On maximizing bubbles on New Year's Eve ... and other fun stuff.

The Wall Street Journal has some interesting ideas today:

If your champagne flutes have been tucked away in a cabinet for the past 12 months, you would be well advised to towel them off before pouring in the bubbly this weekend.

The point is not to rid them of any germs that might have made themselves at home, but to maximize bubbles. In the latest dispatch from the frontiers of champagne science, researchers find that hollow cellulose fibers knocked off a cloth or paper towel used to dry a flute act as bubble-formation, or "nucleation," sites. As a result, glasses wiped with a towel show "an excess of effervescence," scientists from (where else?) France report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

***

... You can also maximize bubble production by leaving the flutes in the open air, right side up, so stray fibers from your guests' clothing waft into them (assuming you don't mind the yuck factor here). If you wash the flutes and air-dry them upside down, however, the paucity of fibers will damp the bubble production of even the priciest champagne unless the glassmaker has made microetches in the flute, as some masters have done for ages. Those scratches, too, act as nucleation sites.

If the conversation drags, you may want to observe the bubbles. These orbs of carbon dioxide exhibit "a curious and quite unexpected" behavior, Gerard Liger-Belair of the University of Reims and colleagues report in the food journal. The train of bubbles emitted from any point might be evenly spaced, then suddenly switch to producing pairs, triplets, quadruplets ... up to 12 bubbles at a time. The duration of a "bubbling regime," or pattern, can last from seconds to minutes.

After many glasses of Moët and Pommery, which supplied the requisite experimental material, the researchers discovered that the bubbling regime is determined by how many gas pockets of particular sizes lurk inside the hollow cellulose fibers. When two gas pockets merge, the regime changes, from producing pairs to triplets or from triplets to quads, for instance. The more gas pockets in a fiber, the more varied the bubble trains will be. Right before a fiber stops generating bubbles, the rising column settles into the simplest: equally spaced singles. That's your signal that the show from that nucleation site is about over. Drink up.

Enough science, you say. Well, here are a few more items of possible interest:

How many bubbles in a bottle of champagne?

1. 49 million.

2. 250 million.

3. Some other number.

For one answer, see http://www.beekmanwine.com/prevtopam.htm

Are beer bubbles or champagne bubbles more rigid?

1. Beer.

2. Champagne.

3. Who cares.

A leading study on the issue concludes: "We also compared the behaviour of champagne bubbles with that of beer bubbles. It was found that beer bubbles showed a behaviour, very close to that of rigid spheres [5-7], thus confirming a previous study [10]. This is not a surprising result, since beer contains much higher amounts of surface-active macromolecules (of order of several hundreds mg/L) likely to be adsorbed at a bubble interface than champagne. Furthermore, since the gas content is lower in beer, growth rates of beer bubbles are lower than those of champagne. As a result, the dilution effect due to the rate of dilatation of the bubble area may be too weak to avoid the rigidification of the beer bubble interface."

This study contains some fascinating pictures and concludes with the four stages of the death of the bubbles collapsing at the free surface of champagne. http://www.europhysicsnews.com/full/13/ ... icle3.html

Happy New Year.

Thanks for posting this Bob. As a beer drinker and home made bubbly maker I found this a very enjoyable read.

I thought the recommendation was to make a small scratch with a diamond at the base of the glass

Hi Peter, Happy New Year!!! Hows things in Snorbens?

[Robin Garr]

I thought the recommendation was to make a small scratch with a diamond at the base of the glass

Maybe it's just me, but I've never had any real problem getting my Champagne to bubble. I wonder what I've been doing wrong.

"Maybe it's just me, but I've never had any real problem getting my Champagne to bubble. I wonder what I've been doing wrong."

Ah, Robin, but think of all the bubbles you might have had, had you maximized the bubble producing mechanisms suggested by the French researchers.

And, if you get into the annual sport of racing raisins in a flute filled with Champagne, these hints may give your raisin just the little boost it needs to set a new world record.

[The Personal Best in the Ross Champagne Stakes is 19.5 set in 2003. The Personal Worst was 0.5 set 2002. I'm sure others can do better.]

I thought the recommendation was to make a small scratch with a diamond at the base of the glass

Yes, a small scratch in the base of the glass (on the inside, of course) provides a nucleation point for the bubbles. You tend to get a steady, single thin stream of bubbles from glasses treated this way.

-Paul W.

First, he established that the average pressure in a Champagne bottle was about 5.5 atmospheres at 20 degrees C.

That seems a little warm to me (for the Americans, that's 68 F). Now I'm trying to remember my physics classes and figure out what effect a lower temperature would have on the amount of bubbles.

I might be missing the point here, but like Robin I have never had any problem with too few bubbles in my champagne. I would rather think that by maximizing the number of bubbles one would make the champagne flat in a shorter time, which would be undesirable, wouldn't it?
Cheers, Anders

I find I can maximize bubbles by inserting a stick blender in my wine glass, but will join Anders and Robin by being surprised lack of bubbles is viewed as an issue.

Hi Peter, Happy New Year!!! Hows things in Snorbens?

Hi Bob -- very quiet - but tomorrow we're off to spend New Year in a hotel with friends and let someone else do the cooking -- and we're going racing on Monday

Mike, try using p*V=n*R*T
Good luck, Anders

Wouldn't It also be true that there are more bubbles the higher one is from sea level? I've heard that Champagne is most refreshing after an Everest climb !


Prost!
Bill

First, he established that the average pressure in a Champagne bottle was about 5.5 atmospheres at 20 degrees C.

