The Holidays are Here: Turning Cheap Wine into Champagne with Whipping Siphons

As we enter the holiday season, one of our favorite traditions is drinking champagne. But why settle for just any old bottle when you can turn cheap wine into an amazing glass of champagne in an instant? That's right, we're going to show you how to make your own fresh champagne using a simple tool called a whipping siphon.

Whipping Siphons: The Ultimate Tool for Carbonation

Before we dive into the process, let's talk about one of the most important tools we'll be using: the whipping siphon. Also known as a nitrogen chargers or carbonators, these devices are capable of infusing any liquid with CO2 gas, creating a fizzy and refreshing drink. There are two main types of gases you can use in your whipping siphon: nitrous oxide (whipped cream) and CO2 (the one we'll be using for our champagne). Nitrous oxide is great for making whipped cream and other desserts, while CO2 is perfect for creating carbonated beverages like sodas and, of course, champagne.

Choosing the Right Ingredients

Now that we have our whipping siphon, let's talk about what we need to make our champagne. The ingredients are simple: a bottle of cheap wine (any type will do), some grapes, and a twisting siphon bottle opener. Yes, you read that right - a twisting siphon bottle opener is essential for opening your bottle without spilling a drop of wine.

Preparing the Wine

The longest part of our process is opening the bottle of wine. And let's be honest, it can be a bit tricky! That's why we're using a twist-top bottle, which makes it easy to open without any special equipment. Once you've opened the bottle, pour some of the wine into your siphon bottle. Don't worry if it looks like a lot - we'll be using most of it in our recipe.

Adding CO2 and Watching Magic Happen

Now that we have our wine poured into the siphon bottle, it's time to add some CO2 gas. We're using a CO2 charger specifically designed for whipping siphons, which will give us the perfect amount of carbonation for our champagne. The longer you let the CO2 sit on your wine, the more and more carbonation will be dissolved into the liquid. This means that if you let it sit for a few hours, your champagne will be super fizzy!

The Science Behind Carbonation

So, how does this work? When CO2 gas dissolves in water (in this case, our cheap white wine), it turns into carbonic acid. And this is where things get really interesting! The acidity of the carbonic acid makes flavors brighter and more vibrant, even if there's a "bad" ingredient like buttery, crappy oaky shards in your wine. This is why CO2 gas is such a great tool for winemakers - it helps to balance out any flaws in the wine.

Tips and Tricks from a Pro

One of our favorite tips when making champagne with whipping siphons is to keep everything cold. The colder you keep your ingredients, the faster the CO2 will dissolve into the wine. This means that if you're planning on serving your champagne at a party or gathering, it's best to make it ahead of time and refrigerate it until you're ready to serve.

