Once your wine is fermented and cleared (and possibly filtered), you are ready for the last step which is bottling. The Grape and Granary sells equipment for two different ways to bottle. The first method is the most simple and the least expensive. This method is to rack the wine off of any sediment from the secondary fermenter into a bottling bucket that has a spigot installed the the bottom. Then, a short piece of tubing (about 1.5 feet) is attached to the spigot. To the other side of the spigot is attached a bottle filling wand. These wands have a spring installed that opens a valve when the valve stem is pushed down into the bottom of the bottle. The valve then opens allowing the wine to fill the bottle. Once the pressure is release, that valve will close. You can then move to the next bottle without spilling any wine.
The other option for filling bottles is the Enolmatic bottle filler. This filler creates a vacuum and sucks the wine up from the secondary fermenter and fills the bottle under a vacuum. It will automatically shut off when the bottle is filled allowing you to switch to an empty bottle.
Don't forget that at bottling time, it is a good idea to add 1/4 tsp of potassium metabisulfite to the wine to act as a preservative and antioxidant.
Contact us if you have any questions regarding the bottling of wine.
