Siphoning and bottling

[BlueBomber]

I have a few questions about this process, or more so any tips and tricks. When I brewed beer I would would siphon through a hose into a 5 gal plastic bucket that has a spigot. I'd attach a hose with a little device on the other end that all I had to do was push that at the bottom of the bottle and it would fill (auto siphon?). I hadn't thought to use this for my mead, but would this be an ok way to bottle? My wife is going to buy me a Corker for my birthday not sure which one to get yet tho, but I'm pretty excited to bottle some mead.

About siphoning out of the primary, all I use now is a plastic tube. I've heard some people use some kind of cloth on one end of th tube?

 

[Honeyhog]

If you can get a Portuguese floor corker. I use a bottling wand to fill my bottles and it works great.

 

[psychopomp23]

I use this http://vinquip.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_10&products_id=225&zenid=4c946e9221e564495fed243ded4d2180 filter to bottle and i put a wine filler at the end http://vinquip.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_2&products_id=134 and it makes my mead clean and amazing looking.

 

[ostensibly]

If you plan on bottling more than 1 or 2 batches ever, the floor corker is a great way to go.

 

[psychopomp23]

I use this one http://vinquip.ca/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_8&products_id=482 and it works great. Just put the corks in some water with some capden an hour before bottling and it's effortless

 

[McJeff]

Craigslist is your friend

 

[kudapucat]

BlueBomber, what you describe is called a 'blue bottler' here. Fitting don't you think?
They work fine for mead, though I much prefer my enolmatic, the blue bottler is about 0.1% the cost, so start with that eh? ;-)

Floor corkers are the only way to go.

Also, dig up your beer bottle capper. Mead is fine in beer bottles, you can usually swap out the bell so you can cap champagne bottles too.

 

[skunkboy]

The cloth is an attempt to keep out sediment, if you can find a racking cane with a cap you pull out everything above the sediment, which also just be done with a tube, but is a bit trickier...

 

[Shelley]

I also use a bottling wand, which sounds like what you're describing. Auto-siphon, tube, wand, and you can bottle straight from the carboy. I also use beer bottles with crown caps for a bulk of my batches. I keep a few wine bottles for show and friends, but beer bottles are perfect for two glasses of mead, or to take it camping. Plus I find capping much easier than corking.

 

[BlueBomber]

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Chevette Girl]

You'll have to figure out what works best for you. I usually rack whatever I want to bottle off of any sediment a week or two before I bottle (too lazy to actually filter it). I move it to an elevated location a couple hours before I want to bottle. I use a racking cane with the cap on the bottom, which I sanitize and stick into the carboy. I then use my bottle rinser (which I use to rinse out all my bottles with sulphite solution before I fill them) to sanitise and fill my racking hose with the attached bottle wand (like what you describe, has a needle valve on the bottom so the must only flows when you push it against the bottom of the bottle). The valve will keep the solution in the hose as long as you don't raise the valve higher than the other end of the hose (sometimes requires a bit of juggling). I have all my bottles set up in rows under the carboy before I get the hose filled, so all I have to do is sanitize the outside of the bottle wand, fill it, and attach the hose end to the racking cane, then make sure I have a sanitized jar around to catch the sanitizing fluid in the hose until the wine is coming out. Fill all the bottles, then I throw a handful of corks into the sanitizing solution in the bottle rinser and fish them out one at a time for use in the corker. Which I also sanitize (spray bottle of sulphites -do not inhale!). I find the double-lever corker works just fine for me, if a cork is being reluctant, I can drop my whole weight on it. Just make sure you're aiming straight vertical, I blew out the side of the neck of a bottle once (I think it was a defect in the glass but it never hurts to be careful).