Bottling Wine

Finally!  The day I've been waiting for has arrived.  After the last racking I had watched the airlocks closely and 3 gallons of wine had stopped fermenting.  Time to bottle.  First I had to round up about 16 empty bottles.  I use clear ones for white wines and save the colored ones for my reds so they don't fade from light exposure.  I decided to give them a good scrub in soapy water since its been quite awhile since I've bottled.

I look carefully on the bottom.  I always wash the bottles out when they are empty, but sometimes people who give me bottles don't so I have to be very careful.  Look closely.

See that dark spot on the right?  I have to get that out so it doesn't spoil all my hard work.  When I'm done I rinse them and I'm ready to start!  But first I rinse them with this:

It is potassium metabisulfate.  It kills yeast and stops fermentation I use a little solution to rinse because it is also a sterilizer.  You can also add a campden tablet to each bottle but I don't.    No additives for me! 

I use an assortment of bottles.  Most of them are wine bottles, but anything glass will do as long as I can cork it.  

A friend gave me some labels.  I think she wants a bottle or she thinks I'm a hippie.  Or maybe both.

I start siphoning into each bottle.

I better look under the table next time!  And no, Twinkletoes on the left doesn't have a cloven hoof, that's a hoof for the dog to chew!  You were supposed to be looking at the siphon and the gadget that allows me to stop the flow of wine and switch bottles.

Now we top off each bottle.  I usually get at least 4 bottles per gallon I can cork.   Now its time to cork!  I boiled these corks earlier in the day so they would be sterile and saturated with water.  It is better to do it the night before.

I like these corks because they are short.  Easy to put in and easy to get out.  The corker I bought because I was killing my hands doing it manually.  It does the trick!

You open it up and slide in a cork.

Next you put it on the bottle and seat the cork with a mighty push!

See what a fantastic job it does?!

I get four bottles of the apple raspberry with some extra and the bottom of the jug goes in my glass.

Next up are:

I like to keep the label on there so I know how long they've been fermenting.  Sometimes I put the kind of yeast too.  You can really make this as detailed as you'd like.  I just drink it and cook with it and I like not knowing exactly what it is going to taste like when I pop the cork so I don't keep a lot of records.  I do, however, have my favorite recipes.

When I've emptied the three jugs I have enough left over for a bottle of blended wine and some more in my glass!  I put them away in a cabinet I can close and keep dark.

I was down to 3 bottles!  I am saving a bottle of strawberry and the one second from the right is dandelion.  The dark bottle on the end is blueberry.  It isn't very good to drink so I use it to cook.  Makes a fine marinade!

In a couple of more weeks I hope to have some mixed berry ready to bottle.  These three were from concentrates. They are always ready quicker than those I brew from fruits.  I don't have to rack them as much for one thing.  Concentrates make perfectly fine wines and are much easier to make.  I can have a decent table wine ready to drink in 3 months.

Til next time!

Cheers!