Wine making 9th post (final post for first batch)

Hello and welcome back,
Awhile ago I started making wine and telling the world about it. well today I have finally bottled it and started the second round of wine, this post is all about bottling.
First, bottling is easier than I thought,
simply sanitize the bottles inside and out let dry, sanitize the corks and in a surprise move steaming the corks works really well. get the wine into the bottles without spilling then cork.

the longer version:
1. soak corks and the rinse the inside of the bottles with a solution of sulfite (sodium metabisulfite) 2oz per gal of water.
2. rinse siphon tube, funnel, and any other utensils in a sanitizing solution.
3. once the bottles have been cleaned and air dried, siphon wine into bottles so it just starts up the neck.
4. I steamed the corks for 5 minutes in a steamer then soaked in solution and it worked better than soaking the corks for 2 hours or so. my corks were ready in about 20 minutes.
5. cork bottles according to corker instructions.
6. let bottles stay upright for 5-7 days then store so air bubble is at the bottom of bottle (bottle slightly downward.)
7. enjoy.

Here are the corks, 20 for 4.95, I used long term corks because I don't know how long I will save the wine before drinking, 1 month or 1 year.


I am soaking the Bottles in a solution of water and cleaner also shown, this solution removes the labels and cleans the outside of the bottles without scrubbing for $1.50 its worth it.



Here are the bottles cleaned and labels removed, I am color coding my wine, green bottle for my first run of raspberry wine, blue bottles for my second run of raspberry wine and clear for my rhubarb wine.


This is the corker that I used, the lady at the wine store talked me into it versus a hand corker, it was a $25 deposit and $5 per day its worth it, it took me a total of 30 min to actually fill and cork the wine bottles.


the wine to be bottled.


Here is the bottled wine, it will have to stay upright for about 5-7 days then it can be stored on its side until I am ready to drink it.


wine making has been a long and fun journey. there are many things that have to happen to make a good wine I am not sure if any of my wine will win 1st prize at any county fair but it is alcoholic and pretty good.
Thanks for reading, I am starting a new batch of rhubarb wine, I might mix it with grape juice to add body, we'll see. come back soon for more posts.