November 16, 2007, Newsletter Issue #71: Racking and Bottling Your Wine
Tip of the Week
"Racking" means transferring the fermenting wine away from sediment. You insert a clear, half-inch diameter plastic hose into the fermenter and siphon the clear wine into another sanitized jug. Then top it off and fit it with a sanitized bung and fermentation lock. This can be a delicate operation when wine making at home and it's important to go slowly. You don't want to stir up the sediment, but you don't want to lose your siphon suction. Bottling the Batch: To bottle your wine, you simply siphon your finished product into the bottles (leaving about 2 inches of headspace below the rim), insert a cork into the hand corker, position the bottle under the corker and pull the lever. It's always wise to buy some extra corks and practice with an empty bottle before you do it for real. Also, keep in mind, when finally enjoying your wine, remember this tip on recorking it: use the opposite end of the cork that was closest to the wine. Because of the spongy nature, the cork has absorbed some liquid, and thus the dry end of the cork will fit more easily into the mouth of the bottle.
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