Effervescence

[alaskanaturally]

Ran into another interesting thing. We made a batch of Asian pear wine last summer. Bottled it up in March, 2016. It's about 16%. Opened a bottle the other night and it bubbled like champagne. Very good but never had that happen before. Any ideas? Would like to duplicate that in new batches.

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Alaskanaturally, What was the SG at which you bottled the wine? What is the current SG? If it has dropped then it continued to ferment in the bottle. Alternatively, there may have been CO2 trapped in the wine when you bottled. Changes in ambient temperature and air pressure can force the carbon dioxide out of suspension in the wine, and even fine particles of fruit that drop out of suspension over time as the wine ages can cause the CO2 to nucleate and gather as bubbles so that when you uncork the bottle you find the wine effervesces...

 

[Norton]

That happened to me with Asian pear once. It tasted great! I haven't been able to replicate it.

 

[alaskanaturally]

Hi Alaskanaturally, What was the SG at which you bottled the wine? What is the current SG? If it has dropped then it continued to ferment in the bottle. Alternatively, there may have been CO2 trapped in the wine when you bottled. Changes in ambient temperature and air pressure can force the carbon dioxide out of suspension in the wine, and even fine particles of fruit that drop out of suspension over time as the wine ages can cause the CO2 to nucleate and gather as bubbles so that when you uncork the bottle you find the wine effervesces...

Bernard, Don't know what the SG was right at bottling but was 0.985 a few months earlier when we added camden. Like you said Norton, it sure tastes great. Happy we have five gallons to enjoy over the next few years.

 

[Arne]

I would be careful with those bottles. Regular wine bottles are not designed to hold pressure. They can blow the corks, maybe crack the bottles if the cork is tight enough. Had corks blowing once with apple. The couple of bottles that were left were great tasting, but the ones that blew made a mess. I would carefully put them in the fridge or on ice before trying to open them. Good luck with them, Arne.

 

[salcoco]

if you wish to replicate a method that is used to carbonate beer can be followed. once wine is clear and stabilized, do not add sorbate. add 3/4 cup sugar to 5 gallons. stir to dissolve and then bottle. there will still be yeast alive in he wine that will ferment in the bottle and give you a level of carbonation when complete. it will take about six weeks to complete. some residue may be left in the bottom of bottle.

 

[NorCal]

if you wish to replicate a method that is used to carbonate beer can be followed. once wine is clear and stabilized, do not add sorbate. add 3/4 cup sugar to 5 gallons. stir to dissolve and then bottle. there will still be yeast alive in he wine that will ferment in the bottle and give you a level of carbonation when complete. it will take about six weeks to complete. some residue may be left in the bottom of bottle.

I've been looking for this simple process defined...thank you. Do you use a beer bottle, or is there actually a "can" that you use? I don't want to assume, as I want to give this a go this season with some Chardonnay from grapes that I'm making.

 

[salcoco]

I usually use a beer bottle with cap. but I would think a wine bottle with cork would work as the carbonation pressure is not that high.

 

[heatherd]

@NorCal
I use these bottles for carbonated beverages:
http://www.annapolishomebrew.com/co/beer-bottles-ez500-clear

That way you can be certain to avoid bottle bombs.

 

[BernardSmith]

I usually use a beer bottle with cap. but I would think a wine bottle with cork would work as the carbonation pressure is not that high.

I agree that there is not a great deal of pressure but the pressure created is certainly more than enough to pop a cork. Wine bottles are not really designed to take any pressure so you could use beer bottles with crown caps or champagne bottles (which are designed to hold wine under pressure) with plastic caps secured with cages and wires