I just got an auto-siphon...

[Pittsburgh127]

Pittsburgh....Go for it, it is your hobby and your way will work.

NOW...after of months of clearing time, you rack your wine to be bottled. In the process, you stir up the sediment and suck some up into your bottling bucket, which of course finds it's way into your bottle....along with some CO2 gas that you "thought" was completely gone after months of sitting in a carboy. A week or so after bottling you notice a light dusting of crap at the bottom of your bottles and a slight CO2 bite in your new wine. I just want you to know, when that happens, I will not be the one that said I told you so.....not that I would not want too! But, I have been there and done that myself.

As a side note....a lot of stuff that makes perfect sense sitting on a sandy beach, just doesn't work back in the real world. ( just yanking your chain).

I hear what you are saying, I really do. But in all the years I have been doing this, I've never had an issue with sediment or gas in my bottled wine. I am very careful when racking and I use a hand vacuum pump to degas. I don't fix what aint broke.

 

[Pittsburgh127]

Having the right tool for the job enhances the hobby experience. When gardening, you can do a lot with a hand shovel and bucket. Having a foot shovel, wheel barrow, watering cam, etc. makes the hobby a lot nicer. Work smart.

You see, the thing is, I don't view it as work. So, there is no reason to work smart. I do this as an alternative to work. I have to work smart to make a living and its tiring.

Back in the 1990s, a friend and I built a wooden sailboat using nothing but hand tools. Hand saws, brakes, planes, hammers, chisels, draw knives, sanding blocks, etc. We could have built it in a fraction of the time using power tools. But at the end of the project, it wasn't the boat that was the prize. The memories of building it and the sense of accomplishment was the real prize.

Remember, its a hobby, not work. When a hobby begins to become work, its no longer a hobby and you need to find another hobby.

 

[Mismost]

You see, the thing is, I don't view it as work. So, there is no reason to work smart. I do this as an alternative to work. I have to work smart to make a living and its tiring.

Back in the 1990s, a friend and I built a wooden sailboat using nothing but hand tools. Hand saws, brakes, planes, hammers, chisels, draw knives, sanding blocks, etc. We could have built it in a fraction of the time using power tools. But at the end of the project, it wasn't the boat that was the prize. The memories of building it and the sense of accomplishment was the real prize.

Remember, its a hobby, not work. When a hobby begins to become work, its no longer a hobby and you need to find another hobby.

built 3 cedar strip canoes with a friend back in the early 80's...all by hand...it is very rewarding. This same guy kept offering us way too much money for each one we built...we simply could not turn it down. Then one day we ate lunch at this fancy seafood place and inside there set one of our canoes! They had taken that beautiful canoe, drilled holes in the bottom of it and turned into a freaking salad bar!

I would like to say we never built another one...but we did...the money was too good! The seafood place went broke. A paddling friend said he saw one our canoes hanging inside a lodge on the White River...maybe the closest any of those canoes came to real water.

 

[cmason1957]

The not moving heavy carboys is my favorite part of owning my AIO. Or maybe it is the bottling with it. Or the never even really thinking about degassing, it just happens. Or maybe it is the nearly 200 gallons in carboys in the basement that I wouldn't be doing if I didn't have one.

Time saved doesn't really enter into it for me.

 

[dcbrown73]

built 3 cedar strip canoes with a friend back in the early 80's...all by hand...it is very rewarding. This same guy kept offering us way too much money for each one we built...we simply could not turn it down. Then one day we ate lunch at this fancy seafood place and inside there set one of our canoes! They had taken that beautiful canoe, drilled holes in the bottom of it and turned into a freaking salad bar!

I would like to say we never built another one...but we did...the money was too good! The seafood place went broke. A paddling friend said he saw one our canoes hanging inside a lodge on the White River...maybe the closest any of those canoes came to real water.

If you make me one, I will make a bathtub out of it so at least it will get wet.

 

[Pittsburgh127]

built 3 cedar strip canoes with a friend back in the early 80's...all by hand...it is very rewarding. This same guy kept offering us way too much money for each one we built...we simply could not turn it down. Then one day we ate lunch at this fancy seafood place and inside there set one of our canoes! They had taken that beautiful canoe, drilled holes in the bottom of it and turned into a freaking salad bar!

I would like to say we never built another one...but we did...the money was too good! The seafood place went broke. A paddling friend said he saw one our canoes hanging inside a lodge on the White River...maybe the closest any of those canoes came to real water.

Thats a shame. The sailboat definitely saw time on the water. We used it almost weekly at Deep Creek lake in Maryland for 10 summers. We eventually sold it, for way more than it was worth, to a very wealthy land owner who wanted to teach his kids how to sail on a small lake on his property. As far as I know, its still on the water.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

You see, the thing is, I don't view it as work. So, there is no reason to work smart. I do this as an alternative to work. I have to work smart to make a living and its tiring.

Remember, its a hobby, not work. When a hobby begins to become work, its no longer a hobby and you need to find another hobby.

Yes - I understand where you are coming from and respect that as well.

I liked alot of my hobbies - but I had to give up alot of them up due to back problems and my age. If I decided to move carboys or bottle with a standard filling cane, I would not be able to go to work the next day, due to all the pain I was in.

So this in my idea is working smart to keep my full time job and keep this hobby that I enjoy so much .

So Yes the Allinonewinepump saved my winemaking hobby and all the friends I have gained over the years !

 

[Pittsburgh127]

Yes - I understand where you are coming from and respect that as well.

I liked alot of my hobbies - but I had to give up alot of them up due to back problems and my age. If I decided to move carboys or bottle with a standard filling cane, I would not be able to go to work the next day, due to all the pain I was in.

So this in my idea is working smart to keep my full time job and keep this hobby that I enjoy so much .

So Yes the Allinonewinepump saved my winemaking hobby and all the friends I have gained over the years !

Well, that is certainly a very valid reason, without a doubt. Fortunately, I don't have any such problems lifting carboys, at least not yet at age 53. But, I have no doubt my day is coming. When that day comes, I will certainly have a different feeling about it. If its something that allows you to continue to enjoy your hobby, then it goes from being a work saver to being essential. Whatever it takes to keep making wine, yeah?

Perfectly understandable.

 

[richmke]

Fortunately, I don't have any such problems lifting carboys, at least not yet at age 53. But, I have no doubt my day is coming.

I heard that back issues are cumulative. Save your back for more important things like picking up the grandkids.

 

[Pittsburgh127]

I heard that back issues are cumulative. Save your back for more important things like picking up the grandkids.

Nice, I'm going to tell that to my trainer at the gym. LOL

 

[jgmann67]

Before the AIO, the brake bleeder and auto siphon were fine. The first few batches were bottled prior to the AIO and are drinking very well. I know I can make excellent wines without it.

But, wine making is something I pretty much do my own (turns out, only the wine DRINKING is the team sport in my house). I work 60+ hours a week and have more hobbies than time. Since I got mine, I found:

* The AIO eliminates a lot of the tedium in winemaking (e.g. stirring wine or pumping a brake bleeder till my arm feels like it's going to fall off).

* With arthritis in my neck, back and hands, I can only do so much lifting, gripping and loading, before I'm done. The AIO eliminates most of that.

* The old way to fill bottles always resulted in a cup or two on the floor or in the tub. Acceptable losses I suppose. But, there is no lost wine with the AIO.

The difference between the auto siphon and the AIO is like the difference between a hand corker and a floor corker to me.

I will eventually get the AIO bottle washer, too. Standing at the sink and cleaning bottles for an hour usually results in needing 4 Advil and laying on the floor for a while.