Bottle fermentation
The bottle fermentation is a process for the production of sparkling wine , cider or beer , in which a part of the fermentation process takes place in the bottle at a later mousse to obtain (foaming). In the case of sparkling wine, a distinction is made between classic bottle fermentation and the transvasation process .
Classic bottle fermentation
In the classic bottle fermentation, also called Méthode champenoise , Méthode traditionnelle or champagne method, the second fermentation takes place in the champagne bottle . This process is mandatory for the production of champagne , crémant and cava . In Germany, too, high-quality sparkling wines, primarily sparkling wine , are increasingly produced using the champagne method.
The basic sparkling wine is mixed with sugar and yeast for the second fermentation ( tirage ) and filled into the sparkling wine bottle, which is closed with a crown cap or a bidule . During the alcoholic fermentation that follows, the yeast converts the sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol . After the minimum storage time has expired, the yeast is moved into the neck of the bottle by shaking it ( remuage , manually or automatically). For this purpose, wooden vibrating panels (manual process) as well as semi and fully automatic vibrating machines ( gyro pallets ) are used.
When disgorging (disgorging), the resulting Hefepfropfen is removed, leaving the bottle without the champagne. A distinction is made between cold and warm degorging. With cold degorging, the yeast that has been shaken off is frozen in the neck of the bottle by placing the bottles upside down in an ice bath. The bottle can then be turned over to open without the yeast depot clouding the sparkling wine again. When the crown cap is opened, the yeast-ice plug is thrown out by the internal gas pressure. The technology now offers fully automated solutions with high hourly output. Since a little sparkling wine is always lost when disgorging , the bottle is refilled with the dosage ( French liqueur d'expedition ). This can also be used to determine the degree of sweetness of the sparkling wine.
The dosage consists of a mixture of wine and sugar syrup. The dosage is dispensed with with so-called zero dosage, pas dosé, brut nature , which then have a residual sugar content of less than 3 g / l.
During hot dégorgement (French dégorgement à la volée ) the yeast deposit is not frozen, the bottle must be opened upside down: skill and speed make manual hot dégorgement possible. Well-engineered semi-automatic solutions are also offered.
Transvasation method
The transvasation process is a way to maintain the advantages of traditional bottle fermentation and to simplify the laborious, labor-intensive steps of removing the yeast compared to the traditional method. This method became more and more widespread since the 1950s because the capacities of the traditional method were no longer sufficient to meet the increasing demand for sparkling wine.
In the transvasion process, fermentation is carried out, albeit in a special fermentation bottle, as in the traditional method, but then the lees are not removed by shaking and disgorging, but after emptying the bottles under carbonic acid pressure through filtration . The sparkling wine is then dosed in the pressure tank and filled into new bottles. Because the second fermentation of the sparkling wine takes place in bottles, as with traditional bottle fermentation, the sparkling wine produced using the transvasion process can be declared as "bottle fermentation", but only with a minimum production period of nine months and storage on the yeast for at least 60 days.
As early as the 19th century, experiments were carried out with the decanting (French transvaser ) of the unbound (disgorged) sparkling wine into smaller vessels. The problem of the resulting pressure loss could only be solved with pressure tanks and counter pressure fillers. The technical requirements for this were only available in the middle of the 20th century.
The advantage of this method is that the cuvee is homogenized by emptying it. Possible differences in taste due to the irregular fermentation process in the fermentation bottles are leveled out. The fact that the transvasation process is legally allowed to be called "bottle fermentation" is often used tacitly as a sales argument. Most consumers are not aware of the decisive procedural differences anyway. A survey of 1,000 people carried out in 1988 on behalf of the Stabilization Fund for Wine showed that the term “bottle fermentation” was associated with “fermented in the bottle” by the majority of those questioned, but only 14 percent of those questioned also associated it with the transvasation process and differentiated it from “traditional bottle fermentation”.
Bottle fermentation of beer
Even beer can undergo a second fermentation in the bottle. Here, the green beer , after the actual production of beer , often unfiltered added yeast and the food so-called as a carbohydrate source, and this filled directly into bottles. During secondary fermentation, the fermentation temperature is usually electronically controlled via the room temperature. The fermentation is determined by the sugar added by the food. The bottle fermentation binds the carbonic acid in the beer more finely. The remains of the yeast remain in the bottle e.g. B. with wheat beer . The secondary fermentation can also take place in barrels for beer. B. practiced with English real ale . The Belgian Geuze is a beer specialty of traditional bottle fermentation.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Regulation (EC) No. 1493/99 of the Council of May 17, 1999 on the common organization of the market in wine
- ^ Gerhard Troost , Hans-Peter Bach, Otto H. Rhein: Sekt, sparkling wine, sparkling wine. Handbook of Food Technology . 2nd edition Ulmer, Stuttgart 1995, p. 151, ISBN 3-8001-5818-3 .
- ↑ Hans-Jörg Koch: Weinrecht Commentary. Text volume and explanatory volumes 4th ed. German. Fachverlag, Frankfurt / M. 2002, p. 98, ISBN 3-87150-787-3 .
