Bottling Disaster

[KSKOH]

I thought this was going to be a day to mark on the calendar. I started to bottle my first kit. Did all the right things, cleaned and sanitized, practiced with water just to make sure that everything worked and I understood the equipment. It all went down hill from there.

The siphon was connected to the bottle filler, my son was monitoring the bottle and the wife had the camera ready and... As I started the siphon air filled the tubing along with more bubbles than I wanted to see. The siphon never got a flow going and the more that I pumped the more bubbles appeared. Hardly anything was reaching the bottle other than a little wine and foam.

Where did I go wrong?

Also, the siphon, in all the excitement, went to the bottom of the carboy and stirred up the lees and now the wine is cloudy.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

You may want to go back and re read the instructions on the kit, if there was enough lees left to cloud up your wine, it wasn't ready to bottle. As to the bubbles and foam, I would guess the bottle filler wasn't "open" to let the wine flow, causing it to cavitate in the tubing. I usually start my flow into a clean bowl or measure cup to fill the line completely before putting into a bottle.Edited by: JWMINNESOTA

 

[Wade E]

Sounds like you have a leak at the connection of the hose and the
siphon but I dont use these. I use a plain reacking cane and hose as
Ive heard alot of problems with these. I bet either you have the wrong
size hose or just need to use a bread twist tie where the hose meets
the auto siphon or a fuel injection hose clamp would work better. I say
a injection hose as compared to a conventional hose clamp cause they
are designed to give a better clamping scenerio as theres a lot more
pressure with fuel injection. These clamps are very cheap and sold at
any auto parts store.

 

[Dean]

Baron, I also do one more racking to a clean carboy, or even a primary before I bottle so that I don't have to worry about stirring up the lees on the bottom. Then you can be as rough as you want to be with the wine during the bottling procedure.

 

[Waldo]

For me, I rack the wine off ino a fermenter with a spigot. Attach my bottle filler ( http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=4875) to the spigot and it is painless and easy from there.

 

[masta]

I like the others always rack the wine off any lees into another carboy before bottling since as you found out saves a lot of trouble and frustration.


I know it is frustrating when you get to this stage and have trouble but please don't get too discouraged. Let the wine settle again until clear then rack and try again.Edited by: masta

 

[scotty]

As much as I don't like the Italian spigot it sure makes bottling easier. Racking first is a must for me.


Another thought is----how could the wine be de gassed if it was still dropping lees????

 

[smokegrub]

I do the same thing Waldo does. The wine is siphoned into a bucket. That way if any lees are transferred I give it a few days to settle. Then I use the spigot on the bucket. When I get to the bottom of the bucket, I tilt it gently toward the spigot and "get the last drop". If a few lees show up in the last bottle, I let it settle a while and enjoy it first.

 

[peterCooper]

Masta is right (as if there were any other possibility). Seal it back up, let is clear again , rack of the lees to a clean primary and then bottle from there.

 

[chevyguy65]

We rack before bottling,usually by filtering . Then fill with our auto-filler. http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=4887
When racking we used the plain racking cane and reversed a "multi stopper"(wide end to the mouth of the carboy) as a depth stop and moved the cane down as the level dropped.


This has worked the best . once every thing is setup it goes very quickly. let it settle out and try it again.

 

[jobe05]

Don't fret it Ken, Patience, it's all about patience........
Like it was suggested, put it back in te carboy and let it clear again.


Rack it before you get ready to bottle next time, either in a bucket with a spigot, or into another carboy that can be siphoned from. I use a bucket with a spigot, it's so much easier, and I use the auto filler, wouldn't bottle without it. Once cleared, make sure it is de-gassed thoroughly before bottling.


I have never bottled with the auto siphon, I just use it to transfer off the lees, it seems to stand up higher off the lees than the straight cane does.

 

[smurfe]

Sounds like you were bottling a Vintner's Reserve kit. Those level kits do not tell you to rack off the lees. I like others always rack to my fermenter bucket. I normally do this by filtering to the bucket and then bottling. I don't use the spout though, I siphon out of the bucket.


As Masta said, let it all settle again before bottling. As Wade said, you probably have an air leak where the hose hooks to the racking cane. Mine does the same thing and I had to put a little hose clamp on it. Fixed it right up.

 

[KSKOH]

Thank you all for your replies. The information makes a lot of sense to rack off the lees and THEN bottle. I will wait til it clears and then rack to either a carboy (which I will need to buy, never enough) or to the fermenting bucket and bottle from there.


We'll getter dun yet

 

[Mark]

I also use the autosiphon to rack from the carboy to my primary through a gravity filter, then use the spigot and bottle filler from there. Also makes it easy to add extra sulfite if you plan to age more than 6 months.