Pouring instead of siphon

[philbard]

I understand your problem as I do this a lot. Here's what I do lately and it seems to work. I take the inner tube out of the racking tool, or any piece of tubing, put it into the gallon jug. I put the other end in the container I want to rack to. Then I wrap my hand around the opening, so that the thumb and forefinger surround the tube and seal the opening. I leave a small space and put my mouth down onto it and blow, at the same time squeezing to close off the opening as best you can, except for where you are blowing. This starts the siphoning. Takes a little practice, but works every time, and avoids putting your mouth on the other end of the tube to start the flow, which is unsanitary.

Cheers

 

[onlyreds]

All you're taking away is the increased risk of losing the fruits of your passion, the wines whose label says "nand made by (insert your name here)". Adding bottle sparging is cheap insurance. Check out Evergreen Midwest and invest in your passion. They offer an affordable sparging unit.

 

[onlyreds]

I guess it comes down to scale more than anything. I'm a hobbyist like most everyone on this site but I also make around 100 US gals annually. That required an investment. If your think is kit wines that you plan to drink within a 3-5 year window then manage oxidation prevention with SO2 and have fun. I intend to enjoy my wines a decade from now so I take oxidation prevention 1 step further. I sparge. And bottling is the time when wines will have the greatest amount of potential contact with O2, so I sparge at bottling. It's not as expensive as you might think. Investing $150 on a sparger and another $85 on an Argon/CO2 tank (that lasts 3 years before needing a fill) gives my wines the best chance at a good long life. Evergreen Midwest sells a sparging unit that every home winemaker can afford. Commercial filling lines sparge prior to filling for a reason. I wouldn't make the investment if I didn't believe in the return.

 

[Scooter68]

At less than 30 gallons a year sparging equipment and supplies are a poor investment for me. Most of my wine will be consumed within 18-24 months from bottling (Plus Bulk aging between 4-8 months) at the longest. My total equipment investment so far is less than $250.00. Supplies to make my wine is about the $180.00 since the largest part of my fruit is home grown.

So there are definitely differing levels within what is called Hobbist Wine making.