Longtime beer Brewer looking to transition

[Mauldice]

Good afternoon gents,

I have done a ton of beer brewing doing partial mashes etc... Never got all the way into all grain brewing.

I thought it might be fun to brew some champagne since my lady and I enjoy that on weekends.

What I would like to do is make a nice dry brut and then to speed things along, force carbonate a 5 gal batch in my kegerator.

Since I have never made wine, I am wondering if this might be too ambitious of a project. Also, I did a little searching and didn't see anything on force carbonating sparkling wine probably because most people want to put it in bottles, but I have no problem leaving it in a keg. Any thoughts from an experienced champagne maker?

Lastly, if someone could point me in the direction of a good recipe that would be fantastic!

Thanks in advance

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

sub, also curious about making champagne.

 

[RansomBrewing]

I'm hardly an experienced wine maker, but we did try to make champagne for our wedding. We brew beer quite a bit, but the only real wine making we have done has been from kits.
I say "try to make champagne" because it ended up not being sparkling, so we went to plan #2 which was just to have the venue supply the champagne. Now we have a decent still white wine. I'm not entirely sure what the reason for our champagne not being sparking in the end, but if you are going to force carb then it should be no big deal. I would follow the recipe (including adding bisulfite and sorbate) to kill the yeast and then just use CO2.

Here is a link to the kit we used.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/south-african-chenin-blanc-kit-rjs-grand-cru-international.html?utm_medium=feeds&utm_source=google&gclid=CjwKEAiA7f-yBRDAgdv4jZ-78TwSJAA_WdMaT6nwWLP-OQ6G-3WQn0PaGHI4BHBiuoi9sW00A49DaRoCCSbw_wcB

 

[Firewalker11]

Check out methode champeoise.

http://www.californiachampagnes.com/methode-champenoise/

 

[Mauldice]

Thanks for the point in the right direction... But the article is quite short and doesn't say why higher quality champagne is made with secondary fermentation in the bottle... I would love to read some literature with a technical or at least a more in depth explanation of why this is important

 

[Firewalker11]

The article was just a tease, you will have to read a few books first on methode champenoise and then study under someone that has done it themselves. I assisted with 400 cases of sparkling wine using the methode champenoise as only sparkling wine made in Champagne, France using the methode champenoise is truly champagne.

 

[Mauldice]

Hah... Yes I understand I can't call it champagne unless it's from there... But I don't really care what it's called... I just want to make a good one

 

[Firewalker11]

We froze the necks after the secondary fermentation, popped the cork and re-sealed them with new corks and a bale. That is really the heart of making it via methode champenoise. It is labor intensive and in my opinion, not worth it.

 

[Mauldice]

Agreed... So short of it being "champagne" and freezing bottles etc... Is it possible to make a good Brut sparkling white by force carbonation? Or should I just give up on that idea?

 

[cilestiok]

You're gonna need a lot of beer line to keep that wine from shooting out of the faucet like a geyser! Haha. I wish you well in this pursuit.

Sub'd

 

[Firewalker11]

A "good" sparkling white? Depends on the wine. We sampled about 60 different sparkling wines last night to get ready for our new years eve purchase (I am just buying, not hosting) and see that there are really two types: Very Dry & Very Sweet. My thoughts are to find a good all-round white, start with a hint of sweet and end dry, find a small vessel to charge it up with (2 liter bottles are nice) and hit it with 30psi of CO2.

I would use 20' of 3/16" tube to serve it and it will need a boost of CO2 every glass.

 

[LamilColorado]

Isn't the freezing process to make sure it's clear and no sediment is in the bottle? As a home brewer I don't know that it would make a huge difference but maybe I'm wrong. Definitely following along to see where this goes.

 

[Firewalker11]

For the most part, clarity is the idea but it is also to pull all the yeast out as well. Its more than just a little speck on the bottom and it changes the flavor with age to leave it in there.