starting a bottle fermentation

[Jeroen Goffin]

Hello,

we are new to winemaking, we made a batch of mixed 50/50 Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The wine is clear and we would like to try to make a sparkling wine from it. BUT we miscalculated when adding sugar at the start, so the alcohol content is already 13 vol%! Now i did some research, yeast strain EC1118 can tolerate up to 18% of alcohol so i pitched this one into the wine at 6grams /10 liters, together with 20 grams of sugar per liter, some yeast-nutrition from erbsloh, bentonite, compactlees and hydrogym for easy ridling.

I left this test batch of 10 litres standing in the kitchen for 3 days at 22 °C. But i do not see any bubbling!
Although i do smell CO2 (a lot of it!), it takes your breath away when you put your head in that bucket.

Do you always see little bubbles when fermentation starts? or is this second fermenation such a slow thing it does not bubble?

(There are almost no residual sugars in the base wine, gravity is below 1000)

thanks for your help!

signed: wine-maker from Belgium

 

[Johnd]

Hello,

we are new to winemaking, we made a batch of mixed 50/50 Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The wine is clear and we would like to try to make a sparkling wine from it. BUT we miscalculated when adding sugar at the start, so the alcohol content is already 13 vol%! Now i did some research, yeast strain EC1118 can tolerate up to 18% of alcohol so i pitched this one into the wine at 6grams /10 liters, together with 20 grams of sugar per liter, some yeast-nutrition from erbsloh, bentonite, compactlees and hydrogym for easy ridling.

I left this test batch of 10 litres standing in the kitchen for 3 days at 22 °C. But i do not see any bubbling!
Although i do smell CO2 (a lot of it!), it takes your breath away when you put your head in that bucket.

Do you always see little bubbles when fermentation starts? or is this second fermenation such a slow thing it does not bubble?

(There are almost no residual sugars in the base wine, gravity is below 1000)

thanks for your help!

signed: wine-maker from Belgium

The best way to check for alcoholic fermentation is with your hydrometer, if the SG is dropping, then the yeast are fermenting. If the SG isn’t changing, you’ve got no AF.

 

[salcoco]

sparkling wine is normally made in a closed container, the bottle. the initial wine is fermented as you state. wait until wine is clear donot add sorbate. add wine to bottle with sugar ;dosage is normally 3/4 cup for 5 gallons seal the bottle . should be using champagne bottles as they are heavier and can take the increased pressure. the yeast remaining in the wine will ferment and create bubbles in the bottle. the bottle seal should be a champagne cork or a bottle cap. place the bottles upright in a dark place. fermentation should be complete in about two months. chill the wine before opening, take care in pouring as some sediment will be at the bottom of the bottle.

 

[Jeroen Goffin]

I have bottled the mixture un champagne bottles. But I thought I would see some yeast activity before bottling. I'll open a bottle in a few days to see if there is a pressure buildup.

 

[Jeroen Goffin]

So I bottled the mixture, but there is no pressure buildup. There should be, the bottles were seeded with yeast and sugar and kept at 20°C. I aerated the mixture before seeding with yeast because i thought the SO2 content could be too high.(I splashed it from one container to another, several times).

Is it even possible to referment a mixture that already has 13° alcohol?
Are there things i can do to facilitate fermentation? (already made a yeast starter last time)
Should I degas? or have i done that by splashing the liquid?