so i was curious how sparkling wine is made i read about the different methods the method i want to try is the sugar to induce fermentation in the bottle method. now i would rather add some unfermented juice instead of just plain sugar. im thinking separate 20 percent before fermentation keep it in the fridge at 35 degrees until ready to bottle then mix it back in. what do u think. would juice last airtight at 34 degrees for months maybe a year? is 20/80 a good ratio?
sparkling wine
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Why not do this.... monitor the fermentation of your base wine until it gets to about 4 or 5% sugar remaining, then simply place it into a bottle and cap it. This way, you do not need to hang on to juice and will not have a problem getting the champagne to re-ferment (which I find can be a real PITA).
i dont understand what u mean by referment how is this different considering either way u go about it u have unfermented wine sealed in a bottle and isnt that the point? one reason i would prefer my method is cause my way i could still bulk age the wine instead of having to bottle it so early when i dont think its really ready to be bottled yet
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If you plan to convert year old wine into champagne, you might find that getting the wine to re-ferment (for carbonation) can be a little dicey. By starting with new wine that is not quite completed primary fermentation, you are assured of results.
BernardSmith
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But you can be more certain of results if you add some more yeast to the additional sugar (or juice) so that you are not dependent on the yeast still being viable after a lengthy period of aging. But that said, I would be concerned about adding "juice" without any real calculation of the additional quantity of sugars being added. Fermentation in the bottle will produce CO2 and CO2 trapped in the bottle will create pressure. Not certain, about this but I think that one is typically looking for about 2-4 volumes of CO2 per bottle. I think that that might be about 3 or 4 oz of sugar added to 5 gallons. If you add about 1/5 the volume of juice I think you may be creating significantly more CO2 than that and then the question is what happens to the bottles and caps and, if they remain intact, what happens to the wine that gushes from the bottle when you open it... ?
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Bernard,
The method I have had the most success with is to wait until the initial primary fermentation drops to 1.0sg. I then add 24 grams of priming sugar to each bottle, add the (cloudy) still barely active wine to each bottle, then cap. I then age the champagne for 18 months (on their sides) before starting the riddling/disgorging process. Works every time.
The method I have had the most success with is to wait until the initial primary fermentation drops to 1.0sg. I then add 24 grams of priming sugar to each bottle, add the (cloudy) still barely active wine to each bottle, then cap. I then age the champagne for 18 months (on their sides) before starting the riddling/disgorging process. Works every time.
BernardSmith
Senior Member
And I have been doing something very similar with the hard cider I am making although I add the priming sugar to the bulk cider, stirring thoroughly and then bottling because I am looking for consistency in each bottle and I was concerned that adding a quantity of sugar to each 500 cc bottle would likely mean that some bottles would have more and some less sugar - and this was why a couple of weeks ago I posted a question about porting the bottom of a plastic bucket to better enable me to bottle small quantities of cider and mead that I want sparkling and which for the record, fixing the bucket to a wooden board and using a 1 inch spade bit worked like a charm.
iVivid
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This is good timing; I'm about to do this myself. I've never done a sparking, but I've made a lovely full of fruit kiwifruit wine; I've just racked again, and it's almost perfectly clear. My (old and basic) book says to make a EC-1118 starter, with 50mls of water, with a pinch of sugar. When the yeast is active, add to the demijohn and gently stir. Bottle in champagne bottles with a heaped tsp of white sugar. Insert champagne stoppers and wire down with wire cages. Do I wait until this wine is crystal clear, or do I just go ahead. I'm unsure, and my old book doesn't really say. I understand I will get sediment in the bottle, and I'm fine with that, this will be my first attempt. It tastes like its quite high in a acid, and I'm told kiwifruit makes a great sparkling!
i see now you counter the early bottling by riddling/disgorging and rebottling. but my way i dont think id have to do that since the wine will have already cleared before i bottle. one question i alwayas had about the champagne method is why do the referment in bottles and not in bulk if youre going to rebbotle anyway?
say the juice is 22 brix is there a formula i could use? i dont use sulfites so i think that raises my chances and if it fails oh well ill have a sweet reisling instead of a sparkling reisling
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sholomy,
To carbonate the wine, you add yeast. In effect, you go through a whole, new fermentation. During this fermentation, you need to cap the bottle to retain the CO2 gas. No matter what the case, unless you use a "forced carbonation" method, you will have some level of sediment to deal with.
The issue I have always had was in the process of getting this secondary fermentation to kick off when starting with a still wine. This is why I prime and cap the wine at the point where primary fermentation is all but complete, but the yeast is still very much active. As I said earlier, this method never fails.
Another aspect is that the wine is aged on more yeast, yielding a much more yeasty champagne (which I prefer in the dry champagnes I make).
To carbonate the wine, you add yeast. In effect, you go through a whole, new fermentation. During this fermentation, you need to cap the bottle to retain the CO2 gas. No matter what the case, unless you use a "forced carbonation" method, you will have some level of sediment to deal with.
The issue I have always had was in the process of getting this secondary fermentation to kick off when starting with a still wine. This is why I prime and cap the wine at the point where primary fermentation is all but complete, but the yeast is still very much active. As I said earlier, this method never fails.
Another aspect is that the wine is aged on more yeast, yielding a much more yeasty champagne (which I prefer in the dry champagnes I make).
why not? if its sealed and fermenting wouldnt it carbonate?
u say yeast in necessary but maybe thats only if you already sulfited the wine? as for sediment is that only from the yeast? basically lets say you can get a fermentation going without yeast because you havent used sulfites and the wine and juice have both cleared then you woouldnt have to rack and rebottle, right?
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SHolomy,
The point of a fermentation trap is to release the gas. There is not way to carbonate champagne that way.
If you ever look at a champagne bottle, you might notice that the lip of the bottle resembles that of a beer bottle. This is because the bottle is capped with a beer cap during secondary fermentation. This traps the gas and carbonates the wine.
The is just no way to make champagne without something that can hold the pressure.
Rather than a champagne bottle, I have made champagne in a cornelious keg (beer keg) and hooked a line and tap through my beer kegerator. Now, I have beer and champagne on tap.
The point of a fermentation trap is to release the gas. There is not way to carbonate champagne that way.
If you ever look at a champagne bottle, you might notice that the lip of the bottle resembles that of a beer bottle. This is because the bottle is capped with a beer cap during secondary fermentation. This traps the gas and carbonates the wine.
The is just no way to make champagne without something that can hold the pressure.
Rather than a champagne bottle, I have made champagne in a cornelious keg (beer keg) and hooked a line and tap through my beer kegerator. Now, I have beer and champagne on tap.
champagne on tap i could get used to that
now back to business when u say fermentation trap do u mean the airlock which allows air our but not in? isnt there a way to trap the gas in a bulk container?
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champagne on tap i could get used to that
now back to business when u say fermentation trap do u mean the airlock which allows air our but not in? isnt there a way to trap the gas in a bulk container?
Yes, I mean an airlock. The airlock is designed to release pressure.
The amount of pressure in champagne is way, way to great for a standard carboy to ever hold back. The pressure can exceed that used by a nail-gun and can be dangerous is not respected. A standard carboy or "better-bottle" simply is not up to the task and will explode if you try to capture the CO2. You should either use standard champagne bottles or get yourself a cornelius keg...
Here is a link to a rather inexpensive keg. Use this to get champagne on tap. I use these to make sode, beer, sparkling skeeter pee, and champagne.
http://www.bvrgelements.com/product/5-Gallon-PIN-Lock-Kegs__Used/?gclid=CK6p68yj9roCFZMDOgodJnAAzw
