Wine and Beer Bottling

A couple months ago I picked up some freshly crushed grape juice from Galleano Winery. My knowledge of wine is pretty limited and I didn't think to ask much about their processing, but the "Rosé" juice is a blend of the following grapes:

• 19% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 43% Mission
• 22% Golden Chasslas
• 16% Grenache

The grapes were picked the day before and sugar content was 22 Brix. I needed the space occupied by the wine (which had been racked a couple weeks after primary fermentation) so before I bottled it I spent some time balancing with acid blend.

With a good tasting ratio determined, the wine was degassed one final time and the acid blend was incorporated. The drill seen below has a mix-stir attachment and the bottling tree is a must have. I should not have waited until after switching to kegging to buy one. 5 gallons of wine is a little more than two cases of 750mL wine bottles.

There was a keg of Saison that was just about empty so I bottled the remainder to free up space for the next beer (a Best Bitter) that'll be ready to keg soon. I bottle straight from the keg using a counter-pressure bottle filler. I don't have to mess with reducing keg pressures, I get very little foaming and beer loss, and I know the beer is carbonated exactly how I want it. The stand bottler is also much more convenient than the ubiquitous Red Baron capper.