WineXpert When its time to bottle.

[dbrewr]

I am about a month or so from bottling. I want to know what method to use.
I was going to transfer my wine into a plastic bottling bucket with spigot and use a bottle filler (spring loaded type with valve at the bottom).

 

[winemaker_3352]

If you are going to a bucket with a spigot - just attach a hose to the spigot to fill the bottles.

If you have a filter - you can filter and bottle at the same time.

 

[jet]

Sounds reasonable...what's the question?

 

[djrockinsteve]

At this point you want to really eliminate your wine from coming into contact with oxygen as much as possible.

Wash and sanitize all your bottles. Clean your corker. Remove your airlock and wipe around the rim with some sulfite and water on a paper towel.

I use a siphon tube with a clamp, place the tube on top of the punt, (if your bottles have them) and fill to the top stopping the filling at that point. Remove tube and move onto next bottle. The space left behind when you remove the tube will be a perfect placement for the cork.

You may want to test the acidity level and adjust if necessary. Test for sulfites and adjust if necessary as well. Remember to sanitize your corks if you are using them.

Transferring to a bucket then into your bottles will allow extra oxygen on your wine. Especially if you splash into the bottle.

 

[jdeere5220]

I am about a month or so from bottling. I want to know what method to use.
I was going to transfer my wine into a plastic bottling bucket with spigot and use a bottle filler (spring loaded type with valve at the bottom).

The spring loaded bottle filler works, although mine has been getting sticky lately I think it's time for a new one. It's also a pain when your bottles have those domed bottoms, it's hard to get the tip of the wand to stay right in the middle of the dome and it doesn't work well on the sides. Small things. I might look to upgrade soon.

Anyone like to recommend an alternative?

I think that filling the bottle to the top and then removing the bottling wand leaves just a tad too much space at the top of the bottle, definitely more than two fingers between cork and wine. So I use a small sanitized glass jar, put maybe a cup of wine in there at the start, and use a turkey-baster to add just a tad more to each bottle after the wand is removed before I cork. Maybe I'm being too picky, but if you look at the fill level of commercial wines just removing the bottling wand definitely leaves about 1/2" extra space.