Sparkling Wine Question
 

Hello -

I am making sparkling wine using a white wine kit (which I have had
experience with before and am satisfied with the quality of). I fermented it
out to .996 then added a sugar syrup as per instructions given by Terry
Garey, and bottled into champagne bottles using champagne corks and wires.
Naturally I did not add any sorbate or extra metabisulphite.

I have made beer before and expected the process to take a couple of months.
But looking at the bottles now I see very little sediment in the bottom -
barely a light dusting - and when I opened one it was only very minimally
carbonated.

Naturally I am going to let this sit for a while longer as per the adage
"all things come to he who waits" but I am wondering if I should be seeing
different results by now. My wine making room is fairly cool - 22 C in the
middle and about 16 C against the outside walls (where the wine was
originally stored) but this has not had any negative effect on the beer I've
made (which seems to carbonate nicely after just a couple of weeks).

Any thoughts or advice from the wise heads of this group eagerly
appreciated.

Merry Christmas,


Gabriel

Sparkling Wine Question
 

Gabriel,
I do not know how much sugar you used per bottle, I use around 20
grams/750 ml. (I don't recall whether its 18 or 24, I always look it
up...) I see no mention of a second addition of yeast here either, I
never rely on the initial yeast, I always add a different strain of
yeast too. You should have a streak, not a dusting.

It could be too cold, you could try moving them to a warmer area for a
few weeks. Remember a big difference between beer and wine is the
extra alcohol already in there, you usually want to start with a base
wine of 10 -11.5%. I don't use the corks until the end, I ferment
under crown caps.

In short, it could be several things, give us a little more detail on
how you made it. I think I have Garey's book but never used it, I'll
take a look later.
Regards,
Joe

"Gabriel" > wrote in message >...
> Hello -
>
> I am making sparkling wine using a white wine kit (which I have had
> experience with before and am satisfied with the quality of). I fermented it
> out to .996 then added a sugar syrup as per instructions given by Terry
> Garey, and bottled into champagne bottles using champagne corks and wires.
> Naturally I did not add any sorbate or extra metabisulphite.
>
> I have made beer before and expected the process to take a couple of months.
> But looking at the bottles now I see very little sediment in the bottom -
> barely a light dusting - and when I opened one it was only very minimally
> carbonated.
>
> Naturally I am going to let this sit for a while longer as per the adage
> "all things come to he who waits" but I am wondering if I should be seeing
> different results by now. My wine making room is fairly cool - 22 C in the
> middle and about 16 C against the outside walls (where the wine was
> originally stored) but this has not had any negative effect on the beer I've
> made (which seems to carbonate nicely after just a couple of weeks).
>
> Any thoughts or advice from the wise heads of this group eagerly
> appreciated.
>
> Merry Christmas,
>
>
> Gabriel

Sparkling Wine Question
 

Gabriel -
I made a reasonably successful batch of "champagne" using a
Chardonnay kit last winter, but I followed steps on Lum Eisenman's
site for making sparkling wine (Chapter 20). See
http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt20.html
The base wine apparently should be just a little thin, and slightly
acidic, for best results, so I diluted mine a bit with water, and
added some extra acid blend to bump up the acidity a notch.

While your symptoms could be related to temperature, it is
possible that the lack of yeast action relates to other factors. That
is why I think it's a better idea to get the second fermentation
going, before bottling in the champagne-type bottles. Making another
batch of "champagne" this summer, it took several tries of yeast
"starters", warm temperatures, yeast nutrient, etc. to get the
fermentation re-started. I managed it (finally) and now have about 5
cases of champagne which I am "riddling" (letting the sediment settle
into the neck) and disgorging.

I also use crown caps - e.g., "bottle caps" rather than champagne
stoppers for this phase - much easier during the disgorgement process.
After riddling, I put 6 bottles at a time in the freezer in a little
wooden rack, upside down. In about 3 to 4 hours, the liquid in the
neck starts to freeze. At this point, you can turn the bottle
right-side up (over the sink!), pop off the cap, and get virtually all
of the yeast sediment out with minimal loss of wine or carbonation.
You don't want to let the whole thing freeze - the bottle may break,
or the cap may pop off (happened to me). Besides, maximum carbonation
retention should be obtained by keeping as much of the contents liquid
as possible (since CO2 dissolves in the wine, but not in ice, I
think).

Anyway, that's been my experience. Best of luck.


Doug




"Gabriel" > wrote in message >...
> Hello -
>
> I am making sparkling wine using a white wine kit (which I have had
> experience with before and am satisfied with the quality of). I fermented it
> out to .996 then added a sugar syrup as per instructions given by Terry
> Garey, and bottled into champagne bottles using champagne corks and wires.
> Naturally I did not add any sorbate or extra metabisulphite.
>
> I have made beer before and expected the process to take a couple of months.
> But looking at the bottles now I see very little sediment in the bottom -
> barely a light dusting - and when I opened one it was only very minimally
> carbonated.
>
> Naturally I am going to let this sit for a while longer as per the adage
> "all things come to he who waits" but I am wondering if I should be seeing
> different results by now. My wine making room is fairly cool - 22 C in the
> middle and about 16 C against the outside walls (where the wine was
> originally stored) but this has not had any negative effect on the beer I've
> made (which seems to carbonate nicely after just a couple of weeks).
>
> Any thoughts or advice from the wise heads of this group eagerly
> appreciated.
>
> Merry Christmas,
>
>
> Gabriel

Sparkling Wine Question
 

My son gave me an old book on winemaking last Christmas. The author's method
of getting rid of the sediment in his sparkling wines was to set the bottles
upright, so that the yeast would settle to the bottom. Then he put the full
bottles, an equal number of empty bottles, some top-off wine and his siphon
hose into the freezer. When everything was quite cold, he'd pop the top of
the full bottles and siphon the liquid off the lees into the empty bottles.
After topping off, he'd then put the official champagne corks and wire on.

Has anyone heard of or tried this method? It seems like it might be easier
than the traditional upside-down-freeze-plug method most people use.

Paul