I swiped this from my Daylily wine in the recipe section. I thought it went hand-in-hand with the corking how-to.
Bottling 101
Proper sanitation is a must for your equipment. I got a no-rinse sanitizer from FINEVINEWINES to do the trick (LDCarlson)
Not only is it important to have clean bottles when starting to bottle, but you must sanitize them as well. Here are the unsanitized, yet clean bottles (faced down in the box so I know I have cleaned them thoroughly).
The bottles were sanitized in a 5 gallon, food-grade pail. The bottle tree is from FINEVINEWINES and here you can see the 24+ bottles on it:
After sanitizing the bottles, you need to work fairly quickly, but it's important not to forget your other equipment. Very bad photo, since Spencer decided he wanted to see what was going on. (I tried to cut him out, but he's still there!)
Now the bottling can begin!
After about 24 bottles, the 187-gift bottles are filled and foreseen with their santized caps:
Awwwww....
One 187 bottle was not quite filled.... Shhhh!
Ahemmm... Back to winemaking: Here are my bottles without corks:
I only use FINEVINEWINES corks. They sit nicely and are a breeze to put in.A quick dip (5 at a time, usually) in the sanitizing solution, and off we go. Hmmm. I wonder why my hand is so unsteady? See the corking How-To for more info.
And here the (almost) final product:
I'm going to let them sit for about a week the way they are, and then think about putting the labels on them.
That's it!
Bottling 101
Proper sanitation is a must for your equipment. I got a no-rinse sanitizer from FINEVINEWINES to do the trick (LDCarlson)
Not only is it important to have clean bottles when starting to bottle, but you must sanitize them as well. Here are the unsanitized, yet clean bottles (faced down in the box so I know I have cleaned them thoroughly).
The bottles were sanitized in a 5 gallon, food-grade pail. The bottle tree is from FINEVINEWINES and here you can see the 24+ bottles on it:
After sanitizing the bottles, you need to work fairly quickly, but it's important not to forget your other equipment. Very bad photo, since Spencer decided he wanted to see what was going on. (I tried to cut him out, but he's still there!)
Now the bottling can begin!
After about 24 bottles, the 187-gift bottles are filled and foreseen with their santized caps:
Awwwww....
Ahemmm... Back to winemaking: Here are my bottles without corks:
I only use FINEVINEWINES corks. They sit nicely and are a breeze to put in.A quick dip (5 at a time, usually) in the sanitizing solution, and off we go. Hmmm. I wonder why my hand is so unsteady? See the corking How-To for more info.
And here the (almost) final product:
I'm going to let them sit for about a week the way they are, and then think about putting the labels on them.
That's it!
