Nothing says "celebration!" like sparkling wine. If you've just stepped into the craft of winemaking, or you want to take your knowledge a step further, branch out and add carbonation to your spirit-making skill set. While you can force-carbonate wine in a keg or barrel, you can take the easy, natural route and carbonate wine in the bottle with nothing more than a little corn sugar. Serve carbonated wine between 42 and 52 degrees Fahrenheit for optimum taste.
Wait for your wine to clear after secondary fermentation stops. This usually takes between two to four weeks.
Boil 1/8 cup of corn sugar with 1/3 cup of water for each gallon of wine you have made. For example, two gallons of wine would require a 1/4 cup of sugar mixed with 2/3 cup of water and a six gallon batch would require 3/4 cups of corn sugar mixed with 2 cups of water.
Pour the sugar solution into a bucket or carboy; this is the bottling vessel.
Siphon the wine into the bottling vessel. Keep the end of the siphon hose underneath the wine as it fills the vessel in order to thoroughly mix the solution into the wine. You may gently stir the wine with a long spoon to facilitate mixing.
Siphon the wine into sterilized bottles. Leave about half an inch of air space at the top of the bottle. Cork the bottle as you normally would and store them in a cool place. After two or three weeks, your wine will be carbonated.
Tip
Using more priming sugar will result in greater carbonation. Conversely, using less sugar will result in less carbonation
References
Writer Bio
Michael Black has been a freelance writer based in South Central Pennsylvania since 2010. He graduated from York College of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in professional writing. He has written music- and writing-related articles for various websites.