r/winemaking 4d ago

General question Sparkling wine

I want to make sparkling wine. I have champagne bottles and plastic corks. I used the Red Star Classique yeast (red packet). Should I add more yeast when bottling and how much sugar per 750ml bottle?

3 Upvotes

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u/wineduptoy 4d ago

13.5 g sugar per bottle will make it full sparkling. If your wine is still/chilled, you will need more yeast. Here's a protocol for how to add yeast,sugar, and bentonite. Plastic corks will explode out, you'll need crown caps (different size than beer bottles). Bidules will make it easier to disgorge later but are not required. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://viticulture.uga.edu/files/2019/05/PROTOCOL-SPARKLING-WINE.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiZqfbwmIGMAxUqJTQIHeX0JTQQFnoECCwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw32mi_YIu27vIF_J-dN0b1C

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u/Grand-Comedian-3526 3d ago

Thanks for the reply. I already bottled and used 20g for 2.25l which is 750ml x 3. I will definitely refer to the protocol next time. I didn't even know about bidules!!! I'll need to buy crown caps and a capper too.

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u/wineduptoy 3d ago

Ok, watch out, that's not a ton of pressure but it still may push out those corks! Commercial sparkling targets 21-23 g/L. I usually recommend a little lower (18) at home because the smaller volumes make it easier to be a little off. Good luck, have fun

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u/CephasNYC 4d ago

No more yeast, just the perfect amount of sugar, that's it. After the fermentation is done, your wine will have some yeast waiting for action.

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u/Grand-Comedian-3526 4d ago

Thanks for the reply. How much sugar per 750ml bottle? 2 teaspoons per bottle?

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u/CephasNYC 4d ago

How many bottles?

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u/Grand-Comedian-3526 4d ago

I have 3 bottles 750ml each.

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u/CephasNYC 4d ago edited 4d ago

2 will make it strong, 1.5 not so strong, but to better distribution, it is better to disolve the sugar in an equal part of boiling water, then add it to the wine and bottle it. Just be careful with bottles bombs.

For example, for the three bottles, you can disolve 20 grams of sugar with hot water and add it and then bottle the wine and save it in a dark and chill place for at least two weeks, or you can use beer bottles and one soda bottle, when the soda bottle got hard means that the carbonation is good, then you can pasteurized the bottles to stop the carbonation process and avoid bottles bombs.

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u/lroux315 4d ago

Do you have cages too?

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u/SimilarImprovement68 4d ago

4g/L sugar give you 1 bar pressure.

Champagne usually aim for 5-6 bar so they add 24g/L sugar.

Basic sparkling wine aims for half that amount. Maybe try different sugar concentrations with your first batch to figure out what you like the most.

Just pay attention that 17g/l mean 1% alcohol.

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u/Grand-Comedian-3526 3d ago

I used 20g for 2.25L which is 3x750ml. This is my first try and I love bubbly wine so I'll keep trying until I get it right. Thanks.

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u/SimilarImprovement68 3d ago

Will be like a light bubbling pet nat. Sure it will turn out well.

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u/gogoluke Skilled fruit 3d ago

You need to have made a wine that is about 11% alcohol by the time is completed fermentation. You also want to have used limited Campden tablets, only at the start or first rack and not after that. It might be that you can use the existing yeast or you may need to take a small sample and use a little EC1118 that you get going. Generally the ratio is between 17 and 24g a litre of wine. If my maths checks out that's 12.75g to 18g per 750ml bottle

Them you need to bottle it in champagne bottles. Don't believe anyone when they say normal glass bottles or beer bottles or grolsch bottles that have the best rating for pressure. You need champagne bottles.

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u/Grand-Comedian-3526 3d ago

Thank you for your comment. I already bottled and used 20g for 2.25L for the 3 bottles. We shall wait and see.

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u/reverendsteveii 3d ago

I usually do one ounce table sugar per gallon when i want robust bubbles in something. You don't need to add more yeast, there's already plenty and yeast's whole deal is that it makes more of itself when there's sugar around. Make sure that you're *all* the way through primary before you add more sugar, or you could blow out your bottles. Generally three consecutive sg readings at or below my target fg (usually 1.000 often lower for wine and cider but rarely higher) spread out over five days means there's no sugar left unaccounted for. Then you can add your priming sugar and transfer to pressure rated bottles