Riddling Racks

No need for anything that fancy - you can stack the bottles on their sides in regular cases during the secondary fermentation, just mix the content every 2-3 weeks to promote good fermentation. After aging, just invert the bottles into the cases so that the sediment falls to the bottle cap, and for the first 1-2 weeks rotate them back and forth to loosen up any sediment clinging to the sides. This is basically all that riddling does, just not as fancy; it works just as well.

Pp

I bought used ones off of Presque Isle Wine Cellars in PA. They are tough to make; these came from France and were bought off a winery going out of business in Pittsburgh where I come from. (weird how things can go full circle, huh? ).

You can certainly try the procedure outlined by Pp too, it's pretty common to do that if you don't have the racks. Most people lift the bottle a little (an inch or so) give it a sharp twist and drop it into the case to move the sediment down.

The racks are heavy so shipping would be a chunk of change.

Joe

Matthew,

I've riddled using the method Pp outlines. The carton the bottles came in works fine as a riddling rack. I'd add that a good shaking prior to the complete inversion is probably a good idea. The lees which have compacted along the side of the bottle during the secondary fermentation and aging will be fairly difficult to dislodge otherwise. I didn't mix during the secondary as Pp suggests, and I had an extended aging period, which may be why my lees were more comfortable with their position along the side of the bottle. :)

Also, if you are planning on an extended sur lie aging, look for the highest quality crown caps. After two years of aging I had a few bottles with what looked like a ring of rust around the neck of the bottle. This didn't seem to have any impact on the flavor, and it may have been the hardened residue of a slight seepage of the champagne into the crimps of the crown cap, as the cap itself didn't show any signs of rust or other damage. If I make another batch I'll also see about borrowing a bench or floor capper, as I used the hand held job which came with my beginners home brewing kit. It's as cheaply made as is possible, with plastic replacing every part that doesn't absolutely have to be metal, and my hope is that a more sturdy capper may give a tighter fit to the crown caps.

I'd love to hear feedback from other sparkling wine makers regarding the 'crust' I had on some of my bottles.

Cheers, Ken

Ken, I buy crown caps from Presque Isle and don't think they are anything special, they have a plastic seal and sell for a few cents.

It may be your capper. Mine is at least 50 years old and is all metal but it sold for $2.00 whenever it was made...

You might want to check out those 'second hand wannabe antique' shops; I see great cappers there for less than $25 once in a while in them. The bench cappers I saw in winemaking shops weren't that impressive to me, they had a lot of plastic in them too.

All I did to mine was replace the gasket under the capper with a garden hose seal, mine was all dried out. We made it a little longer too by welding a block of steel into the upright because mine was really made for small bottles. I seal them, then rotate the bottle 90 degrees and recrimp just because I'm anal. I just opened the last of the sparklers from 97 a few months back, never had any rusted seals...

Joe

. After two years of aging I had a few

I have used the upside down in the box method for several batches with great success. However, I am just getting ready to move up to a riddling rack. Nothing fancy. My plan is to use 3/4 inch plywood with holes drilled into it and joined a the top with a piano hinge. If you have to buy everything, it would probably be about $20. I probably have most of the stuff laying around my garage.

Bryan; I tried to do that and ended up buying a riddling rack... :)

I was drilling the holes at a 30 degree angle with around a 2.5" hole saw. That was next to impossible, I think I did 3 holes and quit before I broke an arm or worse because I was doing it freehand.

You could use any cheap but heavy hinge instead of a piano hinge to save a few bucks. You could probably just use furring strips on the bottom to give you an offset.

The openings on mine are 2.5" across on 5 inch centers. What they did was bore at a 45 degree angle. It's basically 6 oak boards roughly

4.5" wide by 1". If you have access to a drill press you could build a jig and just use some clear 2 x 6's, it would be a lot easier and probably safer.

I could take some pictures of mine and email you if you would like.

Joe

Bryan M. Everitt wrote:

Joe,

Thanks for the advice, I had been trying to figure out how big to make the holes. I have drill press and a pretty beefy drill, but a lot of 2.5" holes does sound like a lot of work. If you have some pictures, I wouldn't mind looking at them, but don't worry too much about it. I have been able to find a lot of pictures and such online.