Bottling Your Wine |
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Bottling Your Wine
There are two basic options to packaging wine, bottling and the Wine-on-Tap system. There are pros and cons to both.
Bottling
There are a variety of bottles that you can use to bottle your wine, the least expensive being used commercial bottles. Commercial bottles require up front work of removing labels and cleaning but they are essentially free!
Wine kits typically make 6 gallons of wine which equates to 30 750 ml wine bottles. You can reduce the workload by using larger bottles. Here is a break down of bottle sizes and the approximate number needed to bottle 6 gallons:
Cleaning bottles is the worst part about bottling but with proper habits, you can make this less of a chore. If you wait till bottling day to try and clean your bottles, you will not be a happy winemaker! By rinsing your bottles with very hot water immediately after they are empty, then "fur" will never get a chance to grow. Storing your bottles upside down also help keep them dry and ready for sanitizing on bottling day.
There are many ways to sanitize bottles, the easiest being the dishwasher. Washing them using the heated dry cycle is sufficient to kill any microorganisms that may be present. If you waited till bottling day to clean your bottles you should use a bottle washer and bottle brush to ensure the bottles are clean before you sanitize them.
If you don't want to use the dishwasher, a bottle tree is the best way to sanitize and dry your bottles. Rinse the bottles in sanitizer and place on the bottle tree to dry. Our 90 bottle tree can be fitted with a bottle rinser that allows you sanitize and dry in one convenient step.
Using the racking cane and tubing, transfer the wine from the Carboy bucket to a bucket, being very careful to avoid the sediment. (To start a siphon, the fermenting bucket must be elevated above the bottling bucket. Fill the racking cane and tubing with water placing your thumb on the end of the tubing. Insert the racking cane into the fermenting bucket, being careful not to disturb the sediment at the bottom of the bucket. Place the other end of the tubing into the bottling bucket and remove your thumb from the tubing. The gravity will start the siphon and will start the transfer of your wine.)
Using the same racking cane and tubing, place the bottle filler on the other end of the tubing. The bottle filler has a valve that allows you to fill your bottles without having to stop the flow of wine from bottle to bottle. Start your siphon and place the bottle filler in the wine bottle. Press the filler on the bottom of the bottle to start the flow of wine. Fill the bottles till the wine is about to overflow. When you remove the filler, the amount of volume that is displaced is the proper amount that you need to ensure your wine will age properly.
Cork the wine. Natural corks need to be left upright for 3 days before turning them on their side. Synthetic corks should be left upright for at least three days but they do not need to be laid on their side as the synthetic corks do not dry out.
 An alternative to bottling wine is the Wine-on-Tap system. It is like wine in a box for home winemakers. Each system comes with a dispensing bucket, retainer clip to hold the bag in place and a dispensing bag that hold 2 gallons of wine (10 bottles). The dispensing bucket can be reused and replacement bags come in packs of three.The Wine-on-Tap has many advantages over bottling. You can fill 3 dispensing bags instead of 30 bottles. The bags are already sanitized and ready to use. The bags age the same as bottled wine but takes up much less space as 30 bottles.
The disadvantage to the Wine-on-Tap system is that the bags are one time use where as wine bottles can be reused until they break, which is forever if you are careful! |
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