First Sparkling Wine Experiment

[rjb222]

Like Duff said Pete even with beer you wait and this is not a time line for wine as the complexity of the sugars determine the time it takes to become carbonated but I use a rule of thumb of a month. With wine it is different I read some where aprox how long it takes.I will return with a proper answer for you.

[rjb222]

Ok Pete here is the story I read it has some history and methods. Making Champagne or carbonating a wine takes time . I did not want to leave you with the impression that yours was ready now. I apologize to you for seeming to mislead you. Here is the link http://winemakermag.com/stories/kit/...ts-wine-kits:D

[goldseal]

No problem at all

This is my first experimental batch, so a) all advice is gratefully received, and b) if any of it is remotely drinkable, it'll have been a success

[lockwood1956]

I also recollect we toasted 'grapegest 08' with one.

We did indeed, and very nice it was (as was the bottle we had at NAWB in Weston Super Mare)

[goldseal]

Yes, I remember that. Very nice it was too.

Things got a bit hazy shortly after ....

[goldseal]

Progress report:

The bottles are clearing quite nicely now. They are still at room temperature - I was going to move them to a nice cold garage, but the standard (non sparkling) batch of Wine No.1 has only dropped to 1.002, so possibly the bottles may still be fermenting.

Reading up on K1V-1116, it can be a bit slow, so maybe I'll give it longer before moving it to a cool area.

[Duffbeer]

After 14 day's Pete, any bottle carbonation should now be done, move them to a coolish area to condition, invert and riddle every other day till the seddiment is sound at the cork and the wine clear, it can take a while.

Remember, idealy you don't want a cold area for conditioning at this time of year, a garage may be too cold, look for an area that maintains an average temp of about 12 to 16c this will help with the condition and carbonation.

[goldseal]

Thanks Karl. 14 days will be Saturday. I have earmarked yet another room for this stuff - amazingly Mrs. Goldseal didn't complain

[goldseal]

Bottles are sitting, inverted, in a cool room.

They are clearing from the top-down (or is that the bottom-up, or even the bottom-down?). There's a nice compact plug of lees, about an inch deep, in the neck.

So far, so good. I think

[lockwood1956]

are you lifting and twisting them 1/4 turn each day?

[goldseal]

yep

[goldseal]

Just waiting for the haze to clear now.

(The one in the wine, not the one in my head )

Incidentally, I was thinking about future batches, and how you would sweeten it if required (I have some friends with unnaturally sweet teeth!). Obviously (I hope) adding more sugar when bottling will just create a bigger bang.

Would you top-up with a sugar/sulphite/sorbate mix when removing the lees?

[lockwood1956]

Personally I use non fermentable sugar or wine sweetener from HBS

regards
Bob

[goldseal]

Still waiting for it to clear completely, and exercising my now legendary patience

The non-sparkling batch is clear. Presumably this is due to the CO2 still (correctly) in the sparkling version.

[goldseal]

Would you always use new plastic stoppers when disgorging?