Red Wine Champagne

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MFC

Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
55
Reaction score
0
Hi All - Just curious, has anyone ever made a sparking wine from their reds?

I had some extra lying around today after racking with no where to put it. decided to add it to a mini champagne bottle I had lying around with a tsp of sugar and see what happens. Used a regular cork but tied it down with a champagne wire and some twine.

It was to small to do much with but I didn't want to waste it and it was to early to drink.
 
By mistake, because I didn't know about degassing, my first batch ever was sparkling!! I had a 6 gallon Merlot going and never degassed..... not really what you were going for
 
Hi All - Just curious, has anyone ever made a sparking wine from their reds?

I had some extra lying around today after racking with no where to put it. decided to add it to a mini champagne bottle I had lying around with a tsp of sugar and see what happens. Used a regular cork but tied it down with a champagne wire and some twine.

It was to small to do much with but I didn't want to waste it and it was to early to drink.

When you handle this wear eye protection and gloves. Champagne bottles can handle more pressure than a regular wine bottle but there are limits.

Commercial producers will have 18-20 pressures in their bottles. 1 level teaspoon is equal to 4.2 grams of sugar. You should be fine but still be careful.

I added 16 pressures to my champagnes and I always handle them carefully.
 
Last edited:
When you handle this wear eye protection and gloves. Champagne bottles can handle more pressure than a regular wine bottle but there are limits.

Commercial producers will have 18-20 pressures in their bottles. 1 level teaspoon is equal to 4.2 grams of sugar. You should be fine but still be careful.

I added 16 pressures to my champagnes and I always handle them carefully.

Yea the thing is scaring me now there are tons of bubbles and some sugar sediment on the bottom. Can this this just explode on me? I have the cork tied down really good.
 
Yea the thing is scaring me now there are tons of bubbles and some sugar sediment on the bottom. Can this this just explode on me? I have the cork tied down really good.

It can explode. Will it? Who knows. Want to find out? I'm guessing no! Put it in the fridge. That will slow down or stop any fermentation of that sugar (depending on the yeast strain). Handle it carefully with goggles and gloves. Open it in the sink when you go to open it.

P.S. FYI - that sediment probably isn't sugar but yeast.

P.P.S. - for comparison's sake, you added about twice as much sugar as you would to a 12 oz. bottle of beer to carbonate that. Since you say you used a mini-champagne bottle, I assume you mean a 375mL split. So you have probably about 5-6 volumes of CO2 in there. In a beer bottle, that's seriously bad news. But in a champagne bottle, you're probably not going to have an explosion...but I would NOT advise you risk it.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top