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Sparkling wine question

Hello -

This is my second shot at a sparkling white wine. The first time I added sugar (1/2 cup for 23 litres) and the carbonation was a bit lame. This time I talked to a fellow at the local wine store, who said to add yeast. I tried that and got zero carbonation and lots of yeast lying at the bottom of the bottle. But I HAD let it ferment out dry, and it had been sitting for a while. So tonight I took 12 of the bottles and added 10 ml of a

1/2-cup-of-sugar-to-1-cup-of-water syrup, then re-corked (in champagne bottles, with those plastic champagne corks)

Sooo... my questions... will I end up with

a) 12 bottles of cheap, flat, overly-sweet white wine b) 12 glass-encased explosive devices. c) A case of sparkling wine

Also... how long will it take?

Thoughts, anyone?

Jeff

Reply to
Gabriel
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Jeff, I am traveling and doing this from memory so it's not worth anything, I think it 4gram per liter per atmosphere. So if you want a 750 ml bottle with 6 atmospheres that would be 18 grams per bottle. that's 90 PGIG, the highest you should ever go. It sounds like you will be around 2 atmospheres if my memory is correct...

I'm certain Lum defines the right proportion in his book, so just grab it off the internet and read through the section on sparkling wine. I use a different yeast on the second fermentation, EC1118 works well if you are looking for a source.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

I have done this following Lum Eisenman's instructions, and had good results. Here is the link:

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Read Chapter 20 for sparkling wines.

The amount of carbonation you get does depend on the amount of sugar you add, IF you successfully re-start fermentation. Just adding sugar, or yeast, or both may not be adequate. I add the sugar to the base wine, then re-start fermentation gradually from a yeast starter, following the procedure for a 'stuck fermentation'.

Lum recommends 1 1/2 oz. of sugar per gallon. For a six-gallon batch, that's 9 oz. of sugar; I think a cup of sugar is around 7 oz., so that works out to around 1 1/4 cups. That would at least get you into the reasonable range.

When the second fermentation is active, bottle in champagne-style bottles using crown caps (metal bottle caps). These are much easier to pop off during the disgorging process. I use the plastic champagne stoppers and wire hoods after disgorging.

Fermentation in the bottle takes several weeks, at least. I usually start the "riddling" phase after 3 months or more, as the contact time with the yeast is supposed to be beneficial. If you add any sweetener during the disgorging process, I'd recommend adding some sorbate to the sugar syrup, to prevent yet another fermentation. The whole process usually takes me 6 to 12 months, but it is very satisfying to do the disgorging, and wire down the plastic stoppers on the finished product.

Happy fermenting --

Doug

Reply to
Doug

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