# bottled today



## JohnT (Jun 4, 2016)

Kicked off the bottling season today. Corked 60 cases! A little pizza afterwards, I am just spent!


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## Boatboy24 (Jun 4, 2016)

60 cases? Holy crap!


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## bkisel (Jun 4, 2016)

60 cases and a "little" pizza? Man, I thought I was frugal!


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## Steve_M (Jun 4, 2016)

Like Jim said. 60 cases? Good God man that is awesome. 

Steve


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## ceeaton (Jun 4, 2016)

Holy sh*t! You made me tired just reading that, I'm going to bed.


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## JohnT (Jun 4, 2016)

Got my share in my rack. Very tired. Pics tomorrow.

60 Cases in 5 hours. A new land speed record!


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## dcbrown73 (Jun 4, 2016)

I'll be right over to help you taste it!

EDIT: This isn't the grapes you just fermented is it?


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## JimmyT (Jun 4, 2016)

dcbrown73 said:


> I'll be right over to help you taste it!
> 
> EDIT: This isn't the grapes you just fermented is it?




Just a guess but I'd say it's from what he made 18-24 months ago.


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## barbiek (Jun 5, 2016)

dcbrown73 said:


> I'll be right over to help you taste it!
> 
> EDIT: This isn't the grapes you just fermented is it?



I don't think John would chance 60 cases of popped corks lol


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## NorCal (Jun 5, 2016)

John, do you have a pic of your bottling setup? That is better than 2 bottles per minute net, which is pretty darn good.


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## Busabill (Jun 5, 2016)

Boy that is a lot of wine bottled! And yes, very fast, as NorCal pointed out. A pic of your bottling setup would be great!


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## JohnT (Jun 5, 2016)

We bottled 30 cases of the 2014 merlot and 30 cases of the 2014 petit sara. Had a crew of nine folks.

we were Running two enolmatic bottle fillers. together they were filling a bottle every 4 or 5 seconds.

i did take a pic of the setup, but can't figure out how to attach photos with this POS phone. I will post pics tomorrow.


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## JohnT (Jun 6, 2016)

OK, 

So now that I am behind a proper computer I can post the pics I promised. 

The goal of the day was to bottle the wine that the immediate family made (Myself, My two brothers, my Dad, a MIL, and an uncle). In total, we had nine folks come to help out. 

Not being able to sleep, I woke at 4am, showered and made a pot of coffee. I then began to get everything ready: hoses cleaned and tightened, all equipment (corker, pump, holding tub, vacuum fillers, etc) cleaned and ready to go. I made up 2 gallons of K-meta solution and had two bottle-trees of bottles that were rinsed with k-meta. All I needed was people! 

Folks showed up around 8am and started bottling around 8:30. 

My mother brought my Dad over around 10am. Dad has Parkinson's disease and can't really help much but since this was all about the immediate family, I wanted him there. He ended up having one hell of a time! I do not think that I ever saw the guy smile so much (tearing up a little here).

Ahem.. OK.. 

As I said, nine people. Two preparing bottles, One on the filling station (me), one to do a final adjustment to the level on wine in the bottle, one manning the corker, one to give each bottle a rinse, and three to dry each bottle and box them up.

As I also said, we ran with two bottle fillers. I was doing most of the filling and really had my timing down and was doing a good job (if I do say so myself) of alternating between the two fillers. I was cranking out a bottle every 3 to 4 seconds.

We finished up around 2pm with everything broken down and put away and the winery floor rinsed down and mopped. The wife was kind enough to pick up 4 pizzas, so we chowed down and did some sipping. By the time the last of the crew left, it was about 10pm. I went to bed with a big smile on my face

Anyway, here are the pics. 

In the first pic, you can see the two enolmatic fillers (temporarily being manned by my nephew to give me a break). You can also see my Niece filling a 500ml beaker which she uses to top off/adjust each bottle. 

You also might notice a 4 outlet box on the bench just in front of my nephew. This box has an on/off switch that controls a pump that transfers wine from one of the tanks into a "holding bin". The fillers then draw wine from the holding bin and into each bottle. 

The second pic is my outer wine rack after my share has been stacked. 

Sorry about the long post here. It is hard for me to describe it without going Tolstoy...


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## cmsben61 (Jun 6, 2016)

That's a sweet setup you got there John T!


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## ILWIIA (Jun 6, 2016)

Incredible setup, job well done to you and your family!


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