Homemade Sparkling Wine
Last night I bottled my first attempt at a sparkling white wine. I bottled it into 4 1 litre pop bottles, the pressure bottles that fizzy drinks come in.
It was made in a simalar way to the rose wine.
After sterilising all you equipment, empty 2 cartons of white grape juice(the best stuff to get has no additives or any E numbers, just grapes) into the demijohn.
Then add 450grms of sugar(ordinary table sugar).
Pour in about 1l of hot water(out of the kettle, well you wouldn’t drink water out the hot tap would you)
Top up with cold water, you want just over 4 litres of liquid in the end, allowing some to get lost in the sludge at the bottom of the demi john.
Add a teasp of yeast and a teasp of nutrient, then stick in the airlock and place the whole lot somewhere warm.
Instead of sterilising the wine with campden tablets when it’s finished bubbling syphon the wine into sterlised plastic fizzy drinks bottles, add about 1 teasp of sugar per bottle and screw on the cap. Keep the bottles in a warm place for about a week.
Once the bottle are tight store the bottles upright somewhere which will allow the wine to clear. In a couple of months crack one open and enjoy a glass of sparkling wine. This is slightly more expensive at a whopping 50p a bottle.
Updated a few days later.
After 3 days of sitting somewhere warm the wine has yet to show signs of pressurising the bottles. I think what has happened is the alcohol level has got to high and killed off the yeast. So a quick visit to the home brew shop and I come away armed with some champagne yeast which should stand 21% alcohol. I’ve since opened all the bottles and added about half a teaspoon of yeast into each bottle. Hopefully that should kick start the fermentation and pressurise the bottles. Fingers crossed, we’ll find out tomorrow I guess.
Updated a few days after that.
It’s been a few days now since I added the champagne yeast to the sparkling wine bottles and it has worked a treat. Secondary fermenation has taken place and the bottles are quite tight now. I think next time I shall add less sugar at the beginning of the brew and more at the end once in the bottles. Plastic PEP bottles should a higher pressure than they’ve reached at the minute. Although I think it’s been a good success for a first attempt at making sparkling wine.
Updated a month or so later
Well it’s been a couple of months now since I made the sparkling wine, and it’s turned out pretty well. It has cleared, the bottles are still tight. When you open a bottle there is quite a bit of fizz in it, the taste is actually pretty good, it’s not quite as sparkling as perhaps a champagne but, for a first attempt I think it’s worked quite well.
I taste just like a white wine, with a fair bit of carbonation.
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