why transfer from fermenting container to carboy?

[xcaret]

I keep reading about starting the must in a container ,then 7 days or so later at a specific gravity siphone it into a carboy. I tried this twice when starting out a couple of years ago. What a mess,juice everywhere.
So I came accross a recipe on utube where 2 ladies were making pineapple wine .They showed it all right there , they only used water ,sugar,yeast,and pineapples . Then heated the water and dumped it all into a an airtight container and put the lid on and in 24 hours take it off and stir ,then put it back on and leave it on (airtight ) for 21 days then strain it and drink it . So I did. Best stuff I ever tasted So I made a few more batches, good as can be.
But my question is why ( oh yeah I get good alchol % that way too ) go through the mess of trying to get the must from a huge open top container ,and into a little wee opening in the top of a carboy ,yeah I got the siphon thing too.but it was still a disaster..So after moping up a mess a few times I just follow those Ladies method. What is the point of doing that??? When Im done in 21 days ( I usually forget about it for an extra month or two) I just go to dollarama and sneak a pair of womens pantiehose to the counter to pay for them hoping the clerk wont out me,lol , and go home and wash em then pour the must through a leg and the with liquid left behind I lower a plastic picture into the container and have a 2 litre pop bottle waiting with a funnel in serted into the neck AND a metal screened coffee reuseable filter in the funnel and pour away . no mess no fuss. With my last batch the 4 gall Dairy Queen container sat in one side of my double sink and I held the pop bottles a bit over the lip in case any leaked ( it would just be leaking into the other sink)and filled all the bottles , I rinsed the reuseable filter off a couple of times if it got pouring slower. .

Sometimes the bottled stuff gets gas build up and I have to unscrew the lid carefully ( held over the sink) to relieve the pressure, but it gives it a little sparkle if that happens. I usually mix my drink with a eighth or so of ginger ale . ( oh yeah I made homeade ginger ale once ,cool to do ,and easy) Anyway why bother with all the book directions ,and chemicals etc. when you dont need to ???? I dont get it ?? What did Granpappy's Granpappy do ??
Neil

 

[roblloyd]

Not sure with pineapple wine but grape wine and most others the first racking is to get the wine off the lees. The lees are the heavy yeast stuff on the bottom. If left on there to long they will give the wine a bad taste. In the bucket the yeast give off so much CO2 that it protects the wine from going bad with oxidation. Once it hits a certain SG level most of the yeast has done its work and oxidation is a concern. By putting it into a carboy with the small neck it limits the air exposure.

I use an auto-siphon. Very easy and no mess to transfer. Vacuum pumps and other devices make it easy.

 

[xcaret]

Oh yeah , well the pineapple stuff seems to be just fine and tastes like pinacolada . I might get an auto siphon cause I'm going to make my first strawberry wine and dont want to wreck the whole 6 gallons or whatever 18 lbs of strawberries makes. Thanks.

 

[jswordy]

Glad you like your pineapple wine. The reason you got juice everywhere is that you evidently do not own a hydrometer and so you did not know that you were transferring your wine too soon, while primary fermentation was still active.

There are many ways to make a substance that is called wine. It depends on your goals. Some ways are intended to make a quick drinking product that gives a good buzz and is not intended for long term storage or "aging," as vinophiles call it.

Making wine in an open container and straining it before bottling is one of the basic "hobo wine" techniques used forever (they love it in prisons!) and works just fine if your bar for clarity, taste and longevity is set low.

Making wine by the methods outlined and advised on this forum will easily produce a clearer, more stable product that is not as prone to oxidation and which can be aged. Aging vastly improves the taste and overall appeal of wine that has been created to be aged, for those whose bar is set somewhat higher.

While I enjoy playing the drunkard's role here, I make everything from lowest common denominator wine to the stuff I hope will age out to be superior, so I'm not making a value judgment on what is "good." I have seen several posts along the same lines about your YouTube methodology over the past few days from you, and personally I have to wonder if you feel you are "sticking it to" the folks on the forum about your hobo wine.

If you think you are, you really can't be. If you put a bottle of yours up against a well-made and well-aged pineapple wine, that second bottle will blow away the hobo wine. Just because you can do a thing doesn't mean you can do it well. Like I said, I make them all, from hobo recipes to dry aged wines. Each has its place. It depends on your goals.

If you'd like to continue down the hobo wine route, great! But please, tone down the rhetoric a bit. Here's a hobo recipe for you that I have made. I used preservatives in it and better techniques at the end stages, but it's proven by rednecks to work just the way it is below if your standards are lower.

Muscadine (or any grape)

*Note: Will not make in a brown churn.
Use White or Glass 5 gal churn/bucket.
Also, use colored bottles for the yield.*

This recipe will yield 2.5 gallons after 30 days.

10 lbs. fruit, 1/2 mashed (scuppernong or muscadine)
10 lbs. sugar
1 gal. water
1 pack yeast
1 cup self rising corn meal (tied up in cheese cloth)
1 medium peeled Irish potato

VERY IMPORTANT to mash only 1/2 of grapes. leave the rest whole.

Stir very well and place in the sun (under a window works best).

Place either a piece of the cheese cloth or an old t-shirt over the opening to keep contaminants (bugs, etc.) out.

After 1 week, stir vigorously and let it set for the remainder of the 30 days.

Strain and bottle.

Enjoy!