All, after a bit of frustration, and not so good results, I finally figured out how to reliably, cleanly, easily disgorge your champagne or cider!
I tried just doing it when it was cold (upside down in the freezer), but would usually have significant losses of champagne and pressure.
I tried doing it the old fashion way, by timing the rising bubble to the correct instant it would only blow the lees out - but that's really tricky. 1 slip up, and you either have a mess, or your lees fall back into the champagne, defeating the whole purpose.
I tried dicking around with the rock salt and ice method, but couldn't reliably get the neck frozen. I could only get the water down to 20* or so.
So, here is the fix!
Instead of a pan of ice and salt, take the same pan, and fill it with something that won't freeze - high proof vodka, for example, or even rubbing alcohol (just rinse it off well). Put said pan in your freezer or deep freeze overnight, set your rack on top of it, so the necks are submerged, and let it sit in your freezer for 60 mins. My bottles were already pre-chilled (upside down in a box, in the fridge), and my necks froze 100% reliably in an hour. I measured the alcohol at -5*F. I could then tip the bottle right side up, pop the cap (which blows out all the lees and ice), top it off with a sweetened base wine, and cork it! Crystal clear, carbonated, and sweet, with no loss of pressure.
Let me know if you got any questions. Hope this helps somebody!
I tried just doing it when it was cold (upside down in the freezer), but would usually have significant losses of champagne and pressure.
I tried doing it the old fashion way, by timing the rising bubble to the correct instant it would only blow the lees out - but that's really tricky. 1 slip up, and you either have a mess, or your lees fall back into the champagne, defeating the whole purpose.
I tried dicking around with the rock salt and ice method, but couldn't reliably get the neck frozen. I could only get the water down to 20* or so.
So, here is the fix!
Instead of a pan of ice and salt, take the same pan, and fill it with something that won't freeze - high proof vodka, for example, or even rubbing alcohol (just rinse it off well). Put said pan in your freezer or deep freeze overnight, set your rack on top of it, so the necks are submerged, and let it sit in your freezer for 60 mins. My bottles were already pre-chilled (upside down in a box, in the fridge), and my necks froze 100% reliably in an hour. I measured the alcohol at -5*F. I could then tip the bottle right side up, pop the cap (which blows out all the lees and ice), top it off with a sweetened base wine, and cork it! Crystal clear, carbonated, and sweet, with no loss of pressure.
Let me know if you got any questions. Hope this helps somebody!
