Bottling set-up

[rrawhide]

Well, we bottled the Russian White today. This is the Rkatsatelli from the country of Georgia. A crisp different white that is quite good. We had a full barrel to bottle and this is how we did it - - -


first time set up and it worked WELL!! This is just getting set up - going from barrel to transfer pump to single filter with 1 micron polishing filer to gravity bucket to 3 spout filler

cases just a waitn'

Steve setting gravity bucket and running hoses

all set up and ready to go

ran transfer pump to filter and the to gravity bucket. The bucket allowed us to turn on the pump (as needed) to keep the bucket fulll and then gravity to bottle filler as needed to keep filler tank full

Steve corking and going back into cases to be labeled and capsuled later

filling 2 or 3 bottles at a time allowed us to fill a case every 3 minutes!!!
Could not believe how fast this system worked.

showing how the hoses were run

once in a while we would lose prime on the 3rd filler tube so just carried on using 2 tubes.

After bottling 24 cases in just an hour we changed from the single filter to the double - a 1 micron in first position and then into a .35 sterile filter. We used this to filter out the remaining active yeast cells in a red blend that had restarted fermentation since we added a little symple syrup solution and it excited the sleeping yeast!!!

we basically racked thru the filter system back into another barrel beside it

double filter setup

all in all we were very pleased and excited how this setup worked. I was unloading the empty bottles and filling - Steve corking and back into cases and Joannie was putting the corks into the hand corker for Steve. Worked very well and did the whole barrel in just a little over an hour. We were running about 3+ minutes a case and this was using either 2 or 3 tubes.


Now, tomarrow is cleaning day and hopefully get some labels done too. This Rkatsetelli wine we grew at Hill House Vineyards. We split equally so we each get 8 cases. All the rest of the wines are reds and they will be sitting for awhile.


Hope you enjoyed how we set this up and will give you some ideas too!!


rrawhide

 

[grapeman]

Great setup Rick. It sounds like everything ran pretty smoothly.


What does the white wine resemble?

 

[rrawhide]

morn' Rich


Well, it sorta resembles a Rhine wine - flinty - kinda crisp - good nose and it's own taste. Unique. Good. Very clear after filtering.


rrawhide

 

[Scott]

Looks like a nice setup there rrawhide. The gravity bucket must not be full all of the time? Makes me nervous just trusting the handle with no base support. You have been doing this alot longer than me

 

[AlFulchino]

Thanks for the pictures Rick...pictures always tell more than anything else.....i do have a question....do you feel the early part of the batch that was not filtered w the .35 is not susceptible at future date to trying to re-ferment in the bottle?

 

[Runningwolf]

Great set up. Enjoyed the pictures and explanations.

 

[rrawhide]

Thanx Scott for the heads up. We just hung the gravity bucket BUT next time it will sit on the shelf - just in case!!! That would not be good!


This is the first time for this setup.


rrawhide

 

[rrawhide]

Al,


The white wine was the only wine we ran through the 1 micron filter. Just used for polishing. The complete red barrel went through both filters. Malo is still going on so a little fizzy at this time but still pretty good. Hopefully the .35 got the rest of the happy yeast cells running amok in the barrel. Now we will just let 'er sit and finish the malo. I will also add some potassium sorbate later to hopefully kill any chance to referment in the bottle. This is a 2009 so would like to save it!!!


Keeping our fingers crossed!!


rrawhide


ps: that little 3 spout bottle filler from Gino Pinto at $60 really worked will. Lost prime a couple of times and had to restart by sucking on the end of the tube. I think that Ire-started a few too many times cause started feeling the wine towards the end!!!!! yeh!!!

 

[ibglowin]

Glad it worked out so well for this first time. Next time you will make some more tweaks and be bottling even faster I bet.

Great job!

 

[rrawhide]

thanx Mike for the info on the whole house filters - sure worked well!!!


rrawhide

 

[Goodfella]

Great job rick. Looks like a good setup. Thanks for posting... I think this will give me some good ideas to help improve my setup.

 

[DBell]

Yes, Great setup and Pics. I will likely do a very similar set up myself.
Wonder if you could rig up some sort of priming tool (that can be sanitized) instead of having to suck on the filler?Likeone of those bigturkey injecting suringes (not using the suringe) with a tube and clamp on the end...


Did the filter cartriges hold up well on the whole barrel?

 

[rrawhide]

Daniel


This is a whole-house filter set-up so filter held up very well. When we cleaned it and rinsed it - looked new again. This was only 60 gallonsish so i'm sure if used in your house for your drinking water it would handle 1000's of gallons. I'm going to run all my whites thru this from now on from carboys to barrels.


Let me rephrase the sucking part - it was wine tasting!!!


rrawhide

 

[CoachPieps]

That is a great setup and filler. I once found a manual on priming those type of units with a full bottle of wine or water to get it started. I think if you put a full bottle on the tube it fills the tube up and starts your prime. I wish I could find that again. If I do I will post it here.

 

[Wade E]

Great set up there Rick and looks like you guys are really getting it altogether there!

 

[Waldo]

Definately a "Fout Thumber" buddy

 

[CoachPieps]

I found the article on how to prime the filler tubes:
Establishing A Flow To The Reservoir Tank:

The source of wine needs to either have a siphon established to
the reservoir intake at the back of the 3 Spout Bottle Filler, or the
source of wine needs to be higher than the bottle filler.

Once you have flow wine established with the reservoir full, you
will need to prime the filler tube.


Priming The Filler Tubes:

- Take a wine bottle and fill it all the way to the top with
water. This will be used as the primer.

- Press down on one of the filler tubes and while depressed
slowly slide the bottle filled with water up on to the filler
tube as far as possible. This will expel all the air out of the
tubes.

- Leave the bottle in place and release the filler tube. Water is
now stored in the tube.

- Remove the bottle. The tube is now primed. You are now ready to
bottle.

- To prime the remaining 2 tubes repeat steps 1-4 again.


Save Time:
Super Fast Prime - Place a short piece of tubing over the tip of
the filler tube. Depress the tube and draw the liquid into the
filler tube.

 

[rrawhide]

thanx very much for your time in finding this article. Looking forward to trying this.


welcome to the 'club' of obsession!!!


thanx


rrawhide

 

[DBell]

Thanks Coach. I like the short tubing idea - not risking infection and still get to wine taste. That's a win win to me!