As you've seen so far, the only thing electric in my wine process is the crusher. My entire setup was designed for the use of gravity in almost all aspects of the process. I allow my wine to age six months before I transfer to 3-gal carboys and subsequent bottling. During this time Blessed Mother does the clarifying for me. Solids slowly settle to the bottom of the demijohns and are removed usually twice over the course of winter.
First step is to drain one demijohn to receive the next after being emptied and cleaned. Five carboys are filled and set aside to eventually go back into the last clean demijohn. As you can see my DJs have spouts. That spout has a hose that leads to the raised center bottom of the DJ... kind of like a champagne bottle's interior. Solids settle around the raised area and clarifying or fully clarified wine comes out the valve.Once the demijohn is drained it is taken outside, washed out and then placed to receive contents from the next one. Yes, it is time consuming, but then again, I very much enjoy being in the wine room. :-) Once all the wine has been racked, it's time to place the demijohns back on the shelf. I used to have to wait until I got a helper because 14.25 gallons of wine weigh about 114 lbs. Add a few lbs for the heavy glass demijohn and this is NOT a one person job.
Unless... you had a father like I did, and a father-in-law like I do, who always taught me to think outside the box. Make a jig... make a tool... use something for a purpose it was not made for... :-)
Enter... the Deer Hoist!
This unit is designed to mount into the hitch receiver of a pickup truck.
Here in the wine room I made a well braced wooden receiver in the shelf unit.
One at a time the demijohns are lifted, hanging from the gambrel that came with the hoist. I added the chains to make life easy. Once the DJ is high enough, I simply turn the hoist, placing the DJ over the shelf. After the DJ is lowered and freed I simply shimmy it to its spot.
It's a process I really enjoy because it is me... making my wine...caring for it with a whole lot of love.. I prefer these old school ways because they have worked for many many centuries... I enjoy putting my trust in Blessed Mother aka Mother Nature. I make my wine every fall using the same grape quantities and proportions. Does it always taste the same? Nope... and that's just fine. I'm not running a commercial winery where consistency is paramount. I really like the surprise of the vintage's flavor pallet which is largely dependent on California weather patterns. One cardinal rule I abide by is that good grapes make good wine. My advice to any wine maker, regardless of your fruit, if you have doubts about your fruit and the thought of "Maybe it'll be okay" pops into your head... just don't. Get different fruit because all the love and labor that goes into wine making should not be in vain. Period.Lastly... Yes, I use minute amounts of chemicals and an electric crusher along with my beloved deer hoist, but by and large my process using spontaneous fermentation and gravity is about as old school as can be. It has not failed me yet... since 2005.
Let's make wine... It's good for you!
