Aim of riddling is to help remove the yeast from the bottle subsequent to the secondary fermentation and ageing.
Riddling Methods
| Method |
Description |
|---|
| Pupitres |
- Shake bottle before loading.
- Twist, lift, slight shake, rattle & knock until yeast goes down into neck. Experienced riddlers can do 20 – 30,000 bottles a day.
- 1 month ‘sur pointes’ to allow plug to compact.
- Labour intensive, skilled and expensive.
|
| Manual Gyro-palettes |
- Cage mounted on pyramidal base.
- Cage is turned and bottles moved.
|
| Mechanical gyro-palettes |
- Bottles loaded into large cages (350 - 4000 bottles) & on to programmed machine.
- Much quicker, economical & space saving.
|
| Encapsulated yeast |
- From Moet & Chandon, Institut Oenotechnique & CIVC
- Yeast culture mixed with alginate extruded into calcium phosphate solution which forms beads with semi-permeable membrane.
- Problems with leakage & dosing into bottles.
|
Disgorging was traditionally done ‘a la volée’ but is now almost always achieved by neck freezing, either in solution of brine, glycol or calcium chloride at -20°C for 8 - 10 min. Necks must be washed before disgorging.
