BrewSmarter Syphonless Wine Starter Kit - experienced needed please!

[molly133]

Hi all!

Just joined so please excuse the novice questions.

I've purchased a BrewSmarter Syphonless Wine Starter Kit (see below)

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/brewsmarter-syphonless-wine-starter-kit-1084-p.asp

It was so exciting today to open up the two huge boxes and taking out all the bits and pieces. I bought other stuff like a corker, corks etc. I have to admit it was a bit overwhelming as NOTHING came with instructions.

My main question is has anyone used one of these Syphonless starter kits and if yes please help! In relation to syphoning, when you attach the tubing to the tap and put the end into the second fermenter bucket and turn on the tap is it safe to let it filter in until all the must has passed through and the tap dries up or do you have to stop it yourself in case it collects the lees? What I mean is will the tap pass the lees through as well or is it too high to collect the lees? Hope this makes sense!

There are several bits that came with it that I have no idea what they are for. One of them is a straight clear tube. It may be for bottling but not sure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've spent an absolute fortune on all the equipment (bought everything from scratch) and the best wine kit I could get - Saddlers Reserve Merlot/Shiraz 30 bottles and want to start a.s.a.p. so that I can have a bottle for everyone for Christmas.

Thanks so much!

[Will_D]

Hi Molly - Welcome to the wine making world.

First Racking:
With a wine kit there is very little lees left - its just the yeast. This may only be 2 mm thick on the bottom so when you rack there will be a lot of wine left that won't come out through the tap so you gently tilt the fermenter to get most of it out!

Then you leave the wine to settle some more, a few days in a cool place, then you are ready to bottle.
Again you will need to tilt it to get the majority of the wine out.

BTW: A little bit of yeast is nothing to worry about, it will just drop to the bottom of the bottle just like the expensive shop stuff!

The pastic tube is called the "Bottling Wand" you put it on the end of the tube so that you can put all the way into the bottle to minimise splashing and foaming.

HTH!  Will

[Garry]

Welcome to the NHC Molly.

I've moved your post to the "Ciders, Perries & Wines" board, where it might get more replies.

[molly133]

Hi Will,

Thank you soooooo much for your reply. It's a bit of a relief hearing this! I spoke to the company today as they made a mistake in the size of the primary fermenter - they were supposed to send me out a 30l primary bucket but only sent two 25l so the brew belt with timer is useless to me now. She said to tie a bottle of water to the bucket and wrap the brew belt around it but not sure about that! I'm worried that the temperature will fluctuate now that I can't rely on the belt. I'll be keeping it upstairs in a spare bedroom in the wardrobe (it is behind the hot press) and will try to keep the temp between 18-24 degrees. Tough to do now that the belt isn't an option and I'll be at work during most of the fermentation. Any hints for this? I so want this to work out as I've promised pretty much everyone I know a bottle for Christmas! Thanks again

Hi Molly - Welcome to the wine making world.

First Racking:
With a wine kit there is very little lees left - its just the yeast. This may only be 2 mm thick on the bottom so when you rack there will be a lot of wine left that won't come out through the tap so you gently tilt the fermenter to get most of it out!

Then you leave the wine to settle some more, a few days in a cool place, then you are ready to bottle.
Again you will need to tilt it to get the majority of the wine out.

BTW: A little bit of yeast is nothing to worry about, it will just drop to the bottom of the bottle just like the expensive shop stuff!

The pastic tube is called the "Bottling Wand" you put it on the end of the tube so that you can put all the way into the bottle to minimise splashing and foaming.

HTH!  Will

[Will_D]

Why can't you use the brewbelt? It  is adjustable.You just pull the white cable through the orange hole. Getting it to stay put on the fermenter is another matter. Sometime the friction of the tucking the cable gehind itself will do - else use some tape aor just leave it at the bottom of the fermenter.

[molly133]

Hi!

One last question for ye wonderful people!

When corking my wines it appears that the straight no-soak corks I used turned out to be a nightmare to use! I used a twin lever hand corker and the corks just didn't want to go in. I didn't soak the corks but gave them a quick dip in a no-rinse sanitising solution and shook them off. I put all of my strength into it and the corks went in but not all the ways - there is about a centimetre above the rim. This was for all 28 bottles and I'm not exactly weak! To help keep them air tight I put those shrink caps on them in the hope it would ensure they wouldn't leak. My query is does this mean now that I have a batch of wine destined to be oxidised or could I get away with it? They are fairly wedged in. Also, with no-soak corks do I put the bottles on their sides to keep the cork moist or can they be left sitting upright. Today is day 3 of the bottles being upright. Any help as soon as ye can would be soooo appreciated! Thanks!

[Dunkel]

Hi Molly,

How high was the fill level of the bottles? It's possible it was too close to the top, when you wouldn't be able to get the corks all the way in. But now the're mostly in, you shouldn't have any problems with oxidation.

[molly133]

Thanks Dunkel. I followed a YouTube video and it stated to leave two fingers width from the rim - since he had bigger fingers than mine I left 3 fingers - so a little higher than half way up the neck. Since they are no-soak corks will I put the bottles on their sides? Thanks again