WineNewbie
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- Aug 16, 2006
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I'm in the process of making my 1st Sparkling Wine. It's the Winexpert Millenium II Sparkling kit. I want to take the extra steps to riddle and degorge, so I have a nice clean finished sparkling wine.
Here's where I'm at: I started the kit back on 3/1/08. I followed all the kit instructions up to the clarifying/degassing stage. I did not add thek-meta or k-sorbate per the instructions. Once the wine was clear I bottled on 4/13/08. I followed the advicein Northern Wino's tutorialand sanitized everything at bottling but rinsed thoroughlyso as not to leave any sulfite residue, which could inhibit the yeast from working in the bottles.
I racked the wine into the primary and added the priming sugar included with the kit (dissolved in 1 cup boiling water and cooled). I also added a rehydrated pack of yeast (Redstar - Champagne yeast). I know the instructions do not call for this, but I just wanted to make sure there was plenty of yeast left for the bottle fermentation to run it's course.
Finally, I bottled from the bucket (after stirring in the priming sugar mixture and yeast starter). Gently tapped in the plastic Champagne stoppers with a rubber malletand secured with wire hoods.
I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance from those of you who have made sparkling wine. My question is: How can you tell if the fermentation is working in the bottle? I can clearly see a thin layer of yeast sediment at the bottom of each bottle, that clouds the wine when I shake the bottles a couple times a week (per the tutorial). The wire hoods all appear to be nice and tight, but I tightened them pretty good to begin with, so not sure if they have tightened anymore do to fermentation.
Does it sound like everything is going as it should be?
Here's where I'm at: I started the kit back on 3/1/08. I followed all the kit instructions up to the clarifying/degassing stage. I did not add thek-meta or k-sorbate per the instructions. Once the wine was clear I bottled on 4/13/08. I followed the advicein Northern Wino's tutorialand sanitized everything at bottling but rinsed thoroughlyso as not to leave any sulfite residue, which could inhibit the yeast from working in the bottles.
I racked the wine into the primary and added the priming sugar included with the kit (dissolved in 1 cup boiling water and cooled). I also added a rehydrated pack of yeast (Redstar - Champagne yeast). I know the instructions do not call for this, but I just wanted to make sure there was plenty of yeast left for the bottle fermentation to run it's course.
Finally, I bottled from the bucket (after stirring in the priming sugar mixture and yeast starter). Gently tapped in the plastic Champagne stoppers with a rubber malletand secured with wire hoods.
I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance from those of you who have made sparkling wine. My question is: How can you tell if the fermentation is working in the bottle? I can clearly see a thin layer of yeast sediment at the bottom of each bottle, that clouds the wine when I shake the bottles a couple times a week (per the tutorial). The wire hoods all appear to be nice and tight, but I tightened them pretty good to begin with, so not sure if they have tightened anymore do to fermentation.
Does it sound like everything is going as it should be?