By the way they must have come back while I was sleeping and hit me in the
head a few times because I woke up with such a headache the next day. Any
help would be appreciated.
If you were 5 bottles short with each carboy, some possibilities might
be;
1. The 5 gal carboys were not full
2. You overfilled your bottles
3. There is always some loss due to sediment in a carboy
4. You sampled more than a little
5. All of the above - likely
Walter,
I have a solution: Invite a few friends over to help you bottle.
You might end up with even less wine in the end, but at least you won't
be drinking alone. :)
Cheers,
Ken
> Here is my problem. Last weekend I was bottling 5 gal. of Raspberry
> and 5 gal. of a white blend. I like to sample as I am bottling to
> taste the fruits of my labor so to say. To my calculations, it
> should have yielded approximately 25 bottles per 5 gal. but I only
> ended up with 20 bottles of each. To my calculation that is an
> approximate loss of 1 gal. of Raspberry and 1 gal of white. This
> was a very frustrating situation and it didn't help having these
> little guys running around me all the time as I was bottling. So
> my question is how the heck do I stop these little wine thieves
> from stealing my wine?
This is a very simple problem to solve. You were filling 750ml
bottles. If you had used 1.75 liter bottles, your shrinkage
would have been less than 3 bottles.
> By the way they must have come back while I was sleeping and
> hit me in the head a few times because I woke up with such a
> headache the next day. Any help would be appreciated.
Always bottle on a full stomach and take aspirin, tylenol, etc.
before going to bed.
Dick
This also happens when I buy bottles of wine in the store.
I bring it home, open it, start drinking it, and pretty soon
the bottle is empty. It just ain't right!
If you pay good money for a bottle of wine it should last a while.
Remember you probably lost a bit due to sediment, dregs and such. which
you wouldn't want to bottle anyway.
I usually only yield about 22-23 per carboy at bottling - and yes, some
of that is due to sampling. :)
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Thanks,
David
> I also noted on my recent mead, which I am letting sit in a
> carboy to age a bit before bottling(and a bit too lazy to
> bottle it) the volume seems to drop after I test it to make
> sure it still tastes great.
When making a batch of Mead, one must allow for shrinkage due
to QAT (Quality Assurance Testing). I too have noted that the
shrinkage is getting out of hand and must be attributed to my
cat, aliens, or sinister forces. My solution is 18 gallon
batches - I don't think those suckers can drink that much!
Dick
> I do understand that. I have this batch of basswood mead that is
> a bit too sweet, yet it is very good. So while waiting for a new
> batch to get to the point I can combine them, the dryer to the
> sweeter... I have to QAT, just to be sure that it hasn't taken
> care of itself.
QAT is a skill that needs perfecting and continuing maintenance.
> The only problem I do have (although friends, neighbors and wife
> would care to list others) not enough time to sit back and enjoy
> the batch.
There is an advantage to being a recluse - the time to sit back
and enjoy the batch.
> My five year old granddaughter - in about 15 years might have
> some good stuff around...
If you started this young woman on 15 year old Mead, she could
become a very expensive date!
Dick
I remember reading skeptically that meads are much better with age but
I am certainly not one now. My first was made in 97, we only made 4
bottles the last of which we just had. It was good then, better now.
Mead is very interesting.
Joe