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I've opened one of my elderflower champagne bottles( receipe from this site ) and no sparkle it's really clear and very tasty , but also sweet so I'm thinking when I primed it with sugar it did not ferment! So what can I do with my Xmas bubbly? I think all the yeast must be gone, any suggestion would be great.

Sounds like it had stopped before you added the extra sugar.

You can buy champagne yeast (don't know if it's necessary TBH but we got some to make some rhubarb champagne.)

We put some of the finished wine in a bottle (about half full, with a quantity of the yeast and some sugar). Bunged the top of the bottle with some cotton wool and left it to start then added some, plus a little sugar to each bottle as we put it in the champagne bottles, which we put champagne stoppers and wires. Of course you've already added the extra sugar.

Not sure if that helps - I'm betting it wouldn't be ready for this Christmas!

If that's Andy's recipe (using 3 lbs of sugar), I'd say that you haven't a hope in hell of restarting it. As it's pretty strong, however, it may be worthwhile trying it with soda water added (at serving time) to give it a fizz. Try 2/3 wine and 1/3 soda water. The alcohol content would still be around the 9% or 10% mark, so giggles would still abound.

Andrews Liver Salts would also work, but I wouldn't do that if I were you

Mike

Yep it's andys receipe and a dam fine one to, just left it way to late to bottle, so I think all the yeast have gone , I was toying with the idea of adding a little yeast to each bottle the put back at room temp?

Yep - that's what I was referring to, HH, when I said I don't think it would restart. However, it might (a small might) be worth trying with just one bottle (just a pinch of yeast would be plenty). You'd know within a couple of days if it was working.

The problem is that the yeast which had fermented the sugar in the wine was used to the high alcohol content. Any added yeast won't be, and so is likely to remain dormant or even die.

Mike

Cheers Mike, I've got one bottle that I opened so will drop a little yeast in it and see if it eats the sugar would be great! The taste is loverly apart from the sweetness.

I've also had some success moving it to a warmer place always worth a go in the winter months.

MKG wrote: Andrews Liver Salts would also work, but I wouldn't do that if I were you

Good way of forestalling possible after effects I'd have said.