A Basic Method To Make Sparkling Homemade Wine

Most folks who make homemade wine usually make wine suitable to drink with meals. But you can make wine that's something special that's great for those special events. So how about creating a sparkling wine? It's really not as hard as you might have thought.

Sparkling wine is just wine that's been carbonated. While you might think of champagne as sparkling wine, champagne is really wine made in the Champagne region of France.

You can use the same basic process that has been used for years to make sparkling wine at home. The procedure calls for adding sugar and yeast to a white wine. The wine is then corked so that the carbon dioxide created by the interaction of the yeast and sugar builds up. Since the bottle is corked, the bubbles are forced back into the wine.

The process really is quite simple and there is no reason why you cannot begin producing your own version of sparkling wine at home with a few bottles, some sugar, a lemon and some yeast along with your own white wine. Remember that your bottles will need to be sanitized first. While the bacteria that may grow in bottles that have not been sanitized will not necessarily hurt you, it will definitely affect the taste of your wine and could ruin the entire batch.

- The first step in the process is to make your white wine somewhat more acidic. The acidity of the wine will give it a texture that is more flavorful and overall crisper. To do this, add the juice of one lemon per twenty-five ounces of white wine.

- The next step is to add in the yeast and the sugar. Both of these items are necessary in order for the carbonation to occur. You must make sure that your measurements are exact; however, when you add the sugar into the wine. If you use too much sugar the result will be too much carbonation. This can actually cause the bottles to explode so you want to make sure you use only one teaspoon of sugar per twenty-five ounces of wine.

- After you have added the sugar into the wine, you will then need to add in the yeast. You will only need to add 1/4 teaspoon yeast into the wine and sugar mixture. Make sure that you sprinkle the yeast carefully into the wine; do not just dump it into the wine. Now, using a large spoon, stir the mixture to be sure the sugar and yeast become well combined. You may even note that the carbonation process has already begun to occur.

Now it's time to bottle the mixture but you'll need to cork this wine a bit differently than you do your other wines. Since you will have pressure inside the bottle you can't just stick a cork in and forget it. A lot of home brewers use something called a swing cap which has a metal rod attached to the top of the cork. Once the cork is in the bottle you can literally lock the cork in place with the metal rod. You can usually get swing corks at most home brew stores and online as well.

Make sure to leave a couple of inches of space above the wine in the neck of the bottle which will allow for the expansion of the carbonated gases. Again, failure to do this could result in an exploding bottle. Once filled, place the bottles in a cool, dry location and leave them there undisturbed for a week or two. Make sure and chill the wine before you serve it.