PING: grapeman - filter setup

I've seen threads on using whole-house filter housings for filtering wine. The threads usually end up with posters that attempt this with mixed results.

I saw your setup in a bottle filling thread. Please elaborate on the filtering setup and how it's working out.

A picture tells the story. You need a racking cane to go into the carboy filtering from. Attach that to the inlet of the filter housing with a good tight clamp. I use a variety of filters depending on how small I want to go. The outlet side connects to the receiving carboy using an orange cap with two racking canes in it. The side that hooks up to the pump needs to be short so it won't suck wine in past the level you want. You can add a filler in between like in the picture you reference. As long as you have a tight clamp everywhere, there is no mystery to it. I draw at about 10 -12 inches of vacuum to filter and around 7-8 inches if using the filler.

The setup works great for me. I'm not sure why others might have problems.

I dont filter this way yet as I just havent gotten aound to getting the whole house filter set up but I do everything else with these vacuum pumps and cant see how putting a filter inbetween would cause anything different then great results. The only thingI van think of is when yoy start off sometimes you need to lift the racking hose right where it meets the racking cane in the vessel thats giving just to get a solid flow of wine as sometimes it can have a little air there and it sometimes wont go away until you lift it higher then the racking cane, this will also happen using any other methid like gravity but you just dont notice it as much

grapeman said:

A picture tells the story ...

The setup works great for me. I'm not sure why others might have problems.

Click to expand...

It seemed simple and straight-forward to me as I was thinking about it. Then a timely thread popped up at the other forum.

The OP described his setup and others that attempted to replicate it kept reporting problems with ait leakage, etc. The red pressure relief button seemed to be one source of problems.

Thanx for sharing ... I'm already set up for vacuum racking & degassing, so I'll go ahead with my plan, making sure everything fits properly, and hope for the best.

Wade E said:

I dont filter this way yet as I just havent gotten aound to getting the whole house filter set up but I do everything else with these vacuum pumps and cant see how putting a filter inbetween would cause anything different then great results. The only thingI van think of is when yoy start off sometimes you need to lift the racking hose right where it meets the racking cane in the vessel thats giving just to get a solid flow of wine as sometimes it can have a little air there and it sometimes wont go away until you lift it higher then the racking cane, this will also happen using any other methid like gravity but you just dont notice it as much

Click to expand...

The problems I read about all were related to using a housing designed for positive pressure in a vacuum setting ... good, tight connection should solve those.

The air pocket at the cane/hose junction - I'm always able to get rid of it by gently pinching the hose.

Good luck with it bob. I see no problems for you. You do the research and assemble correctly and there should be no problems.

grapeman said:

Good luck with it bob. I see no problems for you. You do the research and assemble correctly and there should be no problems.

Click to expand...

Thanks - I'm glad I saw your pic and read your experience, otherwise I might have passed on it.

I just got the Vinbright gravity filter. Now I am thinking the whole house filter might be nice. Just use the Vinbright for extra polishing I guess.

Somewhere on this forum, someone posted where you can get the home house filter with the right type of filters. I do know that it was from a wine store. They also had the clamps with the colored plastic turners.

valleyvintner.com

http://valleyvintner.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PF

Rich that is what i use...just bought the reusable 1 and .5 micron filters

I started with the Vinbrite, now moving on to the whole house filter on the next batch. I have tested with water and works great. Order the setup from VV and we have a source for replacement filters for much cheaper.

That Valley Vinter has some good prices after looking at their site. Might have to add an inline filter for the vacuum pump from Wade.

Got it, Thanks Grapeman, also, can you guys tell who type of filter you are using. $12.00 seems like a lot of money for only one time of filtering? Some are in the $80.00 range also, Thanks John

Once you buy one of them, look at the brand and number of the filter. You can get them a lot cheaper other places once you have the number- like $3-4. You can also rinse the filters out and store in the filter housing with some k-meta in it and use again if fairly soon. It makes them inexpensive.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_89374-59019...1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=whole+house+filter
thats what i got... $20 couldnt beat it. got a screw in nylon fitting to adapt it to 1/2 pipe... realized 1/2 is waaay to big so now i gotta work on that plus get the carboy vaccum cap things.

OK, I finally broke down and bought my filter set up. Now I just need to get a better Bottling set up like Rich and Rocket man have, very soon!!!!!!!!!!

Very nice!

Whole house set up or something different?

I went with the Valley Vintner one mainly because I looked around and it would pretty much cost me the same after buying the adapters to get down tpo 3/8" for racking hose as most come ready for 1" pipe.

My whole house filter uses 3/4" ports so I can get a screw on adapter to go to 1/2" or 3/8" barb for about $1.80 at home depot. I might try the LHBS that has lots of keg parts.

I was looking at filters and will go with 1 micron but does it make any difference between 2.25" or 2.5" filters? The larger ones are a little more money but does it matter?

I am going to order a case. At $2 that's a deal plus I need some 20" ones for my house filter.