Conclusion

Turning cheap wine into champagne with whipping siphons is a fun and easy process that can add some excitement to any holiday party. With the right tools and ingredients, you can create a delicious and refreshing drink that will impress your friends and family. So go ahead, give it a try, and happy holidays!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe holidays are here for me big part of that drinking champagne we're going to show you how to take any old cheap wine and turn it into an amazingly delicious glass of champagne in an instant and that's champagne with lower kc wine goes in charge it pour it bubbles pretty straightforward stuff if you're not familiar with one of these bad boys we call them whipping siphons and you can put a couple different gases in them too there's like the nitrous side of things so whipped cream then there's the co2 side you can make your own fresh sodas and today we're going to use the co2 to make fresh champagne okay that's your tools this is the co2 besides the tools you only need a couple ingredients it could be red it could be rose why not but i'm gonna do some white wine today the longest part is gonna be opening it so i'm just gonna do the twist top one this is just cheap white wine and these just cheap ass regular grapes oh if you take a couple bump plump i'm gonna be super super super fizzy served like these champagne grapes at lots of parties and cocktails and people are like whoa they're so good you're going to want to come to chefs.com to get all the little details here the factors are how cold is the wine how sweet is it how much alcohol is it and how much pressure of co2 are you putting in the longer i let the co2 sit on this the more and more and more carbonation will be dissolved into the liquid and the more co2 the more acidic and bright the drink will because co2 when it dissolves turns into carbonic acid and that's a that's a good thing like it's in sodas it makes flavors brighter and stuff too so if i've got like a buttery crappy cheap oaky shard in it it'll taste lighter and brighter when there's co2 in it keeping it on ice the colder it is the faster the co2 will dissolve so i know we're talking about whipping siphons these are the best whipping siphons we've got a whole class about them all the cool things you can do with them from bulletproof hollandaise to carbonated cocktails we just had the idea of we've got some amazing legit champagne here um from champagne really good stuff and we've got our little cheapy fizzy one here i'm gonna go i don't know do a couple emails or something while nick sets up a little blind tasting and we'll see if i can tell the difference i mean i could be wrong i'm gonna look like an idiot right now but let's see where we're at maybe give it a little shake a little swirl yeah and i'm gonna do this too so i don't want like big splashes here people call them cocktail glasses but they're coops so grapes like the solids could benefit from a little bit more time or more charges try one of these real quick definitely infuse with really good wine at the end of the day you get all the flexibility in the world you can take any rose white red it's really good really easy to make more at chef steps there's lots of tips tricks recipes all that we've got a whole bunch of stuff on fizzy fruit so if you just want to carbonate great you want to carbonate oranges so go to steps to learn how happy holidaysthe holidays are here for me big part of that drinking champagne we're going to show you how to take any old cheap wine and turn it into an amazingly delicious glass of champagne in an instant and that's champagne with lower kc wine goes in charge it pour it bubbles pretty straightforward stuff if you're not familiar with one of these bad boys we call them whipping siphons and you can put a couple different gases in them too there's like the nitrous side of things so whipped cream then there's the co2 side you can make your own fresh sodas and today we're going to use the co2 to make fresh champagne okay that's your tools this is the co2 besides the tools you only need a couple ingredients it could be red it could be rose why not but i'm gonna do some white wine today the longest part is gonna be opening it so i'm just gonna do the twist top one this is just cheap white wine and these just cheap ass regular grapes oh if you take a couple bump plump i'm gonna be super super super fizzy served like these champagne grapes at lots of parties and cocktails and people are like whoa they're so good you're going to want to come to chefs.com to get all the little details here the factors are how cold is the wine how sweet is it how much alcohol is it and how much pressure of co2 are you putting in the longer i let the co2 sit on this the more and more and more carbonation will be dissolved into the liquid and the more co2 the more acidic and bright the drink will because co2 when it dissolves turns into carbonic acid and that's a that's a good thing like it's in sodas it makes flavors brighter and stuff too so if i've got like a buttery crappy cheap oaky shard in it it'll taste lighter and brighter when there's co2 in it keeping it on ice the colder it is the faster the co2 will dissolve so i know we're talking about whipping siphons these are the best whipping siphons we've got a whole class about them all the cool things you can do with them from bulletproof hollandaise to carbonated cocktails we just had the idea of we've got some amazing legit champagne here um from champagne really good stuff and we've got our little cheapy fizzy one here i'm gonna go i don't know do a couple emails or something while nick sets up a little blind tasting and we'll see if i can tell the difference i mean i could be wrong i'm gonna look like an idiot right now but let's see where we're at maybe give it a little shake a little swirl yeah and i'm gonna do this too so i don't want like big splashes here people call them cocktail glasses but they're coops so grapes like the solids could benefit from a little bit more time or more charges try one of these real quick definitely infuse with really good wine at the end of the day you get all the flexibility in the world you can take any rose white red it's really good really easy to make more at chef steps there's lots of tips tricks recipes all that we've got a whole bunch of stuff on fizzy fruit so if you just want to carbonate great you want to carbonate oranges so go to steps to learn how happy holidays\n"