wine bottling

[pongobilly]

when bottling wine does it have to be kept standing up or laid down, and when its forst bottled does it have to be kept warm for a bit or just go straight into cool storage

[tubby_shaw]

Bit of a tricky question that one pb
If you have used natural corks the bottles should be ideally stored on there sides to prevent the corks drying, shrinking and allowing air into the wine which will spoil it.
The downside to this though is that a lot of homemade wines, although they look to be absolutely clear when bottled, can still throw a sediment in the bottle. So in this situation it would be better to store them upright. This would then give you a fighting chance of decanting clear wine.
I know that doen't help much but it will give you something to base your descision on.
As for the temperature issue, straight into the cool

[Horden Hillbilly]

If you decide to lay your bottles down I would advise you to stand them upright for 3 days. This allows the corks to swell out to fit the inside of your bottles after being squashed when corking.

This prevents "weeping" of the wine from the corks, one of my earlier mistakes!

[Tufty]

When my wine has cleared, I siphon into another demijohn and leave it to stand for a couple more days in a cool place. This usually allows any further sediment (if any) to settle to the bottom of the demijohn before bottling. It may be a lot of messing around but I've found that it works for me.

I store my bottles on their side in a rack tp prevent the corks from drying out and shrinking and letting airborne bacteria from spoiling the wine

[pongobilly]

well i was thinking when my wine has reached its final gravity i was gonna transfer to second demijohn and then add the finings and campden tablet, then once its cleared, filter and bottle

[tubby_shaw]

If you are going to filter after fining then there is little chance of any deposit forming in the bottle so ignore what I posted earlier and go with HH's advice

[Reg]

well i was thinking when my wine has reached its final gravity i was gonna transfer to second demijohn and then add the finings and campden tablet, then once its cleared, filter and bottle

This is typical if you are filtering, although the wine will typically clear naturally if you have used a good bottom fermenting ans settling wine yeast. That having been said, I have filtered many times in the past with no dicernable effect on falvour and the ine getting down much early to mature... and hence being ready for drinking proportionately earlier.

[Tufty]

the wine will typically clear naturally if you have used a good bottom fermenting ans settling wine yeast. That having been said, I have filtered many times in the past with no dicernable effect on falvour and the ine getting down much early to mature... and hence being ready for drinking proportionately earlier.

I rarely use filtering or finings to clear my wine and prefer to let it clear naturally. Just leave it in a cool place for a few days and it will normally clear on it's own. The only downside, as Reg points out, is that it does take a bit longer before it's ready for bottling and drinking.