how do you make Champagne??

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Ed from Holland

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it's made in france in that region (champange) with the champange technique. Basically double fermented but stored upside down and frozen so that the sediment can be removed (I did a winery tour in france but it's been a long time). The term champange is reserved for sparkling wines from that region, all champagnes are sparkling wines yet not all sparkling wines are champagne, just like congnac and brandy.

Sparkling wines can be made at home by either force carbonating a wine or by a second in bottle fermentation (adding yeast and sugar). The force carbonation is much easier since you do not have to worry about removing settled yeast from your bottles.

google is your friend btw

Easier, but doesn't give the same result. A lot of the taste of a great Champagne is due to it sitting on the lees of the bottle fermentation for many years.

Andy

Good Point. Plus real champagned's flavor is also effected by that it's not allowed to rest during the carbonation. The bottle is rotated almost daily.

later,

tom

I'm not sure they rotate every day, I think that is only during the riddling process. They rotate every 3 to 6 months when it is resting on the lees, then when the wine is ready, they riddle to get the lees into the neck.

For sparkling wine you start with a wine of approximately 10% alcohol and acid that is higher than normal, around 8 or 9 gm/l. Then you ferment again in bottle with a very carefully measured amount of sugar and another batch of yeast if you want a naturally carbonated sparkler. Regards, Joe

I knew it had to do with carbonating with sugar because the cider I brewed once with a tad too much sugar flowed like champagne all out of the bottle and all the way down the sink, wonderfual tasting (what was left) and very high %age of alcohol, but alas so little of it left in the bottle top enjoy. I shant try that trick again, wonder if dextrose would improve on this performance ?