Is it worth it to filter wine?

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tbayav8er

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Hi Everyone,

So far, I've filtered every wine kit I've made just before bottling using the #2 pads with the Buon Vino minijet. It makes the wine slightly more clear than it already is after using the isinglass/chitosan that the kit comes with. It seems to me that pumping the wine through that filter may increase the likelihood of bacterial contamination. I do try to clean the pump carefully, and sanitize it. I've found my wine to be very clear anyway after the addition of the clarifying agents, extra time and extra rackings. Is it worth it to filter the wine if I let it bulk age?
 
Just my opinion...

I've decided for myself that it is not worth it to filter. I'm a low end wine hobbyist and find that family, friends and myself have been very satisfied with the kit and fruit wines that I've made and bottled without any filtering. It could be that filtering would bring my wines to a higher or more refined level of presentation but I don't feel the taste would be much if any improved.
 
tbayav8er said:
Hi Everyone,

So far, I've filtered every wine kit I've made just before bottling using the #2 pads with the Buon Vino minijet. It makes the wine slightly more clear than it already is after using the isinglass/chitosan that the kit comes with. It seems to me that pumping the wine through that filter may increase the likelihood of bacterial contamination. I do try to clean the pump carefully, and sanitize it. I've found my wine to be very clear anyway after the addition of the clarifying agents, extra time and extra rackings. Is it worth it to filter the wine if I let it bulk age?
Click to expand...

If you run KMS through the pump and follow the general sanitation guidelines, I see little risk.

In my opinion, for red wine, the answer is no. Whites, maybe, I'm kinda impartial there and filter some of them depending on how I feel about the wine at bottling time.
 
I age all my wine in 6 gal carboys for at least 1 year. I rack it about every 3 months and put in 1 campden tablet per gal. A week or so before I bottle I filter my wine with mini jet # 2 filter. Not sure if I need it or not because racking it so many times but I have it so I use it:h
 
I age all of my red wines for a minimum of 18 months. The wine does clear on it's own quite nicely (with appropriate racking).

This, I have found, is fine for the red wines. For whites, like to age a shorter time (perhaps 11 months). I found that filtering really makes the white wine sparkle and also reduces the sediment that I might get in the bottle over time..

In short, I found that filtering my reds is not really worth it. Time takes care of that. For the whites, I do filter and find that is really makes a difference.
 
JohnT said:
I age all of my red wines for a minimum of 18 months. The wine does clear on it's own quite nicely (with appropriate racking).

This, I have found, is fine for the red wines. For whites, like to age a shorter time (perhaps 11 months). I found that filtering really makes the white wine sparkle and also reduces the sediment that I might get in the bottle over time..

In short, I found that filtering my reds is not really worth it. Time takes care of that. For the whites, I do filter and find that is really makes a difference.
Click to expand...

So, would it be fair to say that from your experience that filtering wine, for us hobbyists anyway, is just a matter of looks? Any other pros or cons for filtering our wine?
 
We tried filtering and found it took too much flavor out of the wine. Wine looked great and crystal clear. But it did take away some of the body which was disappointing and we deemed not worth the time and money to filter.

We do fruit wines btw.
 
bkisel said:
So, would it be fair to say that from your experience that filtering wine, for us hobbyists anyway, is just a matter of looks? Any other pros or cons for filtering our wine?
Click to expand...


In the case of my chardonnays and Rieslings, I have found that filtering makes the wine taste more crisp and clean. It is hard to describe, but I find filtered white more enjoyable.
 
I tend to filter on an ad hoc basis. That is, if the wine needs to be filtered I do so but not as a regular function. I should also point out that I bulk age reds for at least 1 year and whites for at least 6 months. During the bulk aging, I tend to rack at the time of checking SO2 levels so the whites are racked at least twice (once during bulk aging and once just before bottling) and the reds are probably racked 3 or 4 times during bulk aging and right before bottling. In fairness, my whites could probably use either more bulk aging and racking or a fine (sub micron) filtering.
 
More for aesthetics than function and as pointed out, more-so for whites than reds. Humans love sparkly things!!!
 
I filter both reds and whites but am really considering to just do whites in the future.
 
I filter all my whites (except the Orchard Breezin ones) and my reds ,depending..I bulk age my wines and if I find certain ones seem to keep showing small amounts of sediment or if I add a fruitpak to a wine kit, I filter.
I have never found filtering (a kit) has made any change in taste.
 
I've never filtered. A couple of rackings in line with the Bio-Dynamic calendar and bottle a couple of months before the next vintage. The reds still throw some sediment but the whites are usually crystal clear.
 
Filtering

I used to filter both but now I feel that there is no need to filter the red. After much research I found that if you are aging your wine there is no real need to filter the red. I always make sure and look at the wine in the light before I bottle to make sure that is is clear and looks how I want it. If not I will rack it a few more times just to get the clearness I want. Whites however always get filtered. I received some gifts on unfiltered white wine's and they looked horrible
 

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