How to: Marti-Jet

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MedPretzel

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Well, I had a vision last night. Today I did some research.
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I was on a German wine forum, and they talked about making your own filtering system. Their's were way out of my capabilities, but I did some more brainstorming!


Basically, I didn't like the extra step of transferring the wine into the container, especially since it was not for sure food-grade.


So, I looked at the thing and thought long and hard.
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My brain hurts now.
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I used an old, one-outlet aquarium pump (very cheap on ebay, like 1.99 - you can get them at walmart or whoever sells animal supplies.


2005-12-20_114501_Kopie_von_marti-jet.jpg



1 gallon of majorly cloudy apple wine (just did a test run, that's all) took 15 minutes.


It also works for racking.





This is what I did:

  1. <LI>Got the aquarium pump.</LI>
    <LI>Hooked up the pump tube hooked to the pump.</LI>
    <LI>Put the pump tube in the Orange Cap. (you need to create a vacuum)</LI>
    <LI>Got the filtering tube in the Orange Cap. I needed to cut a piece of the stalk so that it would fit.</LI>
    <LI>Plugged in the aquarium pump (no on-off switch)</LI>
    <LI>Made sure the "air tube" was filled as normal (with the valve) and closed the valve.</LI>


And it worked!





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So, the pump is pumping air into the carboy and forcing the wine through the filter?
 
I'm curious about the other cap used. Looks like a water jug cap. Would a rubber stopper the type used on your airlocks work also?
 
You need 2 holes. One for the pump-tube and the other for the racking/filtering tube.
 
Hi Martina, Great invention. What rate does this pump at? If it is slow you might try a pump they use for water fountains. They are not that expensive and can pump from 1 to 20 gal per min. They carry them anywhere they sell fountains for decorating yards or inside houses


Bill.
 
Hope your brain is feeling better by now.
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I guess your limitation would be the rate of flow through the filter, right?
Even if you have a heftier pump, you can only go as fast as the filter will flow
without springing a leak?

(Where is the mouse?)
 
Great idea Martina..
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I wish I owned a wine filter system, I would surely go that route.


Months ago, I had an idea of using a similiar pump which draws up the water from aquariums forcing the liquid through an external aqua filter that I have for my fish tanks. These reusable filters filter water down to .2 micron which filters the water to crystal clear. With additions of "diatom and charcoal," the water clarity is almost invisible.A new pump would be in the range of approxmately $50,00+...


Then I came across and article by Lum Eisenman, The HomeWinemakers Manual, page #94, "Filters for Home Winemakers," about utilizing water filter cartridges using a simple 10 psi transfer pump and water filter cartridges.


We presently use water filters on the "incoming water" from the street to the dwelling. The filters are available at all local stores selling water filtering systems and replacements.


I will be checking into this method until someday I can afford "the real McCoy!"
 
Hahaha,





Thanks everyone. My brain has somewhat recovered.
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Mr. Greenmouse decided to stay out of the pictures. (Okay, okay, in my excitement, I forgot to add him)


The pump is not that strong at all. I did a very cloudy 5-gallon batch last night, and it worked.... okay. I decided to use gravity as well, and put the receiving carboy (as usual) on the ground, while the donating carboy was up on the table. At the end, however, it was just the pump pumping through the filter.


The cloudy wine took about 40-45 minutes to filter. Not bad, because I think the filter otherwise would have clogged up completely and it would have stopped at 30 minutes (out of my own experience). Yes, it was a cloudy wine, but I just had to try this out.
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The pump is slow, yes, but as bilbo mentioned, the filter (I think) is the limiting factor. It was FULL of gunk after I was finished. I was really surprised at how much of it was really there.I had tried it with BillB's method (weed-killer) a few months ago, and I over-pumped. The wine seeped through the sides of the filter, and it wasn't as clear as it ought to have been. So, this rate of pumping I believe is at least not too much. Could it be maximized? probably, but I think you'd need a lot clearer wine, and a lot of experimentation.


The pump is something I had at home, but I found on ebay this for you guys: [url]http://cgi.ebay.com/Air-Pump-AQT3001_W0QQitemZ7712514603QQca tegoryZ46312QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem [/url]


That's at least what I had here at home. I tried to find some specs on it, but couldn't. Maybe others have better luck.





Hope this answers some questions!





M.
 
Martina:


I was concerned about the smaller jug. Would a one-hole rubber stopper work here, or is there a need for the second hole? In the photo it looks like it's plugged off anyway...I assume to complete the vacuum?
 
well, if you mean the jug that has the filter on it, no, you don't need a stopper or anything. The filter sits right on top.





If you are talking about filtering FROM a 1-gallon jug, yes, you will still need to have a stopper with two holes. I'm still trying to work on that "solution."
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I'm slow, but I'm catching on now. The filter must be the maroon and white colored item on top of the 1 gallon jug???
 
If you are talking about filtering FROM a 1-gallon jug, yes, you will
still need to have a stopper with two holes. I'm still trying to work on that
"solution."

See Maui Joe's solution to providing a two-hole bung for a gallon jug, fourth
post down under Tips and Shortcut Methods/Racking/p. 5Edited by: bilbo-in-maine
 

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