from barrel to bottle?

Lee, why not just bottle your wine directly out of the barrel? lum

Thanks, Lum, but if I bottle directly out of the barrel, I'm concerned that I'll get lots of debri in the bottles. Having never used a barrel before, I'm expecting to find a lot of dead yeast cells and fine lees in the bottom of the barrel. Thanks for your help.

Lee

You will. Rack it once to a carboy (and jugs) and let it settle again. Adding 1 lb/1000 gal bentonite will help clarify it and prevent protein haze problems too. You can probably bottle off the bentonite lees if you're careful.

Tom S

Lee, there are many old sayings in the wine industry. One of my favorite ones is ......."always filter the clean wine first." The corollary........"always bottle the clean wine first." might apply in your case. Bottle the top half of the barrel (that wine should by pretty clean). Then bottle top half of the bottom half (that wine should by pretty clean as well). Then bottle the bottom one quarter from the top down. Check wine clarity every bottle or so, and stop bottling when the wine gets dirty.

If there are two or three gallons of dirty wine left, put it in a small container. Let it re-settle and bottle the clear wine later. If there is only a few quarts of wine left in the barrel, add it to an ongoing fermentation or to the vinegar barrel.

He could always try Tom's (?) idea of the washing machine centrifuge with the last couple of gallons.

Don