That seems a little warm to me (for the Americans, that's 68 F). Now I'm trying to remember my physics classes and figure out what effect a lower temperature would have on the amount of bubbles.

If I recall my physical chemistry correctly, 20 degrees C is the standard temperature component of STP (standard temperature and pressure) at which most physiochemical characteristics are measured.

The lower the temperature, the more gas you can dissolve in a liquid, so the cooler your Champagne is, the fewer bubbles you'll get.

-Paul W.

Wouldn't It also be true that there are more bubbles the higher one is from sea level? I've heard that Champagne is most refreshing after an Everest climb !


Prost!
Bill

If the Champagne is vinified and bottled near sea level, then yes, you'll get more bubbles at high elevations.

-Paul W.

"If the Champagne is vinified and bottled near sea level, then yes, you'll get more bubbles at high elevations. "

More, or bigger, or perhaps both, Paul?

Regards, Bob

If the Champagne is vinified and bottled near sea level, then yes, you'll get more bubbles at high elevations.

Makes me think that it might be difficult to perform degorgement at high altitudes, since the larger pressure difference between the interior of the bottle and the outside might increase the foaming and the subsequent risk of loss of the precious liquide.
Cheers, Anders

PV=nRT says you'll get more gas expelled in total volume. I don't know whether it'd be in the form of more small bubbles or fewer larger ones.

Now there's an interesting advanced physical chemistry puzzle.

-Paul W.

Size apparently does matter then..... ?

You're right, Cynthia, but in this case smaller is better...
/A

The abstract of the basic article doesn't indicate that there was an objective to increase the number of bubbles in Champagne -- that was the reporter's spin. The goal seems to have been basic research -- I particularly like the final thought: "the bursting of bubbles at the liquid surface (section 5), which constitutes the most intriguing, functional, and visually appealing step. "

Here's the abstract of the study; I'm not a member and can't down load the full report, but there's enough in the abstract to feed the mind ... and to come up with possible uses of the results:

J. Agric. Food Chem., 53 (8), 2788 -2802, 2005. 10.1021/jf048259e S0021-8561(04)08259-7
Web Release Date: March 18, 2005

Copyright © 2005 American Chemical Society
The Physics and Chemistry behind the Bubbling Properties of Champagne and Sparkling Wines: A State-of-the-Art Review

Gérard Liger-Belair

Laboratoire d'nologie et de Chimie Appliquée, UPRES EA 2069, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, B.P. 1039, 51687 Reims Cedex 2, France

Received for review October 20, 2004. Revised manuscript received February 4, 2005. Accepted February 9, 2005. This research was supported by the Europol'Agro institute, by the Conseil Général de la Marne, and by the AROCU.

Abstract:

In this review, the latest results about the chemical physics behind the bubbling properties of Champagne and sparkling wines are collected and fully illustrated. The chemistry of carbon dioxide molecules dissolved into the liquid matrix (section 2) is presented, as are the three main steps of a fleeting bubble's life, that is, the bubble nucleation on tiny particles stuck on the glass wall (section 3), the bubble ascent and growth through the liquid matrix (section 4), and the bursting of bubbles at the liquid surface (section 5), which constitutes the most intriguing, functional, and visually appealing step.

Liger-Belair wrote Uncorked: The Science of Champagne, a pretty superficial history of Champagne, but in the final sections containing some great photos and interesting science.

There's a good review with photos at http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7811.html

Liger-Belair gives his reasons for the research in the intro:

My grand plan was this: Champagne makers such as Moët & Chandon sold 262.6 million bottles in 2001--the equivalent of about $3 billion in sales. For an industry that banks so much on bubbles, fi nding ways to better understand the bubbling process and eventually to improve the beverage's hallmark fi zz seemed like a smart idea. Department head Bruno Duteurtre asked me to come to Moët & Chandon's headquarters in Epernay (the capital of Champagne wines) to lay out my photographs, thoughts, and research plans. The people I met with were captivated by the idea of this research, and a few weeks later I moved from Paris to Reims to begin my dissertation in the Laboratory of Enology at the University of Reims. With colleagues from both the university and Moët & Chandon, I started my offi cial investigation into the physical chemistry of champagne bubbles.

As Dr. Harold Edgerton, a revolutionary in the development of high-speed and stop-motion photography, once said, "The experience of seeing the unseen has provided me with insights and questions my entire life." This sentiment exactly captures the heart of the matter, the reason for this book, and the answer to my earlier question. Champagne is a wonderful drink, one that mysteriously manages to capture an incredible amount of festivity, elegance, and sensuality in every glass. A lover of champagne--either a guest at your next New Year's party or a connoisseur at a banquet--certainly can drink a glass and enjoy it with great pleasure. These two lovers of champagne may have different vocabularies to describe what they fi nd pleasurable about the wine, but it's very likely that neither knows nor can even begin to imagine all that is happening inside the fl ute in his or her hand. Mainly, this is so because some of the most interesting and beautiful events in a glass of champagne are invisible to the unaided eye. With a special lens on a camera, however, we can capture photographs of the bubbles in champagne. We can study those photographs, and with the help of a little physics know-how, understand how the bubbles act as the vehicles for taste, scent, that lovely popping sensation on your tongue and the tip of your nose--in general, the pleasure we all know, love, and have come to expect from a glass of champagne.

The following link will give you an idea of the pictures and the math involved in the book: http://www.europhysicsnews.com/full/13/ ... icle3.html

Regards, Bob