Encapsulated yeast

[Coaster]

I am considering using this for some of my "scratch" wines (Welch's, Vintners Harvest) that I want to leave sweet. I've also toyed with the idea that I can use this in my sparkling experiment. I'd have to break it down and add 2.75 grams per bottle but I think I could. I've also considered adding dosage after secondary fermentation to add sweetness and I am not sure how these would work with that.


http://morewinemaking.com/product.html?product_id=6185&PHPSESSID=c4af9c0f5dfb35f5060667be8e00d981

 

[Coaster]

If I wanted to use these nylon mesh tea bags to hold the encapsulated yeast above, do you think there would be any problem leaving the bag in the wine for a period or time (weeks or months)?


http://tea-room.stores.yahoo.net/renyteabag.html

 

[PeterZ]

It looks like they are designed to work in high alcohol situations, like sherry fermented to 18% abv, or port before sweetening. One way for the home wine maker to make a high abv wine is to start with a target sg that yields 12 - 13%abv, and then feed more sugar in slowly until the yeast just can't take it anymore. This yeast looks like a possibility for that, but not for anything back-sweetened.

 

[Coaster]

Peter, I wouldn't use this for back sweetening, rather I would use it so I would not have to back sweeten. As I understand it, there are 3 ways to get a sweet wine.


1) cold stabilize at desired SG
2) ferment dry and back sweeten
3) have such a high SG that the yeast cannot finish.


This would give the home brewer a fourth option. The yeast would be placed in a nylon bag (included with the yeast), with some marbles. The must would be fermented down to the desired SG and the yeast would be pulled out. According to what I read, there would be very little "free" yeast left in the wine after the nylon bag is pulled out but they could be addressed with k-meta and sorbate.


Another use I am considering using them for is to create sparkling wine. I would place them in mini-nylon tea bags (2.75g/bag) with a marble. I would them put my still wine, sugar, and this bag into the bottle. I would cap it and wait. After fermentation, I could chill the bottle, open the bottle, yank out the bag, add a chilled squirt of dosage, re-cap and vola' carbonated, sweetened, sparkly with out disgorging or yeast sediment.