I have never made wine(but made lots of beer), and I was thinking of
making a sparkling wine/champagne. Has anyone ever tried this?

Sure, hundreds of bottles. It's not too complicated- especially if you
are a beer maker. I'm pretty sure Lum Eisenman's book has a section on
this and it's posted on the Internet.

Joe

Frank Mancuso wrote:
> I have never made wine(but made lots of beer), and I was thinking of
> making a sparkling wine/champagne. Has anyone ever tried this?

Joe Sallustio wrote:
> Sure, hundreds of bottles. It's not too complicated- especially if you
> are a beer maker. I'm pretty sure Lum Eisenman's book has a section on
> this and it's posted on the Internet.
>
> Joe
>
> Frank Mancuso wrote:
>> I have never made wine(but made lots of beer), and I was thinking of
>> making a sparkling wine/champagne. Has anyone ever tried this?
>
Thanks Joe. New to this NG, but I'll post with progress/results.

Frank Mancuso wrote:
> I have never made wine(but made lots of beer), and I was thinking of
> making a sparkling wine/champagne. Has anyone ever tried this?

so like I use lalvin-1118 and basically go high alcohol and try to kill
yeast by leaving the wine in my cold fridge hoping it will erode the
organism while not allowing for self-repair. I leave it there till I
drink it. What I notice is something odd that sealed the active
(champagne yeast) seems to try to consume the co2 for some reason and
definately notice -negative- pressure after a few days. So I am thinking
that real champange may be like ah moderately powerful yeast some sugar
and then hitting with something like campden and bottling de-gassed
would produce the champagne effect, but it needs a chemical fix?

--
--------------------------------------------
Matthew Suffidy - Ottawa, Canada

(use as printed)
http://matthew.chungus.com
--------------------------------------------

I still don't know how like sherry yeast differs from standard or
champagne yeast but I think it is more like a gas/evaporation (alchols
product) issue mostly in how fast the matter is being converted into
alcohols. Any use sherry yeast for wine?

--
--------------------------------------------
Matthew Suffidy - Ottawa, Canada

(use as printed)
http://matthew.chungus.com
--------------------------------------------

> ... leaving the wine in my cold fridge ...
> ... definately notice -negative- pressure after a few days. ...

This is most likely simply due to the contraction due to the cold ...
NOT from yeast activity.

If you want something sparkling (Champagne, beer, etc), add some
(carefully measured) fresh fermentables (sugar) at bottling and then
seal in pressure-proof bottles. That's how homebrew beer is done.
You'll get a layer of yeast on the bottom of the bottles. There is
a traditional method that Champagne makers historically have used to
remove the yeast (riddling) from the bottles, but you can just decant
off the yeast as well.

Derric

> This is most likely simply due to the contraction due to the cold ...
> NOT from yeast activity.

Absolutely.

> If you want something sparkling (Champagne, beer, etc), add some
> (carefully measured) fresh fermentables (sugar) at bottling and then
> seal in pressure-proof bottles. That's how homebrew beer is done.
> You'll get a layer of yeast on the bottom of the bottles. There is
> a traditional method that Champagne makers historically have used to
> remove the yeast (riddling) from the bottles, but you can just decant
> off the yeast as well.

It really is pretty much beer making like Derric says here.

I use 10 pressure bottles and sparkle to 6 pressures or 90 PSIG which
is standard sparkling wine pressure.

The key is measuring the sugar added carefully and adding a fresh batch
of different yeast. I might start with a Lalvin D47 at a TA of ~ 8 and
a sugar level of 1.080- 1095; lower than normal starting gravity and
higher than normal acids are normally used. I ferment that dry and
clean it up with bentonite.

Once its done I add 18 grams per bottle cane sugar (as syrup) and the
EC1118 to a carboy and wait until I am sure it's going. (I do 5 gallon
batches). That gets stirred and bottled to around 1 inch from the top
and crown capped.

There are two bottle neck sizes; make sure you get the 'American'
bottles if you already have a beer capper.

That sits out for a few days to make sure the yeast stays active and
then goes to the cellar for a few years. I should turn the bottles
every 6 months but I should do a lot of things...

Riddling is getting the yeast in the neck, easy with a riddling rack.
If you don't want to go that route just keep the boxes and drop with a
twist every day from about an inch and the yeast will slide down.

Disgorging is a bit messy the first few bottles but it's not rocket
science, just technique.

I put 2 bottles in the freezer for 45 minutes and once a plug forms in
the neck i just take it outside, tilt it upright, pop the cap off and
cover with a thumb in one motion. (It's not hard.)Add sugar syrup now
if sweet is desired and cork and wire-hood.

Joe

Does anyone know of a good supplier of champagne bidules and crown caps
needed for making champagne?

Walter


--
"The speed of light is faster than the speed of sound. This explains why
some people appear to be bright until they open their mouth."

Presque Isle sells both but that online catalog doesn't seem to have
3/4 of what they have there. You might be better off calling the 800
number if you want to try them.

Joe


Walter Venables wrote:
> Does anyone know of a good supplier of champagne bidules and crown caps
> needed for making champagne?
>
> Walter
>
>
> --
> "The speed of light is faster than the speed of sound. This explains why
> some people appear to be bright until they open their mouth."