Sparkling Wine Methods

I have been planning to make some sparkling wine for a while. I have a dozen bottles suitable now and am fermenting a strawberry wine which I plan to turn into a sparkling wine. I have two questions.

1) Is there an equivalent to the condessa sparkler tops still available. I believe these provided a cheap and easy way for the home winemaker to make clear sparkling wines - having a purge valve for sealed disgorging of the wine. Though I hear they are no longer produced. Why I do not know as they sound like an ideal solution...

2) How do you sweeten a wine you want to sparkle? The only way I could think of was non-fermentable sweeteners though I am keen to avoid these and don't think they'd add the same mouth-feel as a sweet wine has (I could be wrong).

Any help gratefully received as ever...

Jim

Reply to
jim
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Jim, Crown (beer) caps are used for making sparklers these days. Plain sugar (sucrose) can be used to sweeten sparklers when the yeast is being removed from the bottles. The high CO2 pressure and the lack of nutrients prevents the added sugar from fermenting. More info here

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Lum

Reply to
Lum Eisenman

Thanks Lum!

It sounds like I am going to have to be brave as hell the first try :)

Jim

Reply to
jim

Well, sort of; I have made several hundred bottles without mishap. I back sweeten at least half, another trick is to add a bit of alcohol to the sweetened wine; alcohol tastes sweet and the higher the alcohol the lass chance of re-fermenting. My levels are minute but it is what I do. I take a neutral wine, add an equal amount of sugar and add 10% brandy or vodka; this syrup is often called the dosage. Knowing the amount of sugar you added and the final volume makes it easy to add a measured amount of sugar to a sparkler. I keep the dosage in small containers under refrigeration, the alcohol helps it keep.

I wear a face shield when I riddle but not when I disgorge. That takes some of the terror out of it.... :)

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Thats strange to me... You are more concerned about a cap blowing while it is unfrozen and in progress rather than when it has finished fermenting? Can you explain why that is - for this newbs interest?

Also, regarding the frozen brine you use to freeze the neck of the wine before adding the final dose of sweetness/alcohol: Is that just a heavily salted bucket of ice and water? Do you have a device to hold the neck in it for long enough for the lees plug to freeze? How does that bit work?

I hope you can help me with that bit, then I'll have a few months to mull it over and practice!

Many thanks and best wishes, Jim

Reply to
jim

Jim,

I use 10 pressure bottles and carbonate to 6 pressures (90PSIG). If the bottle has a weak spot it will most likely show up during riddling. That is performed and room temp and involves a little jostling. When you disgorge the wine is chilled and at a lower pressure, the likelihood of an incident is reduced.

I'm too lazy to do the brine right now but have done it in the past; I would actually recycle it by placing it in the freezer. If you get enough salt in it it stays slushy even at 0F. You may have glassware or a wide mouth thermos available to hold the bottle or you can build a little bath.

I just riddle and chill the wine in the refrigerator, then place them in the freezer (point down); 1/2 to 1 hour later the plug is formed in the neck.

I go outside to disgorge. I quickly rinse the bottle point down, cradle the bottle in one arm point down, set my uncapper and rotate the arm up as I pop off the cap. A soon as the cap is off I place the thumb of the hand cradling the bottle over the opening. If you get it right you can lose less than an ounce, if you are slow you can lose

8 ounces.

You tube has some disgorging videos...

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Thanks for the detail Joe! That's really, really useful to know. I am looking forward to trying it now :) I don't know how many atmospheres my bottles can hold but they are all quite thick having held a variety of champagnes and some berringer sparklers... I will err on the side of caution though :)

Jim

Reply to
jim

Jim, I'll weigh one and get back to you; where i buy mine they used to sell

6 pressure and 10 pressure, I think they only sell the 10's now. 10 atmospheres is close to 150 PSIG, that would be crazy. I doubt the yeast can even take that. Don't use any that are not punted for high pressure, I would consider anything over 1 atmosphere high.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Put some pottasium metabisulphite (PMS) into the dosage. You need to add

50ppm, which is 0.075 grams PMS per bottle. So if your dosage amount is say 20 mls then you need 3.75grams per liter of PMS in your dosage mixture.
Reply to
James

Jim, My bottles weigh around 900 grams; these are the 10 atmosphere bottles.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

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Thanks for that Joe, good to know.

Jim

Reply to
jimclifford (formally jim)

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