Sparkling wine.

[TommBomb]

Hey guys, was wondering if any of u out there made sparkling wine and if so u might share some of your expertise. I have been researching it and it seems a bit more complicated then I had thought. I want to do a sparkling crab apple wine. Please share people this website is a wealth of info.

Thanks in advance

 

[djrockinsteve]

I have made sparkling wine a few times. Sitting on 4-5 year old s. wine now. We have had some. Awesome.

You might find it quicker and easier to force carbonate your wine than go the second fermentation way.

You need to make your wine all the way to bottling. Then put in a keg and carbonate it. Deep chill then bottle in champagne bottles or reg. wine bottles if the pressure is low enough.

Let me know if you want the traditional method. I can guide you. Easy but you need patience.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Here is a link to a tutorial I did on sparkling wine.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f71/how-make-sparkling-wine-10519/

 

[spaniel]

We did a batch once the simplest way. From generic white grocery store table grapes, no less. We fermented the wine by the standard method, waiting for it to clear. I do not recall if we added sorbate but I do not think so; I think we simply bottles as-is and added a primer scoop of sugar. The amount escapes me, it has been a good 10 years, but there are places you can look that up. The sugar was added and then we capped with standard beer caps -- these work on standard champagne bottles, which we had saved up for this purpose.

I won't say it was spectacular, but it was as good as your general, average priced champagne. I would do it again and probably will when I have extra grapes. Yes there is a little yeast in the bottom, but you have to go with the more complex inversion technique to avoid that.

 

[lawrstin]

Just make sure you use champagne bottles or the result to the bottles may be serious damage.

Have you chosen a recipe for your crab apple wine yet?

Ferment to dry, rack, add Campden, inoculate with baking sugar and champagne yeast, as soon as the wine starts fermenting pour into heavy champagne bottles fit with vintrap stoppers and wire them down, store two weeks at room temp and then cool.

 

[TommBomb]

Awesome guys. I do have the heavy champagne bottles so I just need to order the caps. When u add the sugar and yeast the second time around is it in a primary? Or a carboy?

 

[lawrstin]

There so many ways to do it. I suggest adding the yeast and sugar after it ferments and after you rack it. This would be the second fermentation of the BAKING sugar you just added.

 

[lawrstin]

Also, since you've never made wine before I would suggest you don't make sparkling. It takes over a year using molecularpprous membrane tubing and caping before you disgorge, uncap and remove the tubing after chilling the bottles and then dosing. Not for the faint of heart.

 

[Arne]

Somewhere on here Pumpkinman had an easy way to make a sparkling wine. If you don't find it, shoot him a private message and bet he will be happy to tell you how he did it. Arne.