Accidental Champagne

[gird123]

Accidental Apple Champagne: I gave a bottle to a friend, he called and said it was a great Champagne. It was not supposed to be a champagne. It is one that has been in the bottle since November and was in the primary for 3 months. It was at .998 for 2 months. He said it had a lot of sediment. So is it ok to drink? What is going on with my apple wine. I thought i was doing so well. Should I worry about bottles blowing up?

Could it be trapped CO2?

 

[xanxer82]

Did you add sulfite and sorbate at bottling?
What steps did you use in making it? Did you back sweeten?
If you're finding new sediment that means a renewed fermentation is taking place.
Best to check the rest of your bottles for pushed out corks.

 

[gird123]

8/15/2010 APPLE WINE (4) [Heavy bodied] From Jack keller's web
10 gallon pure apple juice (no preservatives)
12lbs table sugar
6 tsp. acid blend
Champagne yeast and nutrient k1v b1116
Put juice, sugar primary fermentation vessel. Stir vigorously to dissolve solids and cover. Add yeast and nutrient and cover. Started in 2 6gal buckets.
12.7 percent ABV
9/22/2010 Rack 5 Gallons

11/6/10 Bottled half. sg .998
This one is a very nice Chardonnay
11/15/10 bottled the rest. Taste sweet, but sg is .998 <-it is this one that is fizzy.

This is before I started really using kmet. Now i add it to everything.

 

[winemaker_3352]

It could be fermenting again if you didn't sorbate it and you added addl sugar. The sediment could be from renewed fermentation. It could also be you bottled to soon and didn't degass enough. But i am betting it is the first choice.

 

[Arne]

Careful with that stuff. I had apple do the same thing to me. Never did figure out whether the sorbate didn't work or it didn't get put in. The wine log says it did, but never know. It blew the corks out of all but two bottles. I very carefully got them in the refrigerator and cooled them down. Went outside and pulled the corks, plenty of foam, but it drank like great sparkling wine. It was in regular bottles so got them both used up in short order. Wish I could of saved some for a while longer as it was very good. One of the great mysteries in my winemaking. I also let it sit for a while after sweetening and before bottling. It has not happened to anything else, but I got rid of that bottle of sorbate. There was not much left in it anyway and when I got a new bottle, the new was a lot lighter color than the old. Mite be the answer to the problem, Arne.

 

[gird123]

i did not back sweeten. i think i will open one and take an SG reading to see if i miss read. No sorbate or sulfite.

 

[winemaker_3352]

i did not back sweeten. i think i will open one and take an SG reading to see if i miss read. No sorbate or sulfite.

If you are opening one - check for CO2. Once the wine is in the test tube - place your palm over it and shake it vigorously for about 5-10 seconds.

Once done - take your hand off - if you hear what sounds like a soda can opening - you have CO2 and that could be part of your problem.

Also taste it - see if it tastes fizzy.

 

[robie]

i did not back sweeten. i think i will open one and take an SG reading to see if i miss read. No sorbate or sulfite.

Yes, you should be concerned about the bottles exploding.
Taking the SG will help only if you know what it was after you sweetened it.
However, if it is no longer sweet or significantly less sweet than when bottled, you likely had fermentation going on in the bottle.

Always use kmeta and sorbate on sweetened wines.