Champagne bottle stopper question?

[dfitts1984]

Hi! If i wanted to carbonate a bottle of my home made wine, would a champagne bottle stopper be able to withstand the pressure of carbonation or should i just buy a swing lock bottle?

 

[mac_1103]

Do you mean something like this? What kind of bottle would you use? Regular wine bottles aren't made for pressure.

 

[DuncB]

I carbonate to about 4,5 vols in champagne bottles for Belgian beers.
Ensure bottle has no damage and I use a crown cap rather than a cork.

 

[dfitts1984]

Do you mean something like this? What kind of bottle would you use? Regular wine bottles aren't made for pressure.

I would invest in 750 ml champagne bottles and if those stoppers would work to withstand the wine carbonating, then i would buy them. Or i would just buy the bottles with the built in locking clamps.

 

[mac_1103]

I would invest in 750 ml champagne bottles and if those stoppers would work to withstand the wine carbonating, then i would buy them. Or i would just buy the bottles with the built in locking clamps.

The stoppers are meant for recorking after pressure has been released. I'm not sure they won't pop with 4 or 5 volumes of CO2. Swing top bottles are supposed to be rated to 3.5 volumes. If you want to go higher than that you probably should invest in champagne bottles. Some take caps but some don't, and some of the ones that take caps are 29 mm instead of the more standard 26 mm.

 

[Closet Fermenter]

This is probably not what you’re looking for, but I made a sparkling wine quite by accident. I didn’t have time to bottle, so I put my wine in a 2-½ gallon ball lock keg. The wine that I thought was finished “woke up” with the racking and started fermenting again in the keg. Awhile later, when I went to sample my wine, I found that I had a very nice sparkling white wine!

 

[Climb]

I have used regular champagne bottles, reusing their plastic corks and wire cages. Real corks or artificial corks can’t be reused as they swell when removed. Many restaurants, look for one that does champagne brunch, will give you empty champagne bottles as there is no CRV for them. Just be sure to use a wire cage to keep the cork in place. Good luck.