Sparkling wine - What's the difference?

[YorkshireBrew]

Hello fellow brewers!

I'm just in the process of making my first 4.5litre sample batch of wine and as I watched it bubbling away it made me think... how could I make the normal wine into a sparkling wine?!

Could I use a normal wine kit and change part of the process to make it sparkling? I know with the beer & cider I've brewed that the secondary fermentation creates the carbonation... could I do something similar with wine?

With all the extra steps that making wine has, and the extra sachets that come with it... I'm not sure where to start with this.

 

[Soton]

Hello fellow brewers!

I'm just in the process of making my first 4.5litre sample batch of wine and as I watched it bubbling away it made me think... how could I make the normal wine into a sparkling wine?!

Could I use a normal wine kit and change part of the process to make it sparkling? I know with the beer & cider I've brewed that the secondary fermentation creates the carbonation... could I do something similar with wine?

With all the extra steps that making wine has, and the extra sachets that come with it... I'm not sure where to start with this.

The short answer is yes,and you will need sparkling wine bottles, but its not short to explain how:-o
Its been 20 years since I made any sparkling wine, back then you used hollow plastic wine corks and primed your wine with sugar, stored the wine bottles upside in a warm place to prime and so as the sediment settles into the hollow of the plastic cork (these were wired into place to stop them popping out) Then every day you would turn the just a little and sharply to stop the sediment sticking to the sides of the bottle and making drop into the cork. You with it so for lol, anyway once all bottles were primed and the sediment was to the corks you would gently put the necks into a load of ice and freeze the wine in the necks (I did once use plumbers freeze spray for this but was told it could of cracked the necks off!) once the wine has a frozen plug inside the bottle neck you pull out the plastic cork, sediment and all and replace it with a proper cork and wire it up
Now I have wrote all that I now think the last time I made some there were hollow corks with a little valve that you put into the bottles ( you still prime and store the bottles upside down) that saved you freezing the bottle necks and just gave the upside down bottle a quick sharp pull to push out the sediment and then left the wine to age

 

[YorkshireBrew]

Thanks for the description... I now understand why you've not done it for 20 years... Possibly one of those activities you do and then realise its far too much effort to regularly repeat just for the bubbles.

I may try it one day though and will bank your info for then!

Thanks again

 

[Soton]

Thanks for the description... I now understand why you've not done it for 20 years... Possibly one of those activities you do and then realise its far too much effort to regularly repeat just for the bubbles.

I may try it one day though and will bank your info for then!

Thanks again

I use to do a couple of gallons each year but for some reason I stopped brewing when the kids were little. It's taken me 20 years to see the error of my ways :smile:

 

[tonyhibbett]

The quick way is to carbonate the wine with a Sodastream.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

How not to do it then success -


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cC8M0xHzvo[/ame]

 

[simon12]

Or you can do it the same as beer/cider (using a sparkling wine yeast) and live with the sediment, I think its called country champagne. Or you need to force carbonate it in a keg and use a counter pressure bottle filler. The process soton describes is the traditional Champagne technique which I believe is quite an art form to not loose it all when ejecting the sediment though I have never tried it.