Riddling Racks

On 5-30-2006 4:33 PM, pp

Matthew,

I've riddled using the method Pp outlines. The carton the bottles came in works fine as a riddling rack. I'd add that a good shaking prior to the complete inversion is probably a good idea. The lees which have compacted along the side of the bottle during the secondary fermentation and aging will be fairly difficult to dislodge otherwise. I didn't mix during the secondary as Pp suggests, and I had an extended aging period, which may be why my lees were more comfortable with their position along the side of the bottle. :)

Also, if you are planning on an extended sur lie aging, look for the highest quality crown caps. After two years of aging I had a few bottles with what looked like a ring of rust around the neck of the bottle. This didn't seem to have any impact on the flavor, and it may have been the hardened residue of a slight seepage of the champagne into the crimps of the crown cap, as the cap itself didn't show any signs of rust or other damage. If I make another batch I'll also see about borrowing a bench or floor capper, as I used the hand held job which came with my beginners home brewing kit. It's as cheaply made as is possible, with plastic replacing every part that doesn't absolutely have to be metal, and my hope is that a more sturdy capper may give a tighter fit to the crown caps.

I'd love to hear feedback from other sparkling wine makers regarding the 'crust' I had on some of my bottles.

Cheers, Ken