Carolyn,
I make no money on All in One Wine Pumps, nor do all of the extremely satisfied users on the AIOWP forum thread. Seriously, with the amount of wine you make it would be a real time saver. What made my decision to make the purchase, other than the raving reviews, was the trouble I had degassing a WE kit. I used spoons, paddles, whips, and a drill stir. Hours and hours later, it still wouldn't pass the puff test.
I bought the AIOWP and have had many wine making conversations with Steve. He is a knowledgeable wine maker and his support is unreal! The unit comes pretty much color coded as to what hooks up to where. The tubing are different sizes so it's hard to get it hooked up wrong. He now has a manual with pictures. One practice with water was all I needed for racking and bottling.
For racking, you can easily splash rack without the fear of oxygenation because its under vacuum and is pulling air/CO2 out. No carboy lifting as it transfers from primary to carboy on a table or at the same height on the floor. No waiting to siphon as its transferred from one vessel to another in a matter of minutes. The only caution is that you have to rack TO a glass carboy because a Better Bottle or plastic carboy will have the sides sucked in. You can transfer/rack from plastic but it must be TO glass.
I just love it for bottling. The same height in the bottles regardless of size or shape and no spillage! Make sure you get the bottling attachment, as its a small up charge and simple. Leave the full carboy on the floor and the AIOWP will fill to the same level and the excess goes back down to the carboy for the next bottle.
You can add the filter later housing if you decide. I really like the filter because it really gives the wine a nice polish and I haven't had any sediment appear in bottles. Each time you rack, filter and bottle, it removes CO2 from the vacuum. I just wish it would put corks in!
Give it another look and Steve does ship frequently to Canada. Send him a PM and he'll call you to answer your questions before you buy. His username is Vacuumpumpman.
You can still knock a bottle over with the AIO to keep you in perfume. I do understand with having the other filter and bottling. I got lucky and read about the AIO on this forum before I invested in other equipment.
