Brent Baker of Old Woolam Custom Bottling
2016 KGGWA Conference
MOBILE BOTTLING
WHY USE A MOBILE BOTTLER?
WHERE ELSE WILL YOU GET ACCESS TO
$200,000.00 OF THE LATEST IN BOTTLING
EQUIPMENT, AS WELL AS AN EXPERIENCED
TECH FOR ONLY A FEW THOUSAND A YEAR!!
-Winemaker/Winery Owner
So little done, So much to do.
-Cecil Rhodes
Preparation for Bottling
Goal
Make bottling day as stress free as possible
• Brent Baker: Owner/ operator of Old Woolam Custom
Bottling, Mobile bottling service 5
th
year providing mobile
bottling services.
• Past micro brewery owner and brewer.
• Not winemakers
• Basic presentation, start thinking about mobile bottling
THE BOTTLER
Bottling Process
1. Overview of Mobile Bottling
2. Winery’s Preparation for Bottling Day
3. Custom Options
4. Sanitation
5. Pre – Bottling Wine Prep
6. Filtration
7. Quality Control
8. Benefits of Mobile Bottling
9. Costs of Bottling
10.Questions
• First US Mobile Line 1989 California
• Very popular in other wine producing
countries, Europe and Australia and NZ
• Fully automated, 8 to 16 + spout fillers
• Pre and Post fill sparging, vacuum corking
• Cork and Screwcap Capable
• Speeds from 24 bpm to 100 bpm
• On board steam for sanitation/sterilization
• Final Sterile Filtration Options
• Experienced bottling tech part of service
Mobile Bottling Overview
Bottles
Wine Prep
Filtration
Capsules
Corks
Labels
Fitting the
pieces
together…
Winery’s Preparation for Bottling Day
Start long before bottling day!
-Glass Availability
-Label Designs
-TTB Approval
(20-30 Days - time of year dependent)
-Label Printing
-Dry goods: corks, screw caps, capsules
-Food grade inert gas
-Sterile filters
-Electrical Requirements
Custom Options Provided by the Bottler
Closures:
Cork
Screwcap
Capsules:
pvc, polylam, tin
Bottles:
750ml, 500ml, 375ml
Vacuum Corking
-Hand corkers 13-20 psi
May lead to cork “pushing out”
As well as uneven bicep size
-Vacuum corking decreases pressure on cork
Corks may require different vacuums
Screwcaps
• Stelvin
• Mala
• G3
Generally made of aluminum
Contains a liner that rests in the top of the
capsule
Easy on and off
Creates an oxygen barrier
Screwcap specs
Each screwcap manufacturer (Mala, G3,
Stelvin) will have different specs for
application
Resulting in various head pressures
Different torque/break points upon removal
of capsule
Bottle
Drawing
BOTTLING LINE SANITATION
Three distinct steps
1. Cleaning – Removing debris
2. Sanitizing – Kill or remove most microbes
3. Sterilizing – Kills everything
• steam 212°F 20 minutes
• hot water 182°F 30 minutes, maintaining temp at
farthest point
• ozone
BOTTLING LINE SANITATION
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF BOTTLING
1. Clean and sanitize fittings
2. Sanitize wine hoses and pump
3. Steam 212°F, 20 minutes
• Membrane filters, wine inlet, filler bowl,
spouts
4. Spray and wipe down with 70% alcohol
(ethanol) Nitrogen sparger, corking jaw, cork
hopper, screw cap head, screw cap dispenser
and change parts
WINEMAKER MUST APPROVE BEFORE START
OF BOTTLING!!
