# Forced carbonation for Sparkling wine



## Wade E (Feb 4, 2008)

I just found out today that my co-worker who also makes wine(mist kits only for now until I give him some of my good stuff probably) has a very good friend who owns a company the does all the soda equipment so I asked him to get me a price on the 5 gal. Corny keg set up with tank and a counter pressure filler and he hasnt given me a price yet but my friend said he will get it to me *VERY, VERY* cheap. So if anyone can take a minute when you get a chance and step by step walk me through how to do this I would be very grateful.


----------



## Dean (Feb 4, 2008)

Ok, this should be easy:

1.) fill the keg with wine.
1b.) Cool Keg and wine down to about 32F
2.) Attach CO2 hose to keg, or carbonation stone.
2a.) Carbonation stones carbonate MUCH faster
2b.) If using carbonation stone, 2 hours carbonation, if using pressure equalization 1 week to carbonation.
3.) Carbonate to desired amount (20 - 40 PSI)
4.) Chill containers for the wine (reduces foaming)
5.) fill wine bottles and cap and wire shut
6.) Enjoy!

Personally, I think that counter pressure fillers are hard to use, but I do like the "beer gun". Easiest for me, is to chill the bottles and just fill with a spout.

I have a carbonation cap for my corny kegs, that has a CO2 nipple and under the cap is a length of tubing attached to .5 micron carbonation stone. This carbonates my beer/cider/wine quite fast as long as it is chilled well. I start at 5psi and increase 2psi every 3 minutes until I reach my desired PSI level.

Here is a carbonation chart to help you with your PSI goals:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/instructions/co2.htm

When starting to carbonate with the stone, I always purge the airspace on the keg twice at the low level. This means, turn on the CO2, adjust the regulator, wait for the keg to reach equilibrium, then open the safety valve at the top of the keg, this will force the oxygen out as CO2 is heavier. I do this twice before starting my main carbonation run.

Equilibrium carbonation means waiting until the liquid absorbs the CO2 over the course of about 1 week. Both methods work equally well, but the stone is so much quicker!


----------



## grapeman (Feb 4, 2008)

Dean is there a relief valve on that setup anywhere? What is the blowout pressure of the kegs? My nephew was showing me the hole in the wall at the brewery where one of there 1000 gallon storage tanks carbonating beer blew up because of no pressure relief valve. The blast blew a hole through the wall and moved a couple neighboring tanks a couple feet. Since then all carbonation tanks have pressure relief valves installed.


----------



## Wade E (Feb 4, 2008)

So I guess I need a deep freezer chest huh? Thanks Dean, oh, and a carbonation stone! How long did iy take you before you got a grasp on all this?

*Edited by: wade *


----------



## jobe05 (Feb 4, 2008)

Wade: I know a guy at the local Pepsi plant that said he can get me all the containers that I want.

I was looking into CO2 devices to use and the cheapest easiest for me would be the 16 gram co2 canisters. We use these canisters in the fire usiness and we through hundreds of them away each month, so the gun is about $20 and the cartridges are free.

Per Dean, if it only takes 20 to 40 psi, the kegs are rated for 130 psi, so I think that would be an issue.


----------



## Wade E (Feb 4, 2008)

Not sure what you mean by an issue as what they are rated for and what you actually only need them for are far less that in my mind that wouldnt be an issue unless you needed more than what they were rated for. I use pneumatic tools that are rated for 12o psi and we sometimes regulate them down to 40 psi so as not to shoot through less dense wood. Am I on the wrong track here?


----------



## Dean (Feb 4, 2008)

All my keg lids have been retro-fitted with pressure relief valves! I think that Pepsi had them on most of their kegs. Pepsi kegs are ball lock and Coke kegs are pin lock. I have a couple of coke kegs that did not have pressure relief valves, but since the lids are interchangeable, I always use a lid with a valve.

The carbonation stuff took me a while, and I did have a few kegs of beer that were over carbonated as I had a broken guage on my regulator. All it took was about 10 gallons of beer that was more like budweiser in carbonation to make me read up on it. Bud has always been a beer that, to me, is over carbonated to make up for excessive sweetness and lack of flavor...

Anyways, once you start carbonating stuff with CO2, you'll love it. It is so strange...we go on and on about degassing, and we use drill mounted stir devices, vacuums, and anything else we can think of to get the CO2 out, and now we are talking about putting it back in. Too funny.


----------

