Sparkling wine..?

[BernardSmith]

Never made a sparkling wine before. Here's the back story and my questions.
I often make elderflower wine - my wife's favorite. This time I made and elderflower mead (is that a metheglin?) Taste is very different - I think the mead is asking for it to be sparkling. OK.. I fermented the mead using 71B and it has been aging about 6 months. I want to add more honey to carbonate the wine... My questions:
1. After 6 months in carboys should I add more yeast with the sugar or will there likely be enough yeast to be able to produce the CO2 I am looking for.
2. If I should add more yeast , is it preferable I add more 71B or should I add a champagne yeast?
3. If I need to add more yeast do I simply add the whole packet or would a half teaspoon or so be enough? (I ask because I really don't want to have a great mess of sediment in the bottom of the sparkling wine bottles I will be using... and riddling is a trick that I cannot see me master for the 15 bottles I will get from the carboy)

 

[Arne]

Bernard,
Go to the main page, under tutorials and ref. guides go to easy sparkling wine by pumpkinman. Don't know if it works or not but looks like it should. If I knew how, I would post a link for you but I don't. Arne.

 

[Julie]

when I want a sparkling wine, I just keg it!!!!

 

[BernardSmith]

when I want a sparkling wine, I just keg it!!!!

Great idea, Julie... but I don't have a kegging system and the one time I tried to use a Sodastream I got a real gusher even before I had finished adding the CO2...

 

[BernardSmith]

Bernard,
Go to the main page, under tutorials and ref. guides go to easy sparkling wine by pumpkinman. Don't know if it works or not but looks like it should. If I knew how, I would post a link for you but I don't. Arne.

Really interesting.. but where do you get that kind of yeast? My QA23 is regular dry yeast - would probably fall through the wire mesh Pumpkinman suggests...

 

[Julie]

you need to get a keg system, I took over my husband's, beer keg, I kegged a muscat

 

[Deezil]

Encapsulated yeast? Most easily sourced from MoreWine.

 

[BernardSmith]

Thanks, Manley. I saw that they have none in stock but I contacted them and the person I "chatted" with - "Terry" says that they have a delivery the week of Feb 9... so I will put my order in. Thanks for the help. Very much appreciated.

 

[stef57]

2. If I should add more yeast , is it preferable I add more 71B or should I add a champagne yeast?

I've never done a sparkling myself but I know that some people recommend adding some yeast to a beer that has been lagering or carboy conditioning for a while... I would assume the same could be done for wine.

1 Thing I do know though is that if you are gonna switch the yeast strain, make damn sure that the new yeast isn't a better attenuator than the original!!

 

[BernardSmith]

I've never done a sparkling myself but I know that some people recommend adding some yeast to a beer that has been lagering or carboy conditioning for a while... I would assume the same could be done for wine.

1 Thing I do know though is that if you are gonna switch the yeast strain, make damn sure that the new yeast isn't a better attenuator than the original!!

Hi Stef. Brewers are concerned about attenuation because wort does not ferment dry under normal conditions. Under normal conditions wine ferments brut dry - so wine yeasts by definition have 100 percent attenuation rates. If wine fails to ferment dry that is a problem with the wine makers technique.

The issue I had was whether a) there would be sufficient but dormant yeasts left after 9 months of aging - in which case all I would need to do is add enough sugar to carbonate or b) if there would be too few viable yeasts should I use the same yeast so there would be no discernible change in the flavor but with the risk that the added yeast would not be able to tolerate the alcohol content (the metaphor I have borrowed is that it would be like giving someone whose has been in a coma for a year a meal that was drenched in double cream and fat ) and so simply die of alcohol poisoning or c) add a killer strain of yeast that would likely tolerate being rehydrated in 12 % alcohol with a pH of less than 4 - knowing that this yeast will kill any surviving yeasts - because they create an environment that is suited for their survival but one that is antithetical to any competing yeast or bacteria and that those corpses may autolyze (break down ) in the bottle producing sediment and possibly off flavors over time...

 

[stef57]

Hi Stef. Brewers are concerned about attenuation because wort does not ferment dry under normal conditions. Under normal conditions wine ferments brut dry - so wine yeasts by definition have 100 percent attenuation rates. If wine fails to ferment dry that is a problem with the wine makers technique.

Thank you for the clarification Bernard, wine making is still very new to me... Although there is obvious similarities to brewing, there seems to also be major differences..

 

[BernardSmith]

Off topic - I know, Stef, - so apologies in advance
I don't make wines from grapes - only fruits, flowers, and honey - but with the exception of the latter two categories (flowers - such as elderflower or hibiscus - or honey) the only use for water in wine is for cleaning and sanitation (or to dilute concentrated fruit juices). Brewers use water. Vintners (IMO) should be using the liquor they can press or extract from the fruit - so that is one very big difference between brewing and wine making. The other huge difference is that brewers use heat to mash their grains and then boil their wort. Wine makers work with no heat beyond the heat the sun has provided to grow and ripen the fruit...