Need help with the riddling process

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BrewTulsa

New Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Location
Tulsa
I am taking on a project that may be over my head. I am brewing a Champagne style beer and I wanted to abide by the Methode Champenoise. I have been searching extensively on the internet on the best way of riddling the bottles and I can't seem to find anything on it. Does anyone have any personal experience with riddling or have any advice on how to go about it? Im at a loss and I am considering just not bothering with it but I want to challenge my brewing skills and learn something new.
 
Do you think you could just store them upside down for a period of time or do you have to systematically change the angle of the bottle? Also should I re-pitch yeast for carbonation, if so how much and what kind?
 
You shouldn't need to repitch for carbonation, assuming you're brewing it like your normal beer. In fact, its probably easier with fewer cells, less of a pellet in the end. As far as I remember, you need to keep rotating the bottle, maybe once a day or so, until it pellets in the neck nicely. I'm sure there's an optimal angle for the pelleting to occur as well. This is just what I'm pulling from my memory of a winery that made champagne this way, they had a guys who's sole job was to go down to their cellar and rotate the bottles. I suppose it wouldn't be too tough once you had a setup ready to go.

Have you given any though to how you plan to freeze the pellet in the neck? Dry ice/ethanol might be cold enough to get it to work. I'd also be curious if there's a certain level of carbonation you have to reach before you've got enough pressure to push the frozen pellet out. Champagne gets pretty bubbly, not sure if a 2vol carbonated beer would have enough force behind it.
 
Thanks for the tips... I was planning on using the ethanol/dry ice method, I read an article that said that was the most efficient way. I was planning on carbing it to at least 3.5-4 vol. I have read that 3-4 is still under what they usually carb champagne to but I dont want to make bottle bombs. I was also hoping for tips on how much priming sugar or sugar syrup I should use to carb to about 4 vol.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top