BOTTLING LINE SANITATION
During bottling
1. Times of shut down spray with 70% alcohol
(ethanol), filler spouts, nitrogen sparger, leveler,
corking jaws, screw cap head, star sets
2. Remove any spilled wine
BOTTLING LINE SANITATION
Post Bottling
1. Flush line, filters and filler bowl
2. Sanitize filters, filler bowl and hoses
3. Drain lines, filters and filler bowl
4. Flush entire line with water
5. Steam entire line 212°F - 20 minutes
6. Scrub walls and floors
7. Hang and drain hoses
8. Clean and sanitize fittings
9. Remove/clean filler spouts
PRE BOTTLING WINE GOALS
WINEMAKER MUST MAKE SURE WINE IS FINISHED PRIOR TO
BOTTLING
• Temperature Target
Wine @ 58-60°F or wine will expand or compress
Too cold will cause bottle sweat, labeling issues
Desired CO
2
levels
Correct Sulfite Levels
-Levels (pH dependent)
Potassium Sorbate
Cold Stabile
Heat Stabile
Alcohol matches label
Final Filtration
Filtration falls under two categories
1. Depth filtration – Plate and Frame, DE or Lenticular
Designed to collect particles in the interior
2. Surface/absolute filtration – membrane filters
Designed to collect particles on the surface
Done with cartridge style filters
Sterile Filtration Goal
-Remove any remaining yeast or bacteria from the wine to
help prevent re-fermentation in the bottle
-Utilized in line with bottling line just prior to filling
-Wines must be filtered to “bottle ready” with plate and
frame
Final Filtration
-Some wineries choose to sterile filter
-Some wineries will by-pass sterile filtration
-Filtration is an art
-.65 nominal pre-filter
does majority of work
protects final filter
-.45 absolute
sterile filter
If pre-filtering (depth filtration) is done correctly, filters can
be used for thousands of gallons of wine!
Final Filtration at Bottling
Absolute Filter Quality Control
Sterile Filtration
Test integrity of filter
-Bubble point
-Compact Star
Quality Control
-Monitor Fill Height
750 ml
500 ml
375 ml
-Cork depth
-Monitor internal bottle pressure/vacuum
Needle pressure/vacuum test every hour
-Screwcaps
Observe Threads
Torque Test Hourly
Benefits of Mobile Bottling
• Owning your own line is a daunting task both
financially and technically
• One of, if not the most expensive piece of equipment
in wine production
• Utilized only a small fraction of the time
• Time savings over hand bottling, triple or more daily
output of hand bottling.
• Single pass to fill, place closure, capsule and label.
• Large infrastructure cost not included with the purchase
of a line, compressor, air dryer, phase converter etc.
• Maintenance can be difficult, parts expensive and can
take time to procure and receive
• Less oxygen pickup and more gentle on the wine than
with hand bottling
• Sterility levels that are impossible to achieve via hand
bottling
Benefits of Mobile Bottling
Winery Producing 10,000 gallons annually or 4100 cases.
Small bottling line: $ 60,000.00
Digital Phase Converter: $ 3,900.00
Air Compressor 5 hp, 80 gal: $ 2,000.00
Air dryer: $ 1,700.00
Rinser/Sparger: $ 3,400.00
Electrical/Air infrastructure $ 2,000.00
Miscellaneous: $ 2,000.00
TOTAL INVESTMENT: $ 75,000.00
OWNING YOUR OWN LINE
$75,000.00 bank loan at 5% ANNUAL
interest for a term of 5 years Princ/Int: $16,980.00
Insurance and Maintenance: $ 2,500.00
Floor Space: $ ??????
Additional time for learning curve: $ ??????
Labor cost based on 4 people to run: $ 5,940.00
Total Annual Cost: $25,420.00
Total Days Utilized for 4100 cases: 11 days
Based on bottling 375 cases per day
OWNING YOUR OWN
Having a mobile bottler come in to bottle for you annually.
4100 cases, or 49,200 bottles x $.27: $ 13,284.00
Interest: $ 0.00
Maintenance and Insurance: $ 0.00
Production floor space: $ 0.00
Additional time for learning curve: $ 0.00
Labor for 4 people to run: $ 3,780.00
Total Annual Cost: $ 17,064.00
Having your tanks empty and your bottles full: PRICELESS
Total days for your mobile bottler
For 4100 cases: 7 days
UTILIZING MOBILE BOTTLER
Winery producing 3,000 gallons annually or 1235 cases.
Labor for 5 people to run manual line: $4,218.00
Manual line maintenance: $ 500.00
Labor for 4 people to run mobile line: $1,080.00
Savings: $3,638.00
Addl. cost for mobile line for bottling 1235 cases
Or 14820 bottles at $.27 per bottle: $4,001.40
Additional cost to winery to go mobile: $ 363.40
*Manual line figures based on filling, corking, labeling and capsuling. 200
cases per day.
*Mobile line figures based on filling, corking, labeling and capsuling, 650
cases per day
HAND BOTTLING
