YEAST: Priming a Pink Champagne

[Mutaneer]

So I've got a pink champagne i've been working on for a while,
it's been clearing in glass for almost 5 months, and it's now time to bottle.
Basically just fresh juice (hand pressed) and EC1118
Grapes were a mix of 1/3 Pinot and 2/3 Chardonnay

I'll be priming at rate of about 25g/L, but wondering what yeast to use for conditioning to smooth out the current flavour profile.
It's currently got a very sharp boozy/ grappa flavour and I just want to round it out a little.

I currently have DV10, EC1118 and my 71B yeast.

I'm thinking that the 71B might be the best option as it does tend to smoothen my ciders nicely, but I still want to keep it quite crisp, so that's where the DV10 might be alright aswell.

thoughts.?

 

[barls]

Add some oak while its aging then try it again.
I'd suggest a light toast to complement and not over power

 

[Airgead]

71B tops out at around 14% and isn't real good when adding to already high alc environments. EC1118 is the traditional priming yeast for this application.

Changing yeasts at this point is unlikely to change flavor profile much. You may have been better using the 71B to do the main ferment then switch to EC1118 for the priming.

Best bet now is to age (and as Barls said, maybe add a little oak).

Cheers
Dave

 

[Mutaneer]

Cheers guys.

Have gone with the 1118 for priming.

I poured off half a cup before bottling and let it sit for a while, then chilled it to about 8'c
the flavour was much better and lost some of the booziness, which I think was coming through from the pinot when at room temp, and being locked up in glass for 5 months.

It's just an experiment really on how simply I could make some bubbles.
I had the grapes gifted to me, squashed them in a fermenter and whacked in some yeast.

At worst they'll be a great base for a punch