Bitten by the law of leverage

[redderthebetter]

Tonight I was bottling my 1 1/2 gal of blackberry. I was using my small bucket to bottle from with the aid of my auto siphon and bottling wand. All was good till the seventh and most likely last full bottle. I had the bucket on a slight tilt and looked up as the bottle was nearing full to see the auto siphon pulling my bucket over, off of the counter and down on me.

Thankfully my children were upstairs and did not hear the language that flowed from me. My wife was out of the house and was not there to fuel me up any further. I got it cleaned up, and probably only lost about 1/4 to 1/2 bottle(that I would have enjoyed this eve.


Lesson my friends, if your auto siphon or racking cane stick much above the rim of the bucket, you run the risk of tippage. Also remember that the cane and hose carry extra weightbeyond the center of gravity when they are full of wine.


Result; seven in the bottle. A suspiciously clean area on the kitchen floor, and a load of towels in the wash.


Redder OUT

 

[NorthernWinos]

Don't you hate that, hate wasting good wine....don't cry over split wine...a lesson learned....like the 'law of displacement' when I put a 24 inch spoon into a full carboy...Hello!!!!

 

[PolishWineP]

Didn't you take a straw after it?

 

[Wade E]

Moment of silence everyone for the loss of good wine.

 

[kutya]

I broke a racking cane a while back, and was going to pitch it when I thought I might be able to make a shorter version for one gal batches. I now have a little stubby guy for the one gal batches. It seems to work, and besides that long cane looked funny and unbalanced sticking out of a one gal carboy. I also made one for my 3 gal carboys.. If you need to bend them, just put some boiling water on and heat it up and slowly apply pressure...Anyone think I could patent this.. What's the saying... Necessity is the mother of invention.. In this case wasted wine is the mother of invention....

 

[geocorn]

My brother, Mark, has become very good at shorting the racking cane. Should we offer a "stubby" version for sale?

 

[bmorosco]

Moment of silence everyone for the loss of good wine.

Silence................................................

 

[scotty]

I have 3 racking canes cut to diferent lengths. ((the third one is in shipment now)))I will soon try to dismantle my autosiphons to shorten them. I dont know if they come apart as easily as the racking canes do.


Has anyone tried to modify an auto siphon?????

 

[jobe05]

Redder, I have had the same problem a couple of times. I built be a small box (kinda), with 3 hole sizes in it. One hole fits a 1 gallon bottle, or my small fermenting bucket, one hole holes a half gallon bottle, and one hole fits a 750ML bottle. The box stands about 4" high and holds the bottles from tipping over. I'll post a picture when I get a chance.

 

[OGrav]

I never even tried the long racking cane on the small primary. I got one look at that and knew I would have the whole thing on the floor before I was a minute into it. I just use the hose. It looks like too much of the wine is going to be held up in the exta 10" loop that is created with the longer cane. I did have it fall out of a five gallon bucket when I was racking from it. Don't get wine in your eyes, I can tell you from experience. Good idea on the short cane.I am going to look for or builda better clamp for the hosein the bucket. I don't think a clothespinwill cut it. I might try a heavy paper clamp. There is something to be said for those spigots.
LT

 

[redderthebetter]

I was actually impressed with how fast my wife found wine stains on the kick plates of her cabinets. I thought I got everything. I was able to feign ignorance in that phone call. I only lost about a half bottles worth.


We live. We learn.


Yesterday I poured out five gallons of a beer kit a friend had in his garage for 4 years. It was free and I thought I would give it a shot with fresh yeast. It never took off, in two weeks so i sent it down the drain.


My Xmas Mezza Luna is purring right along. It will be a nice gift for my friends and bottle donaters.

 

[Wade E]

A moment of silence for the beer everyone.

 

[scotty]

I was blessed by the law of missing the bottle opening last night. I really need some more controll over bottling

 

[Wade E]

Missing the Bottle? sounds like someone needs to get off the bottle!

 

[scotty]

Missing the Bottle? sounds like someone needs to get off the bottle!

Im very far sighted. But i must admit i was TESTING ANOTHER BATCH AT THE TIME