Champagne question

Hi everyone. Recently i acquired a few cheap bottles of wine and found out that you can make them into sparkling wine. Video i watched said its as simple as adding 10 little peices of yeast and a pack of sugar. Said it would be done in 48 hrs. However, i tried with no results at all. Any ideas of why?

 

The wines may have been stabilized with K-sorbate (and K-meta). That would prevent your yeast from thriving. Even if no stabilizer had been added, the wine is already high in alcohol (12 - 13 % ABV?)- the yeast you are adding is being asked to rehydrate in alcohol. That is not a recipe for happy yeast. You may want to try to get hold of yeast designed to be added to wine to allow for a secondary fermentation.. Not inexpensive.. Or , if no stabilizer is involved you may simply rehydrate the yeast, add to simple sugar solution and when the yeast has taken off and is actively fermenting add that to the wine...

 

For a 750 ml bottle of wine, how much of a simple syrup and yeast starter would i need?

 

And just out of curiousty, i used a Tisdale Pinot Grigio. But the bottles dont tell you theres preservatives. How can you tell other than wasting a bottle of wine, yeast, and sugar?

 

You could open a bottle and drink the contents leaving aside one glass, add some sugar and yeast and see if the yeast ferments the sugar..

 

I will give that a shot. Thank you! Ill let you know how i make out

 

I have a carboy with a mixed berry wine in it. Essentially if i did the same thing, it would make it a moxed berry champagne or a carbonated cider would it not?

 

What type of bottles is this wine in? Standard 750s (not sparkling wine bottles) are not designed to handle the pressure that sparkling wine creates. Be careful or you could wind up with bottle bombs

 

Im not using the same bottles. Im putting the wine in the right bottles. Ones with a gasket and swing lock

 

Good, didn't see that in your OP and figured better safe than sorry. I would also add that you probably won't get too much carbonation in 48hrs. Maybe try leaving a bottle for 2-3 weeks? Some winemakers can add in their .02, but when carbing beer I usually let it go for more that 2 weeks to give the yeast time to work.

 

Yeah its been sitting for about a month now and still has the same pinot taste with no carbonation.

 

I have a carboy with a mixed berry wine in it. Essentially if i did the same thing, it would make it a moxed berry champagne or a carbonated cider would it not?

 

I wonder if the problem may not also lie in the fact that you're using those swing top bottles. Champagne bottles are thick and designed to hold so much pressure that the corks have to be wired on!

 

They say these bottles work perfectly fine. And it is a thick cobalt glass. They said that it was the right kind at the brew shop i went to. I mean ive carbonated beer and cider. Just dont know whats going wrong here. Haha