NorthernWinos
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2005
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We are kind of Low Tech up here at Hamann Hills...
We rack from the carboy into a bucket with a spigot, attach a hose and gravity bottle filler [the one that doesn't have a spring]
I sit on a stool and fill the bottles....I have the bottles cleaned and sanitized in baskets next to where I sit, in arms reach.... I have about 3 bottles in a large cooking pot at a time as I fill them....As I fill the bottles I put them into another cooking pot...[saves knocking them over and spilling any onto the floor]
Jim has the corks ready and he does the plunging of the corks.....While the next bottle fills I hold the Gilda Corker on the center of the bottle and Jim drives the cork down, he then places the full bottle into a plastic crate sitting next to him...grabs another cork and is ready for the next bottle...
It's like an assembly line. As fast as the bottles fill we have one corked. We can fill and cork 5-6 gallons of wine very quickly...as fast as it flows from the spigot.....We often do a whole batch without stopping....then we 'dispose' of any leftover wine in the appropriate manner...
Have heard a lot of grumbling about the Gilda Corker, it works great if you have 4 hands available, 2 to hold and center the hole, one person to plunge. We use #8 X 1 3/4" corks and rarely have any melfunctions....However.....we can not use any bottles with flange tops...and some that have a bit larger top don't seat right with the cheap-o Gilda's mouth...so we select our bottles carefully. I hold the Gilda, center it, and Jim drives the corks home...it works great for us....
Low Tech...but it works for us.
We rack from the carboy into a bucket with a spigot, attach a hose and gravity bottle filler [the one that doesn't have a spring]
I sit on a stool and fill the bottles....I have the bottles cleaned and sanitized in baskets next to where I sit, in arms reach.... I have about 3 bottles in a large cooking pot at a time as I fill them....As I fill the bottles I put them into another cooking pot...[saves knocking them over and spilling any onto the floor]
Jim has the corks ready and he does the plunging of the corks.....While the next bottle fills I hold the Gilda Corker on the center of the bottle and Jim drives the cork down, he then places the full bottle into a plastic crate sitting next to him...grabs another cork and is ready for the next bottle...
It's like an assembly line. As fast as the bottles fill we have one corked. We can fill and cork 5-6 gallons of wine very quickly...as fast as it flows from the spigot.....We often do a whole batch without stopping....then we 'dispose' of any leftover wine in the appropriate manner...
Have heard a lot of grumbling about the Gilda Corker, it works great if you have 4 hands available, 2 to hold and center the hole, one person to plunge. We use #8 X 1 3/4" corks and rarely have any melfunctions....However.....we can not use any bottles with flange tops...and some that have a bit larger top don't seat right with the cheap-o Gilda's mouth...so we select our bottles carefully. I hold the Gilda, center it, and Jim drives the corks home...it works great for us....
Low Tech...but it works for us.
