subject: How Do I Bottle My Wine? [print this page] So you are ready to bottle your wine? GreatSo you are ready to bottle your wine? Great. Bottling wine is very easy to do, but there are a few things to know to make sure your wine will last for a long time. First, heres a list of everything youll need to bottle your wine:
Fermtech Auto-Siphon
Bottle Filler
About 30 750 ml Wine Bottles
About 30 corks
Potassium Metabisulfite
A Corker
Sanitizing:
Sanitization is always important in making sure your wine stays the best it can be. Sanitize your bottles with a potassium metabisulfite solution. Make sure that all of your bottles are clean before you use them. If there is any form of mold, or stuck on residue, that you cannot get out of the bottle, then do not use the bottle. It doesnt take much to make a good wine go bad. You can either use a bucket filled with sanitizer to submerge the bottles, or you can use a funnel to pour the solution from bottle to bottle to sanitize them. Alternately, you can use a bottle rinser (sulfiter). Any of these three ways will work well to prepare your bottles for filling.
Corks:
We wont get into the different types of cork here but if you use standard corks then you might want to treat them first. You want to use two bowls that fit inside each other for this. Mixing bowls work well. Fill the larger bowl with water and metabisulphite. Add your corks, and place the smaller bowl on top to help weigh down the corks. The metabisulphite will kill any bacteria that may be in the corks. Plus, it makes the corks very slick, which makes them easier to insert into the bottle. We would recommend soaking the corks for about an hour before use.
Bottles:
For most people, the type of bottle you use comes down to personal preference. Yes, the shape of the bottle can apply to one style of wine versus another, but in most cases, you wont be storing the wine long enough for the shape to be an issue. Use whatever bottle you like. Many believe that colored bottles do work better for red wines, as the color will help to prevent the wine from fading when exposed to sunlight.
Bottling:
Take your Auto-Siphon and attach the siphon tubing to the end of the racking cane (or just use your racking cane and siphon tubing as you normally would). Now attach your bottle filler to the end of the siphon tubing. Before you insert the Auto-Siphon into your carboy, pull it into the upper position. Now place the bottle filler into your first bottle, and depress it on the bottom of the bottle, then start your siphon.
