Bottling my first batch of wine

[One-eye-shut]

Newbee here on my first batch of Cab Sav from juice pails.

ready to bottle.

Quick question.

I have approx 82 bottles cleaned, sanitized, ready to go. I have my demijohns ready to syphon. If I fill all the bottles first, then start corking them, will this have the wine out in the open for too long? Will this do damage.. Im a one man show this weekend so I dont have a 2nd set of hands to start corking as I fill the bottles..

I would imagine the wine would be out in the open for max 45 min - 1 hour before I have the last bottle corked. How long would 80 bottles take?

Either way once the stopper is off the demijohn the wine is going to be exposed to oxygen anyways untill all the bottles are full..

What do you think?

 

[Scott]

That isn't too long of time, but maybe take a break in between demijohns to cork that batch then move onto the next.

Don't sample too much

 

[olusteebus]

I like to stop bottling and cork bottles as I go along, maybe , stop at 12 or 16. I do this for the simple reason that I might screw something up and cause full open bottles to fall over. I can do things like that when I make wine.

If you are making 16 gallons at a time, you sure could use a vacuum and bottling set up.

 

[One-eye-shut]

Ok yes a case at a time. Good idea. I believe I have approx 6.5 cases to bottle

 

[bkisel]

I find bottling tedious and boring [having the TV on in the background helps some] so I fill some, cork some, put some away... fill some, cork some, put some away... etc.

 

[One-eye-shut]

ok these are all great answers and I appreciate it but I was getting more to the point of the wine being exposed to the open air.. I will have the demijohn stopper off with the syphon hose in it (not a tight seal obviously).. how long can I have the wine exposed to the open air while bottling? If I take an hour or so, is this ok or too long?

 

[DoctorCAD]

An hour, even longer, isn't going to hurt anything...assuming your SO2 levels are OK.

 

[Boatboy24]

You should be fine with that timeline. I don't usually bottle that much in one shot, but am also a one man show. I fill ~30 bottles to empty the carboy, then cork them after they are all filled. No issues.

The reality is many people will decant for an hour or more after opening a bottle. Your wine is young and as long as you have reasonable sulphite levels, you could go for a few hours without issue.

 

[Pumpkinman]

I'm also a one man show, I usually bottle a case or two then cork them and move onto the next case or two. I'm more worries about some form of dust or fruit fly (when it's warmer out) getting into the wine than oxidizing it.
I agree with Jim,

Your wine is young and as long as you have reasonable sulphite levels

you should be fine.

 

[Thig]

I like to stop bottling and cork bottles as I go along, maybe , stop at 12 or 16. I do this for the simple reason that I might screw something up and cause full open bottles to fall over.

That is why I made this, holds 15 bottles and will not fall over.

 

[LonelyMassachusetts]

Different studies have been done on the effectiveness of decanting wines in different containers. From what I remember, it's definitive that an uncorked bottle of wine does not get that much action with air. You should be fine for a surprisingly long time.

 

[Putterrr]

I'm a one man show as well. I use a vacuum pump and a bottling jig. I set it to fill the bottle in about 50 seconds. While a bottle is filling I have time to cork the previous one, put on the label, add a neck label and put away. Takes about 25 minutes and everything is done but the cleanup. Works for me.

cheers

 

[Gwand]

I'm a one man show as well. I use a vacuum pump and a bottling jig. I set it to fill the bottle in about 50 seconds. While a bottle is filling I have time to cork the previous one, put on the label, add a neck label and put away. Takes about 25 minutes and everything is done but the cleanup. Works for me.

cheers

What is a bottling jig? Thanks.

 

[One-eye-shut]

ok thanks all. Appreciate the responses and different techniques/ideas of bottling. Will give it a go this AM.

Thanks again!

 

[Putterrr]

What is a bottling jig? Thanks.

this is the original thread that led me to build my bottling jig. There are some pictures and a video on pages 2-3.

mine is a bit different. the filling part is not mounted to a fixed point but just hoses attached to my shut off value and siphon hose. it allows me to change bottles easily and bottle size doesn't matter. I will post a picture if I bottle next week.

cheers

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f3/my-10-bottle-filler-15026/

 

[One-eye-shut]

All done. 79 bottles yielded with 0 accidents. Took me just over 1 hour. Not bad Now the waiting game. I'm planning on letting it age for at least 8-10 months before I even try a bottle.

 

[Putterrr]

What is a bottling jig? Thanks.

bottled a batch yesterday. Winery Series Old Vine Zin - yum