First Time Bottling

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JoeCal1952

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Messages
141
Reaction score
6
Hi all,
This is my first time bottling using a carboy. I previously used a conical vessel (FastFerment). I am assuming this is a 2 person job? There is still sediment on the bottom of the carboy, and I am guessing I put the siphon midway down the carboy and have somebody hold that in place while I bottle? As the wine nears the bottom of the siphon gently lower it being careful not to disturb the sediment. Am I on the right track here? Thanks for the help as always....Not really sure how to do this without eventually getting the last few bottles full of sediment?
 
Ur on the right track. But I would rack to another carboy & wait a few days/weeks then bottle. One person can bottle, I use a clothes pin to hold the racking cane off the bottom of the carboy. Two people make it easier & more fun! U have to sample the wine to insure Q C. Roy
 
Ur on the right track. But I would rack to another carboy & wait a few days/weeks then bottle. One person can bottle, I use a clothes pin to hold the racking cane off the bottom of the carboy. Two people make it easier & more fun! U have to sample the wine to insure Q C. Roy

Thanks Roy - All I have here is the primary fermenter, the (plastic bucket) and the store is quite a distance from me to grab another carboy. I guess I could rack into the primary for a few days and then back to the carboy for another week? I did sample the wine last night and it is very clear and very tasty too :)
I suppose if I am careful I could just bottle?
 
Will not hurt to rack to bucket,,, clean carboy,,, back to carboy for another week or so. You might even be surprised to see some more sediment (tho less). Rackover will help to degass as well! BTW, what wine??
 
Will not hurt to rack to bucket,,, clean carboy,,, back to carboy for another week or so. You might even be surprised to see some more sediment (tho less). Rackover will help to degass as well! BTW, what wine??

This is a Pinot Noir - I did a bit of experimenting with this and added a few coffee beans and some pepper corns along with the oak. It already has a nice taste although very young.

So, you mean rack to the bucket and then right back to the carboy all in one day? Sanitizing the carboy first of course...
Thanks for the help!
 
JoeCal, I strongly advise you not to try to bottle out of a carboy that has sediment in it. Rack your wine into another carboy if you have one. If you do not, rack it into your fermenter, clean and rinse the carboy and immediately rack the wine back into the carboy. If you have sediment in the carboy, you are not ready to bottle. Also, your racking cane should have a sediment tip on it so that if there is a very minimal amount of sediment left in the carboy, the tip will keep it from getting into the cane, the tubing and your bottles.
 
Hi Joe Cal. One person can siphon, if you rig something up to grip the racking tube and hold it above the lees but I would recommend that you either buy or make a bottling bucket. That is a food grade bucket with a spigot designed for you to attach a tube and bottling wand. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=bottling+bucket&tbm=shop. Short term, could you rack to your conical and use that as your bottling bucket?
 
What I do is rack only the clear wine to primary when I am ready to bottle. I disturb the wine as little as possible, but if it gets cloudy when I move the carboy I know I may still have gas, so I can stir the heck out of the nice clear wine in primary without concern for disturbing sediment.
 
JoeCal, I strongly advise you not to try to bottle out of a carboy that has sediment in it. Rack your wine into another carboy if you have one. If you do not, rack it into your fermenter, clean and rinse the carboy and immediately rack the wine back into the carboy. If you have sediment in the carboy, you are not ready to bottle. Also, your racking cane should have a sediment tip on it so that if there is a very minimal amount of sediment left in the carboy, the tip will keep it from getting into the cane, the tubing and your bottles.

The racking cane does have a sediment tip on it and I was real careful when going from primary to secondary, but I still have about an inch of sediment that I can see. I DID leave as much sediment behind as possible, but still have a lot. I will have to wait for my son to get home to do this. It is way too heavy for me alone...
 
Hi Joe Cal. One person can siphon, if you rig something up to grip the racking tube and hold it above the lees but I would recommend that you either buy or make a bottling bucket. That is a food grade bucket with a spigot designed for you to attach a tube and bottling wand. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=bottling+bucket&tbm=shop. Short term, could you rack to your conical and use that as your bottling bucket?

I thought about racking to the conical but not sure about the sediment issue...The conical IS a great bottling device. I have the filling hose for it and bottling goes real smooth. What I am worried about is when I go from carboy to the conical, there is bound to be more sediment, and with the large amount of head space in the conical, I am afraid of oxygen hurting the wine if I let it sit and clear up. If I transfer from the carboy to the conical and bottle immediately, I will have sediment in every bottle. Don't know what to do here. It's hard for one person to transfer stuff back and forth to a bucket and have to lift these things up on a table. With the conical, I can bottle from the floor, but how do I clear the wine up????
 
What I do is rack only the clear wine to primary when I am ready to bottle. I disturb the wine as little as possible, but if it gets cloudy when I move the carboy I know I may still have gas, so I can stir the heck out of the nice clear wine in primary without concern for disturbing sediment.

I will keep this in mind....As I posted to others, my biggest issue is once the wine goes into the primary and I want to bottle it, I need somebody to help get the bucket up on a table. I had to have a friend over to help get the carboy up there and thought I could just bottle from there, but obviously with all this sediment i can't
 
JoeCal, that seems like an awful lot of sediment. Can you give us some more info: What variety of wine? Kit, Juice or fresh fruit? When did you start it? Pictures would be very helpful.
 
JoeCal, that seems like an awful lot of sediment. Can you give us some more info: What variety of wine? Kit, Juice or fresh fruit? When did you start it? Pictures would be very helpful.

Rocky...I transferred the wine into the conical and going to let it sit for a week to clear up again. Much to my surprise, there wasn't much sediment at all. I guess when I degassed the wine with the wand and electric drill, it made a whirlpool effect, and all the sediment ended up on the bottom, but all toward the sides of the carboy :) I probably could have bottled, but this is how I learn. I have a high end Winexpert kit with skins. That's why I didn't want to chance ruining it in the final stages...From here it is simple to bottle but I have to make sure not to let it sit too long with all that head space. I'll be fine from here...
 
Joe Cal,,, as you can see, most all of the response indicates that you are not ready to bottle anyway. Yes I rack to a bucket and back into the carboy in one process (after cleaning carboy of course). It gets old hearing it,, but once again "time is a winemakers best ingredient".
You may wind up racking several more times (Minimum 1 month interval) before it is clear enough to bottle. Do not forget to treat with K-meta after you rack back into the carboy. Most importantly be careful moving stuff around. Get help or a pump! Don't want to be reading another fractured-carboy-story!!
 
Joe Cal,,, as you can see, most all of the response indicates that you are not ready to bottle anyway. Yes I rack to a bucket and back into the carboy in one process (after cleaning carboy of course). It gets old hearing it,, but once again "time is a winemakers best ingredient".
You may wind up racking several more times (Minimum 1 month interval) before it is clear enough to bottle. Do not forget to treat with K-meta after you rack back into the carboy. Most importantly be careful moving stuff around. Get help or a pump! Don't want to be reading another fractured-carboy-story!!


Thanks! I won't forget the K-Meta. I know it is important. I got the wine into my conical vessel for now and I am going to let that sit and clear. Probably go back to the carboy and then back to the vessel for bottling - The fastferment is only good for one thing, and that's bottling. It makes life easy...And I will be careful moving stuff...Thanks again!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top