill a bucket of luke warm water and put the filled plastic stoppers in it . I think the yeast instructions call for some sugar in the water. prep properly or the yeast will fail , they need to soak in the sugar water for a while . please read the manufacuters instructions for the yeast prep , i'm working form memory .
with your champagne bottle place 2 - 3 beer brewers candies ( I use Coopers brand from my lhbs) in each bottle (prep these in advance of getting the plastic stoppers wet)
fill the bottles with your Dry clear , filtered and unsulfited and unsorbated base wine ( I usually have aged this wine with a big dose of biolees for that surlees character for 4 weeks before filtering )
pull one of your plastic stoppers out of the water , insert into the filled bottle , wire it up and place bottle on its side. repeat untill all bottles are done
once the candies are all disolved , swish the bottles around a bit as you place them in the case nose down. (stopper pointing down)
let sit for 4-6 weeks nose down at room temperature not too cool nor too hot , swirl the bottles every now and then and place nose down again.
you will have a nice bottle fermented riddle free sparkling wine.
I started writing an article on how to do this for winemaker magazine but have never submitted it.
you could get them really cold , slowly pull out the plastic stopper and recork but I don't . I just leave the fermenting stopper in.
and there you go the riddle of sparkling wine solved. all bubbles , no lees.
I've done this with grape , fruit and kit wines .
get some prorestart yeast , it usually comes in 83 gram bags from more
wine.
http://morewinemakin...83_g_1_mesh_bag
weigh out 1 gram amounts of it and fill a plastic sparkling wine stopper http://morewinemakin...gne_Stoppers_25 with a one gram of it , then push in a 1 inch fawcet screen (stainless steel , sold at plumbing or head shops I get mine here http://www.shop.pipescreenz.com/) not to tight the yeast should be able to move around a bit.
so you now have a plastic sparkling wine cork with a gram of encapsulated yeast in it secured in place with a stainess mesh screen
when you have all your corks prepped .
fill a bucket of luke warm water and put the filled plastic stoppers in it . I think the yeast instructions call for some sugar in the water. prep properly or the yeast will fail , they need to soak in the sugar water for a while . please read the manufacuters instructions for the yeast prep , i'm working form memory .
with your champagne bottle place 2 - 3 beer brewers candies ( I use Coopers brand from my lhbs) in each bottle (prep these in advance of getting the plastic stoppers wet)
fill the bottles with your Dry clear , filtered and unsulfited and unsorbated base wine ( I usually have aged this wine with a big dose of biolees for that surlees character for 4 weeks before filtering )
pull one of your plastic stoppers out of the water , insert into the filled bottle , wire it up and place bottle on its side. repeat untill all bottles are done
once the candies are all disolved , swish the bottles around a bit as you place them in the case nose down. (stopper pointing down)
let sit for 4-6 weeks nose down at room temperature not too cool nor too hot , swirl the bottles every now and then and place nose down again.
you will have a nice bottle fermented riddle free sparkling wine.
I started writing an article on how to do this for winemaker magazine but have never submitted it.
you could get them really cold , slowly pull out the plastic stopper and recork but I don't . I just leave the fermenting stopper in.
and there you go the riddle of sparkling wine solved. all bubbles , no lees.
I've done this with grape , fruit and kit wines .
Last edited:
djrockinsteve
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I have made champagne two different times. Both the original way except as Deezil said not in a cave.
Some is still aging. Read the tutorial and ask if you have any questions. Patience is a big part.
Some is still aging. Read the tutorial and ask if you have any questions. Patience is a big part.
bzac said:
I made sparkling wine and stored it upside down with the intention the yeast would collect in the cap. I planned on chilling the wine upside down prior to serving with hopes the sediment would be in the cap. Problem was several of the bottles leaked out and I ended up with 10 out of 15 and I'm not sure if the others are sparkling. Don't want to check them until son's graduation on 19MAY12.
I've neVer had that happen . Might be an issue with the stoppers , the Chinese ones can leak.
Once the wines had time to referent I store them on their sides like any other wine .
This let's the encapsulated yeast still give character to the wine.
Incidentally Scott labs now has an encapsulated yeast that is double wrapped just for this purpose.
Once the wines had time to referent I store them on their sides like any other wine .
This let's the encapsulated yeast still give character to the wine.
Incidentally Scott labs now has an encapsulated yeast that is double wrapped just for this purpose.
everything from China is a POS....
Wade, your link should be deleted, any instruction calling a Brut Champagne "slightly sweet" is utter nonsense.
Deezil
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Not only are you being disrespectful, but you're also incorrect. The post is gonna stay right where its at, but you dont have to read it or even follow it. The choice is yours, but the option will remain.
Since you want to be disrespectful, ill inform you that Brut can have anywhere from 6-12 grams of sugar per liter. It's definitely not dry nor is it sweetfor a champagne - whichever you think it is, you dont share. But it is most definitely slightly sweet, or semi-sweet, as Wade has posted.
This is the second time you've been disrespectful in this same particular thread. The first one was your arrogant way of questioning our ability to answer your question in the first place - AFTER i had supplied an answer that you LATER said thank you for.
Remember?
Now, i had given you the benefit of the doubt, and let that one slide.. But here you are again..... So you'll receive no more help from me.
Sink or swim.
Edit: Just to give a little more information for the sake of sharing.
Brut Natural: Less than 3 g/l
Extra Brut: Less than 6 g/l
Brut: Less than 12 g/l
Extra Dry: Less than like 15-17 g/l (not 100% here)
So while it may not be 'semi-sweet' in a typical wine sense, for a sparkling wine - a Brut is middle of the road.
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I like this method , a little gum arabic in the base wine also helps , it gives better bubbles and improves the wine's mouth feel . the biolees is also a good idea
NJTom, pl,ease get your facts straight before coming on here and speaking your mind especially when being disrespectful to anyone! We do not tolerate here. If you were talking to anyone but me right now Id probably publicly spank you! Extra Brut is 0-6 grams and Brut is less than 15 grams. Do not come on here again if you plan on acting this way.
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