{"id":424,"date":"2014-12-29T17:15:33","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T01:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timvandergrift.com\/?p=424"},"modified":"2014-12-29T17:15:33","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T01:15:33","slug":"master-vintner-part-two-racking-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timvandergrift.com\/?p=424","title":{"rendered":"Master Vintner Part Two: Racking Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Small<\/a>
Mmmmerlot!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More Master Vintner! I got my Master Vintner equipment and kits going last week <\/a>and now it’s time to rack them out of primary fermentation and into the I gallon jug.<\/p>\n

\"Oh<\/a>
US Oh Little Big Mouth, you so tiny! Shmutz around the jug is yeast residue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the cool things about the Master Vintner Small Batch kit is the size. Compared to lugging 6 US-gallon (23 litre) carboys around, the Little Big Mouth fermenter is a breeze. I’m a big, strong brute, but even I get twinges in my lower back when I have four or five full-sized carboys to lift up for racking.<\/p>\n

\"Autosiphon<\/a>
Autosiphon with tubing, hydrometer and test jar, 1 gallon jug and cap.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First things first: I assembled my equipment and double-checked the instructions. Yes, I wrote them, but I’ve become slightly obsessive about double-checking them for accuracy. I’m the only guy I know who can argue with himself about following instructions that he wrote!<\/p>\n

Next up I cleaned and sanitised the equipment and jug, following the same procedure with Oxygen wash, rinsing and sulphiting that \u00a0I did on day one<\/a>. Once it was all clean, it was time to rack it over.<\/p>\n

\"Upsy-daisy\"<\/a>
Upsy-daisy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not only are the Small Batch kits easy to lift, you can also place them just about anywhere. Rather than having to rack from a primary fermenter sitting on the counter to a carboy\u00a0down to the floor, I popped the LBM onto a box on my countertop and put the jug beside it. I love working at counter height! Honestly, this has got to be one of the killer sell features of this kit: light weight, ease-of-use and dead simple, too.<\/p>\n

If you’ve never seen an Autosyphon in action, the small version that came with the kit is a great piece of hardware. Plain syphons work fine, but you have to start them either by filling them with water, covering both ends and simultaneously plunging the pick-up rod into the wine and the hose into a bucket to catch the extra water, and then swap when the wine comes through, or by sticking them into the wine and sucking on the hose like you’re stealing gasoline from a car–which is a little unsettling, but sometimes an opportunity to ‘accidentally’ drink from the hose (wine, not gasoline).<\/p>\n

Check out the Autosyphon action:
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