Help save my sparkler / champagne
 

Good Morning-

I'm in a bit of a bind. I sterile filtered my chardonnay champagne
(it would NOT clear- bentonite didn't even touch it) and brought the
sulifite to 30 ppm (was at 25ppm).

I then added ~1kg of sterile sugar solution (1kg sugar + 1 cup water,
boiled)- the sugar crystallized immediately but then dissolved before
hitting the bottom.

I added 30g of Redstar Champagne Yeast to water for 15 minutes, then
slowly added wine over the next hour until 2 cups were achieve. I
added this mixture to the wine and waited for 1.5 days.

No activity.

I then added 3x 5g EC-1118 to the surface of the wine- again, a small
release of dissolved CO2, but there's STILL no airlock activity after
24 hours.

I'm contemplating mixing up another starter, slowly adding up to 1
gallon of the wine this time, in hopes to bring it up.

Any suggestions are very welcome. I was hoping to get this into
bottles today but that doesn't look like it's going to happen...

Jason

Help save my sparkler / champagne
 

I've had my best luck propagating 1118 in welch's grape or an apple juice &
adding in must incrementally til a good sized population cultured. I'm not
sure if this is appropriate for sparkling wines... regards, bob


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Good Morning-
>
> I'm in a bit of a bind. I sterile filtered my chardonnay champagne
> (it would NOT clear- bentonite didn't even touch it) and brought the
> sulifite to 30 ppm (was at 25ppm).
>
> I then added ~1kg of sterile sugar solution (1kg sugar + 1 cup water,
> boiled)- the sugar crystallized immediately but then dissolved before
> hitting the bottom.
>
> I added 30g of Redstar Champagne Yeast to water for 15 minutes, then
> slowly added wine over the next hour until 2 cups were achieve. I
> added this mixture to the wine and waited for 1.5 days.
>
> No activity.
>
> I then added 3x 5g EC-1118 to the surface of the wine- again, a small
> release of dissolved CO2, but there's STILL no airlock activity after
> 24 hours.
>
> I'm contemplating mixing up another starter, slowly adding up to 1
> gallon of the wine this time, in hopes to bring it up.
>
> Any suggestions are very welcome. I was hoping to get this into
> bottles today but that doesn't look like it's going to happen...
>
> Jason
>

Help save my sparkler / champagne
 

All of this sounds odd, Bentonite is usually pretty effective if you
hydrate it properly.

That said, if I had to guess I think the sterile filter pulled out
nutrients too and you just need to get some in there. If I am doing 5
gallons of sparkling wine usually just hydrate one pack of EC1118 and
that is all I need. Try warming it a bit if it's under 75F and
stirring it to add a little oxygen too.

Joe