"Glen Duff" > wrote in message
...
> Dave,
>
> Most experienced winemakers have a large selection of bottles
> (preferably of clear glass) and rack their wine into the largest
> container(s) available that still leave a little extra wine. In other
> words start collecting extra carboys, jugs and bottles of various sizes.
> This is not difficult and the only criteria necessary is that you can
> fit them with a drilled bung so you can put a fermentation lock on each
> of them.

I keep a fair selection of bottles around for just that purpose, but the
smallest size that I have airlocks fitted for is one gallon. Once the
fermentation is finished the wine should be topped up in whatever
container(s) it is in and capped tight. I just can't see airlocking a 137ml
bottle!

> I would strongly discourage pouring wine except from the smaller bottles
> and it is important to maintain your sulfite levels after fermentation
> is done as it reduces the likelihood of oxygenating your wine. Diluting
> wine will lessen the quality of your finished product this is a shortcut
> that is just not worth it.
>
> Keeping wine topped up is a nuisance but not doing so will, at best,
> reduce the quality of your wine and usually ruins it completely
> depending on the situation.

Topping up gives you the opportunity to monitor the progress of the wine's
development via regular tasting. I wouldn't call that a _nuisance_. It's
part of the payoff for being a winemaker. :^)

Tom S