Bottling sparkling wine -- plan B!

[winemaker81]

My son & I racked a FWK Chardonnay from a 23 liter carboy into a 19 liter carboy tonight. The wine is VERY tasty at 4 months old and the color is good. We'll bottle it in 2 or 3 months.

We proceeded with the plan to sparkle the last 4 liters, using commercial drops designed for the purpose. My son used them for sparkling cider and the drops worked well. I'm a beer brewer as well, have a crown capper, and am going the easy route and simply capping the bottles. I've messed with plastic champagne corks in the past, and am not bothering now. I have 7 champagne bottles saved and will need 5.

Everything was going according to plan, we had filled and capped 3 bottles. The 4th one?

"Dad, this cap doesn't fit."

Mother#&@#*#$!!! There are 2 different sizes of crown caps and I failed to check my bottles. IIRC, American beer bottles and most sparkling wine sold in the USA take a 26 mm crown cap. European take a 29 mm crown cap. My last 4 bottles are 29 mm ...

OK, what to do? I was inventing new swear words as I searched for a solution.

Then ... DUH. I have cases of 12 oz beer bottles, so we got out 4 clean bottles and filled them. This actually works out better, as I have 4 tasting bottles to see how the wine is progressing. This should prove to be interesting.

 

[VinesnBines]

Keep us posted. I tried the carbonation drops without any luck for sparkling wine. I didn't add yeast so I'm assuming the carb drops had nothing to feed on after I aged the wine dry.

 

[winemaker81]

Keep us posted. I tried the carbonation drops without any luck for sparkling wine. I didn't add yeast so I'm assuming the carb drops had nothing to feed on after I aged the wine dry.

If you aged the wine too long, the yeast may have died. This is why I bottled at the 4 month mark, to (hopefully!) avoid that problem.

 

[VinesnBines]

I'm sure the yeast was dead. I can't recall how soon I bottled...wasn't much past 4 months. I did make a sparkler when I added a little sugar syrup to a thin tasting Merlot (from a juice bucket). Fortunately I only had about three that refermented and no pushed corks or exploding bottles; just juice fountains. My carbonation skills have deteriorated.

 

[winemaker81]

There is a corollary to Murphy's law -- the likelihood of a fermentation in the bottle is conversely proportional to how much you want it to happen.

I have three 750 ml champagne bottles and four 12 oz beer bottles. In about a month I'll pop one of the beer bottles. If it doesn't foam, I'll pop the others, and any that don't foam will be poured into a primary. I'll add a small starter, and rebottle.

Something we forget is that as home winemakers can easily recork any bottle at any time. As a brewer as well, the same goes for crown caps.

Side note -- I have several bags of crown caps from when my partner and I closed our LHBS in 1990. Surprisingly enough, those caps are fine and seal bottles just fine.

 

[toadie]

I carbonate a lot. I'm even thinking of putting a white in a keg. One thing you can do to see if your carbonation has progressed enough is to fill a plastic bottle with a cap. It hardens as it carbonates. You can even use a thin plastic water bottle.

 

[winemaker81]

@toadie, excellent advice. However, the drawback to your method is that I don't have to pop a cap, since once that cap is popped, I have to drink the wine.

All jokes aside, that is excellent advice. Bottle one in a 12 oz soda bottle and use it to judge the progress.

In the distant past, I tried the transfer method to sparkle Apple and Seyval, and neither worked well. If this does work as I expect, I'll do more in the future. As long as I'm expecting some sediment in the bottle, I can handle it.

 

[toadie]

I don't know how everyone else feels but I think sediment is not a dealbreaker. One of my first fruit wines had big wispy chunks, delicious but a little off putting. I guess if you give a lot away presentation is more important and maybe longer term storage might be more of an issue.

 

[winemaker81]

I don't know how everyone else feels but I think sediment is not a dealbreaker.

When I gave beer away, I warned about sediment and to decant the beer. Most understood, and at least one person said, "no problem, I need more minerals in my diet anyway."

For presentation, I pour my glass last, so if there's a bit of cloudiness it's in my glass.

 

[VinesnBines]

If I ever get my 15 gallons of chardonnay finished primary and aged, I might try kegging 5 gallons under forced carbonation.

 

[Bmd2k1]

If you aged the wine too long, the yeast may have died. This is why I bottled at the 4 month mark, to (hopefully!) avoid that problem.

Anything "magic" about the 4 month mark? I'd like to bottle carb some of either my chardonnay or Viognier...

Cheers!

 

[winemaker81]

Anything "magic" about the 4 month mark? I'd like to bottle carb some of either my chardonnay or Viognier...

It seems like a good point. Four months is the earliest I'd bottle, and the longer the wine bulk ages, the more yeast will be dead. I figure this is a sweet spot.

A this point the Chardonnay is clear (it's a FWK), although I'll let the other 19 liters bulk age for another 2 or 3 months. For the most part, I bottle whites between 4 and 6 months, maybe a bit longer. If I oak aged a chardonnay, I'd probably go 9 months.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

I don't know how everyone else feels but I think sediment is not a dealbreaker. One of my first fruit wines had big wispy chunks, delicious but a little off putting. I guess if you give a lot away presentation is more important and maybe longer term storage might be more of an issue.

I used to drink 3 day old coffee in my cup at work. (Always stir it first)

 

[winemaker81]

I used to drink 3 day old coffee in my cup at work. (Always stir it first)

penicillin?

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

penicillin?

No I would get that from moldy bread trying to eke out that last sandwich for work. The 3 day old coffee is just kind of dry aged. Of course only black coffee.

 

[toadie]

I used to drink 3 day old coffee in my cup at work. (Always stir it first)

Gross!

Though this reminds me of an old guy I knew who drank cold coffee out of a mason jar all day long. I didn't know it at the time but he was way ahead of the cold coffee craze.