Prosecco carbonising issues

[Richard_2]

Hi there, I have produced Prosecco from my vine positioned on the south facing wall of my kitchen a few times but, for whatever reasons, am unable to create any carbonisation.

It tastes really nice but no bubbles and there's 22 bottles, I need to fix this. I have put 2 teaspoons of caster sugar in each bottle and the moment the sugar hits the liquor it froths up. I sealed quick and left it to do it's business.
This was a few weeks ago and I checked one of them and.........nothing!!!

I am prepared to do whatever is needed to fix this but my current skill-set has been reached. I remember 2 years ago it was lovely, I learned all about 'riddling' and I managed it using the upturned method in a freezer, it worked fine.

Can someone help please?

Richard

 

[Stevieboy]

I think you've bottled too soon - ie there's still tons of yeast floating in the wine, so it reacts to the sugar addition immediately. Also 2 teaspoons of caster sugar seems too much for me.

And it's carbonation, not carbonisation. Unless you're setting fire to your wine.

 

[Bernie]

Hi there, I have produced Prosecco from my vine positioned on the south facing wall of my kitchen a few times but, for whatever reasons, am unable to create any carbonisation.

It tastes really nice but no bubbles and there's 22 bottles, I need to fix this. I have put 2 teaspoons of caster sugar in each bottle and the moment the sugar hits the liquor it froths up. I sealed quick and left it to do it's business.
This was a few weeks ago and I checked one of them and.........nothing!!!

I am prepared to do whatever is needed to fix this but my current skill-set has been reached. I remember 2 years ago it was lovely, I learned all about 'riddling' and I managed it using the upturned method in a freezer, it worked fine.

Can someone help please?

Richard

I have added sugar to beer after filling the bottle (I forgot to put it in the bottle beforehand) and it froths up. I suspect that sugar granules act as nucleation sites for the bubbles. Maybe, carbonation drops would reduce this tendency or top up with a liquor of concentrated sugar that has been dissolved in hot water and cooled.
A few weeks doesn't seem long to resume fermentation and reach a high carbonation pressure. In Italy, wine is sold in demijons to be bottled in the spring. The sparkling wine takes 2 to 3 months in the warm weather reach the pressure.

 

[Jan.]

I have never made prosecco but the frothing up is almost certainly caused by the release of CO2 from the liquid (exactly as Bernie pointed out), which is weird as you state that there is no carbonation.

CO2 is released from suspention either by agitation (in this case adding sugar) or by temperature. The higher the temperature, the less CO2 stays in. Are the bottles really cold? I still don't understand how it can have no carbonation but if the bottles are stored cold AND you have a leak in the caps or corks, it could be that some carbonation is kept in the liquid and gets kicked out by the sugar addition (hence the foaming) but most of it escapes through the cap/cork.

 

[DocAnna]

Good comments here, yes it's the nucleation issue as above. You can get round this by using a boiled solution of 50:50 sugar and water, and add sugar to each bottle using a syringe. Easiest way to do this is in a jam jar in the microwave - just need to bring it to the boil briefly. It is also possible you have a leak in the caps/cork.