Disgorging sparkling wine with dry ice

Morning,


I started a batch of elderflower white wine sometime around june last year. I figured I'd try making this batch into a sparkling wine. I didn't want sediment so I racked it and just before bottling added kwik clear finings with 80 g sugar per DJ. Bottled into 1 L plastic tonic bottles. The finings slowed down the priming considerably but after a couple of months stored upside down the bottles were rock hard and crystal clear.

So disgorging...

Through my work have a ready supply of dry ice. This is essentially solid carbon dioxide which sublimes (solid straight to gas) at about -78.5 C, so it is very cold and perfect for this. Also good for special effects like stage fog, pulling dents out of car bodywork and freezing off warts, should you be inclined.

Basic idea is to store the wine upside down with occasional movement in order to get the yeast to settle in the cap/neck. The wine is chilled as much as possible to maximise the solubility of the carbon dioxide that has carbonated it, then the neck is flash frozen. When you pop the cap, the frozen slug of yeast is ejected by the pressure and the now clear, yeast free sparkling wine is topped up and re-capped.

This was my first attempt, so I used plastic bottles due to ease of recapping. Pictures and video are self explanatory, so I'll leave it here:

The freezing:


The popping:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwHTn-GYKkY[/ame]


The products:




And finally (forgive the dishwasher residue on the wine flute )....

I really want to make this. What was your recipe?

It's a supermarket juice wine.

From memory it was (for a 4.5 L DJ):

2 L white grape juice
2/3 bottle of belvoir EF cordial (500 ml bottle)
1 tsp tannin
Citric acid to taste, there is lemon juice in the cordial so don't go crazy
Sugar to the OG of choice
Yeast was Young's super compound, but I also added 1 tsp nutrient. I'd be tempted by a champagne yeast in future.

After a few months in primary I rack it, add kwik clear finings, 80 g priming sugar and bottle in plastic bottles. Store them upside down for a couple of months. They take an age to prime (several months) because of the finings, assume the clumps of yeast with reduced surface area just take longer to work.

Can dig out my notes when I get home, I've made the flat version a few times now and it is always nice.

Thanks Doc, I was looking at a Hugh Fernley Wittingstall recipe which incorporates real elderflowers but it looks like a lot of pretentious faff. Cordial sounds good!

I was always worried about the sediment and how to get the bugger totally clear, is disgorging easier or more difficult in plastic as opposed to glass?

Sorry, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

That disgorging with dry ice is SO cool (pun intended)

Joeyriles said:

Thanks Doc, I was lookinn g at a Hugh Fernley Wittingstall recipe which incorporates real elderflowers but it looks like a lot of pretentious faff. Cordial sounds good!

I was always worried about the sediment and how to get the bugger totally clear, is disgorging easier or more difficult in plastic as opposed to glass?

Sorry, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Click to expand...

Cordial works surprisingly well.

Go for belvoir brand though as it has no preservatives. Later you add it the more flower flavour and scent that seems to carry over, but don't wait until secondary as it does contain a lot of sugar. I normally wait a week before adding it.

If you have a way of sealing glass then do glass. Needs to be champagne style bottles though as normal wine bottles will explode. They can be sealed with a 29 mm crown cap, so need a special capper or with corks and cages. Plastic is simply a case of screwing on a cap. Certainly quicker.

To disgorge without dry ice requires ice and salt. Simply put, the ice melts at a lower temperature and chills much better with the salt. Haven't tried it for wine, but have made ice cream using a similar concept.

Good luck, interested to see how it works out!

On a side note I've not seen white grape juice in a while, glad I stocked up!