In message >, Phil Read
> writes
>I'm newish to this but every year I make some Elderflower
>Champagne. This year it has gone slightly wrong there appears to be
>excessive sediment and everytime I release the pressure it is all
>stirred up. i don't ever remember this happening before.

I make it every year too; always did have a lot of sediment in (i.e.
maybe 1/2 to 1 inch at the bottom of a 2-pint screw-topped bottle). But
I never really noticed that it makes much difference in terms of the
flavour, until the stuff has been bottled a very long time, when it
begins to get a bit rank and yeasty.

>Should I restrain it and if I do will it lose it's fizz.

IMO, it probably won't do much harm, particularly if it's done gently;
the fermentation that carbonates it is (presumably) still going on to
some extent, and straining won't remove the active yeast cells. That
said, if the sediment isn't causing a problem, why take the risk?
Perhaps you could compromise by straining as you're serving from the
bottle?

cheers,
robin
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