Wine Filters

[freddie]

Nice Set Up

Its not quite as compact as the Buon Vino but it also does more!

Hi Mike, I'm impressed and intrigued with your set up here. Excuse my ignorance but Id like to try and understand how this all works and why it is set up like it is.

What is the "white lid" canister coming off the red wine carboy - is it a filter or aspirator & what purpose does it serve. This appears to flow onto a 2nd carboy which has a tube to a sealed beaker - why is this necessary. The tube then goes to the little green unit - is that a filiter or pump _ is that termed a "vacuum pump". Then, how does the gas cylinder link in - could'nt quite see a tube connecting to anything.

I'm really interested to understand the set up - very nice too.

 

[freddie]

I dont get floaties with filtering but if you are making heavy reds you can get some color drop out over time and this is very hard to not get unless you use stuff specifically designed for this which Scott labs sells. If you are getting this with other wines then you may be using inferior filters. There are filters which are designed to not give off any filter particles. A standard whole house twine filter will give off particles and thats why I didnt sell that kind!

G'Day Mike, really nice set up. I wish I could understand it all.

 

[freddie]

" Its not quite as compact as the Buon Vino but it also does more! "

Hi Mike, I really like your set up but am intigued about how it all works.

You have a line from the top carboy to a "white top" unit - is this a filter or pump ?.
Then that flows to a 2nd carboy & then onto a small sealed beaker - what does this serve ?. That then goes onto a small green unit - is this what you guys term a vacuum pump or something else ?.

Then there is the gas cylinder but can't work out where this is connected too.

So, I really love the setup and no doubt a very safe one at that. Just love to understand the mechanics of it all and why each component is important.

Nice work Mike.

 

[Wade E]

That white lid canister is a whle house water filter system designed for filtering your water in your house from sediment. It is hooked up to a vacuum pump and a overflow canister incase there is any overage so the wine doesnt end up inside the vacuum pump.

 

[Wade E]

That gas cylinder is not involved in this set up and just sitting there or later use like displacing 02 in a carboy to prevent any oxidation. Basically you either purge your carboy with that gas and or displace any 02 on top of your wine if you are not topped off properly with wine so that there isnt much air in the carboy.

 

[ibglowin]

Sorry to not see this post earlier, somehow I missed it. Wade is spot on. The Gas cylinder is a tank of Argon I use to top off carboys or open wine bottles (temporarily).

 

[Midwest Vintner]

IMO, it's all about making GOOD wine. I'm not so picky about being clear or having sediment. You can't polish a turd. Good wine is good wine, whether it's perfectly clear or is hazy with floaties and sediment! All extremely clear and finely polished means is that it's been more processed in most situations. Just my opinion, but I would rate wine based 95% or more on just taste than anything else. That said, having a winery, we have been filtering and have used some bentonite. After a year, not all tanks have cleared. We do not want to use super kleer/ isinglass due to liability, so some of the wines aren't going to be "super clear." lol.

 

[ibglowin]

Sure you can, but its still a turd!

You can't polish a turd.

 

[rhoffart]

here ya go ...
http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/how-to-polish-a-turd

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Sure you can, but its still a turd!

LOL.

I just notice how much stock people put into clearing a wine. There are times when some wines are just extremely tough. I personally, don't look too hard at the wine. Rather smell and then taste it!

 

[freddie]

The rest of the stuff is easy to get. Dble drilled bungs I sell and even the elbows to fit the bungs and if you want to filter then you can go to a Home Improvement store and get a whole house filter canister and a filter just like the one above or in my pic below. The filter is mounted under the counter top on the right side of the screen. You can rack up hill meaning youll never have to lift a full carboy off the floor, you can degas your wine better then any other method out there, you can filter your wine and even bottle your wine with additional equipment. Ive actually racked wine from my basement floor to my second floor.
Heres a pic of me racking a wine with my pump. That unit on the counter top with the hose sticking up out the top is a bottling unit hooked up to the vacuum aspirator.

G'Day Wade, and thanks for other clarifications. In this photo, do I conclude that the vacuum pump is used to draw (and rack) from one carboy to another both resting at the same level. With that blue top canister next to the pump, is that a composit part of the vacuum pump or did you rig it up & why do you need it ?. Also , will this pump work with larger vessels such as 200L s/steel tanks. And also, what is the flow rate on such a pump when transferring. Cheers.

 

[ibglowin]

The beauty of the vacuum pump is that you can pump up hill as well as down hill (to some extent). The blue part in Wade's pic is the overflow canister. Fluid goes into the canister first instead of your pump, saving the pump from certain destruction. That is a medical aspirator pump originally but can also be used for this purpose with new tubing and a new canister. The pump flow on mine is about 2L/min. Will it work with a 200L tank? That depends on the strength of the pump and the maximum pump height of the pump. You may need a larger pump for that large of a pump height.