16 replies to this topic

[cathykw]

I'm interested in learning how to make a light semi-dry sparkling wine. I recently had a Prosecco sparkling wine that was excellent. Does anyone know of a kit that makes a good sparkling wine?
I was hoping the kit would help me "learn" the ins and outs of making a sparkler...
-Cathy

[Hammered]

Just about any Chardonnay kit will make a nice sparkler. Tim Vandergrift wrote a great article in WineMaker several years ago with the process he recommended. Do a search in their articles for "Champagne from kit". I followed it and made a nice wine. If you can't find it, I bet he'll post the link. Just about any recipe you'll find for home winemakers will be a little light on the bubbles due to the fear that too much sugar will be added in the liqueur d' expedition and cause the bottles to blow, so be forewarned that it won't be quite as fizzy as most commercial sparklers.

[cathykw]

THANKS, Steve. I'll look for that article. Will it tell me all I need to know about getting special bottles/corks and special yeast? I'm a complete novice, so I don't know anything at all...

[rawlus]

i believe WE does have a 3 gallon kit specifically engineered for production as a sparkler. but it can be done with other whites too.
leave out sorbate of course if using some other kit.
there is an easy way to do this and a more refined way to do it.
the easy way is to make the wine to dry, then backsweeten/prime and bottle in champagne-style bottles, plastic cork and wire shut and leave for as long as you like - multiple years is fine.
if you store standing up (because the plastic corks dont need to be kept wet) then fine lees will develop in the very bottom of the bottle as sediment and you can pour off this pretty easily to get crystal clear sparkling wine with the exception of perhaps the last half-glass.

there is instruction in the forum for the encapsulated yeast method which eliminates the fine lees and primes per bottle with carb-drops or candisugar...

or you can go with bottlecapping the champagne bottles, then riddling neck down over time to settle the lees near the cap, then freezing the neck inverted until you can decap, remove the frozen yeast plug, re-add some wine and cork and wire. the most traditional method is certainly the most work and requires good technique and to some extend tools (a reliable way to freeze the necks for instance and a place to eject the frozen plug and quickly recork...

ive made excellent sparklers using the first method and with the exception of taking a bit of care to not stir up the sediment when pouring, the end result has always been extremely good for a dry sparkler.

[cathykw]

THANKS, Rawlus!! The first method seems to make the most sense. And, I'll look for the Winexpert kit. 3 gallons would work for me!!
I really appreciate all of your detailed advice, that's exactly what I needed!
-Cathy

[rawlus]

it looks like WE still does make it - it's called "SELECTION SPÉCIALE New Millennium" Sparkling wine. it will give you about a case and a half of sparkling wine.
Save up champagne bottles or buy when ready.
plastic corks and the wire hoods are available at any homebrew place
i think the kit does come with sorbate (in case you want to make it as still wine instead of sparkling), just dont use it for sparkling.

[cathykw]

THANKS!!!

[Hammered]

You have to be careful about assuming the plastic corks and wire hoods from the LBHO will work on the bottles you save. Hoods don't always fit, especially, so be sure to take a bottle to the store to confirm. Also, check the diameter of the mouth of the bottles themselves. I've seen three different sizes and when you're trying to bottle is not the time to find out that the corks and hoods (or caps) don't fit.

[cathykw]

THANKS, Steve!!! I will definitely check the sizes. Since I'm re-using old bottles, I'm not even sure they will all be the same size... I will have to check for sure.
-Cathy

[Hammered]

Picture me on a Saturday morning bottling a thirty-bottle batch of several types of champagne bottles, filling them, driving the plastic corks in and then finding out none of the wire hoods worked. All the LBHOs were closed for the weekend, and I'd already added the new fresh, well-started yeast, nutrients and sugar to each bottle and fermentation was well under way!

I tried using the redneck method of using duct tape to hold the corks on, only to find the next morning that three or four of them had shot the corks clean across the garage and sprayed sticky wine all over the wife's sports car. Guess who got to wash the car BEFORE adding some baling wire to the remaining bottles!

[cathykw]

LOL!!! Sounds like an adventure, that's for sure! I'm glad you are passing along your hard-won knowledge so the rest of us don't have to repeat things and learn everything the hard way...

[rawlus]

I've only seen two types of hoods and plastic mushroom corks at the LHBS, those for sparkling wine and those for Belgian beer bottles.
In most cases the will be marked. The other option is to use a crown cap (which is what the champagne houses do for aging), but again, you'll want the right size caps for the bottles you are using.

[bzac]

I like a DRY reisling ,gewurtztraminer or pinot gris kit for sparkling wine.

I use the encapsulated yeast method .

http://www.winepress...sparkling-wine/

[Joe_Sallo]

Isn't Prosecco usually made a bit sweet, like Asti Spumanti? If what you liked was a little on the sweet side you will end up with a backsweeting step towards the end.

A lot of those wines are very tricky to make because the alcohol is kept low and the wine is finished young so is fruitier. Sparkling wine uses backward terminology also, dry means sweet for whatever reason. I'm only mentioning it because the Prosecco you like may not be a typical sparkler; you can probably look it up on the internet to find out.

[cathykw]

Zac - thanks for the link!!! That gives really good step-by-step instructions.
Joe - the Prosecco I liked was a tiny bit sweet, but not super-sweet. I would call it semi-dry since it was in between. I think I might start with the "New Millennium" kit from Winexpert so that it will have everything I need in one place and good instructions. I'm still needing an awful lot of hand-holding.
You are ALL AWESOME for answering all of my picky questions!! THANKS a MILLION!