bilbo-in-maine
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- Sep 24, 2005
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My kind wife presented me with a Mini-Jet filter last weekend and I just happened to have a Viognier white wine kit ready to bottle, so I felt it would be a great guinea pig project for filtering.
The machine comes with motorized filter unit and all necessary tubing, but doesn't have filter pads in the box. They have to be ordered separately. Three pads are needed at each filtering session. The choice of pads are #1 coarse, #2 polishing and 3# sterile (.5 micron passing.) Instructions are clear and mention that in addition to using the unit for filtering, it can also be used for racking by rearranging the tubing and bypassing the filtration section.
The unit looks like this:
I have the various tubes attached. The intake from full carboy is on the lower right side. Wine passes through the pump section and comes out through the short tube at center right and into the filter section behind the shiny steel plate. It is routed through the three paper filters and emerges at the upper left tube and flows to the receiving carboy or primary. The tube at the bottom drains seepage from the filters into a catch vessel which can be dumped into the source carboy right at the end to be filtered along with the rest.
Here are two views from the sides showing the spaces between plastic filter plates where the paper filters are inserted. The black hand knobs are tightened down before filtering.
The Viognier had sat for several additional weeks after the minimum time per kit instructions and was quite clear. I wondered just how much clearer it could get by filtering. The coarse pads weren't appropriate for such clear wine, so I used the #2's. Here is the wine before filtering (you are seeing a bottle of wine behind the carboy in the first shot):
Instructions say to soak the filter pads for several minutes in water before inserting in the filter unit:
I remembered to prepare and add 1/4 tsp. of k-meta to the receiving carboy!
I also soaked the pieces of tubing in B-Brite cleanser for several minutes and then doused in k-meta before installing on the filter unit.
Here is everything set up at the supply carboy shortly after I started the pump and began filtering.
And a shot of the receiving carboy and catch vessel for the seepage tray.
Here is the whole setup several minutes after starting.
A different view while underway:
Filtering time was about ten minutes. Unfortunately I didn't think to time it. I was too busy thinking about watching tubing connections and watching for leaks around the pads. Here is the empty:
And the final filtered:
Here is the interesting part - How much clearer is the filtered wine? I show before and after photos:
Before</span> side view
After</span> side view
Before</span></span> front view
After</span></span> front/side view
To be truthful, I didn't feel that the clarity of the wine changed that much, just by looking at it. I disassembled the filter unit to take out the used pads, expecting to see some sediment.
A closeup of one shows that there really wasn't much sediment to begin with! All three looked this way:
The wine seems to have brightened up some, but without trying the #3 filter pads right after using the #2's, I don't know if an even greater difference can be achieved. I don't think this wine needs to be any better than it is.
I look forward to using the Mini-Jet on several of my light colored scratch fruit wines in the near future to see if there is a more dramatic change in clarity. We've seen great before and after pictures of some of Martina's home made wines. As far as the Viognier goes, I feel that it cleared on its own very well, a tribute I guess to the kit process. It is now safely bottled and in the cellar, and the long wait before drinking begins again.
The machine comes with motorized filter unit and all necessary tubing, but doesn't have filter pads in the box. They have to be ordered separately. Three pads are needed at each filtering session. The choice of pads are #1 coarse, #2 polishing and 3# sterile (.5 micron passing.) Instructions are clear and mention that in addition to using the unit for filtering, it can also be used for racking by rearranging the tubing and bypassing the filtration section.
The unit looks like this:
I have the various tubes attached. The intake from full carboy is on the lower right side. Wine passes through the pump section and comes out through the short tube at center right and into the filter section behind the shiny steel plate. It is routed through the three paper filters and emerges at the upper left tube and flows to the receiving carboy or primary. The tube at the bottom drains seepage from the filters into a catch vessel which can be dumped into the source carboy right at the end to be filtered along with the rest.
Here are two views from the sides showing the spaces between plastic filter plates where the paper filters are inserted. The black hand knobs are tightened down before filtering.
The Viognier had sat for several additional weeks after the minimum time per kit instructions and was quite clear. I wondered just how much clearer it could get by filtering. The coarse pads weren't appropriate for such clear wine, so I used the #2's. Here is the wine before filtering (you are seeing a bottle of wine behind the carboy in the first shot):
Instructions say to soak the filter pads for several minutes in water before inserting in the filter unit:
I remembered to prepare and add 1/4 tsp. of k-meta to the receiving carboy!
I also soaked the pieces of tubing in B-Brite cleanser for several minutes and then doused in k-meta before installing on the filter unit.
Here is everything set up at the supply carboy shortly after I started the pump and began filtering.
And a shot of the receiving carboy and catch vessel for the seepage tray.
Here is the whole setup several minutes after starting.
A different view while underway:
Filtering time was about ten minutes. Unfortunately I didn't think to time it. I was too busy thinking about watching tubing connections and watching for leaks around the pads. Here is the empty:
And the final filtered:
Here is the interesting part - How much clearer is the filtered wine? I show before and after photos:
Before</span> side view
After</span> side view
Before</span></span> front view
After</span></span> front/side view
To be truthful, I didn't feel that the clarity of the wine changed that much, just by looking at it. I disassembled the filter unit to take out the used pads, expecting to see some sediment.
A closeup of one shows that there really wasn't much sediment to begin with! All three looked this way:
The wine seems to have brightened up some, but without trying the #3 filter pads right after using the #2's, I don't know if an even greater difference can be achieved. I don't think this wine needs to be any better than it is.
I look forward to using the Mini-Jet on several of my light colored scratch fruit wines in the near future to see if there is a more dramatic change in clarity. We've seen great before and after pictures of some of Martina's home made wines. As far as the Viognier goes, I feel that it cleared on its own very well, a tribute I guess to the kit process. It is now safely bottled and in the cellar, and the long wait before drinking begins again.
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