Clearing home grown grape wines

[homer]

Wine kits usually have clearing "stuff", what kind of "stuff" should I use on home grown grape wine,thanks? bk

 

[djrockinsteve]

Sparkolloid is what I prefer. You only need a little.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I prefer super kleer it is easy, quick, and the sediment compacts nicely making racking easier. Try them and see which one you like the best.

 

[JohnT]

I would say that this depends on how much you are making. I do not use any fining agents in my wine, but I do age two years, rack several times, and also fileter using a bon vine super jet filter.

for lesser amounts (say a carboy's worth), I would then recommend the fining agents as the cost of a filter would not make sense.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I would say that this depends on how much you are making. I do not use any fining agents in my wine, but I do age two years, rack several times, and also fileter using a bon vine super jet filter.

for lesser amounts (say a carboy's worth), I would then recommend the fining agents as the cost of a filter would not make sense.

Yeah - for years i went w/o a filter - just use the fining agents - it wasn't until recently i purchased the buon vino minijet filter. I did that b/c i know have 4 - 6.5 gallons, 1 - 6 gallon, 1 - 3 gallon - it just made more sense to get one now.

 

[jet]

I used Super Kleer on a batch of this year's chardonel, and the results were amazing.

 

[homer]

How much does a filtering system cost? bk

 

[robie]

How much does a filtering system cost? bk

Contact George at finevinewines.com He is in Dallas, not too far southwest from you.

 

[robie]

Hey Homer,

Have you every bought any grapes from the Italians in Tonitown? I hear they are pretty good.

The U of A there in F. does lots of work with grapes, but I believe it is mostly with table grapes.

I lived in Springdale for about 7 years; I left about 12 years ago. I was not into making wine back then, so I'm not sure if Tonitown is raising wine grapes or table grapes. Being it is a town originally established by Italian immigrants, I would be surprised if they aren't wine grapes... The Italians are great wine makers for sure! Thank you Italy for sending us some of your finest!

 

[JohnT]

A filter can bee cheap (not recomended) or expensive. Again, it really depends on how much wine you want to clear up. For me, several Demijohns worth of wine warrents a suberjet (bonvino). A superjet is about 350, but I have had mine for over 10 years and used it to filter literally thousands of gallons of wine. There are smaller, less expensive models, however. Do some shopping. Filtering is well worth the money!

 

[SovereignSons]

A filter can bee cheap (not recomended) or expensive. Again, it really depends on how much wine you want to clear up. For me, several Demijohns worth of wine warrents a suberjet (bonvino). A superjet is about 350, but I have had mine for over 10 years and used it to filter literally thousands of gallons of wine. There are smaller, less expensive models, however. Do some shopping. Filtering is well worth the money!

yeah, the superjet is a godsend. i scored mine from midwestsupplies.com for $330 last year. i love it. plus, i not only use it for filtering but i'll use the pump by itself to rack. it's marvelous.

 

[Fuegofan]

What affect on taste, if any does filtering the wine have? I just can't see why I'd want to add chemicals to my wine. Does it provide any other benefit?

 

[SovereignSons]

What affect on taste, if any does filtering the wine have? I just can't see why I'd want to add chemicals to my wine. Does it provide any other benefit?

filter pumps like the minijet and superjet don't use any chemicals, nor do they affect the taste. it's simply a pump that draws your wine across filter pads that let the wine through but not sediment (in varying degrees of particulate size depending on what "mesh" filter you're using).

i've never used fining agents so i have no idea if they can affect taste or not.

 

[homer]

Robie, funny you should mention Tontitown grapes, I have 5 gallons brewing made from Marrs grapes as we speak, or should I say type. Chris Renaldi has a roadside farmers market in front of his small vineyard and is going to open The Tontitown Winery.

I talked with Chris about making wine, he's old school, the conversation went something like this; Chris should I wash the grapes? Nah don't worry about that, should I de-stem? Nah just run them through the masher and put'em in the fermenter, what about yeast, don't worry about yeast, they got plenty of yeast. What do you think the SG is? How would I know.

I'll let you know how it comes out. bk

 

[homer]

JohnT, are the filters washable or do you buy new filters everytime? bk

 

[Wade E]

You could also go the route of getting a vacuum aspirator pump like me and a few others and then hook up a whole house filter in between. The whole set up would cost you about $140 and youd be able to rack your wine up hill without ever having to pick up a 6 gallon or bigger vessel again. You could degas your wine with it. You can even bottle with it with the addition of a Boun Vino auto filler which costs an additional $35 and then you could be inserting a cork in one bottle while the other is filling. You also have the option of a gravity filter in which John T spoke of, it is very slow but does work. It takes about 45 minutes to run 6 gallons through but during that time your wine is fine. Ive used one for years and had no problems. I usually did some other wine work during that time while I was down there. I really dont use fining agents anymore unless I have a stubborn wine that just wont clear by itself. When i do need one I use the trusty SuperKleer KC and it has never failed me and works really fast. Just because it works so fast doesnt mean that you should rack it off in 2 days though, give it 1 1/2-2 weeks to let the finer lees fall also and to let the lees compact real good so that when you rack off you dont disturb the lees so easily.

 

[Millzy64]

I bought a Mini Jet a couple of years ago and never looked back. Works perfectly for small batches (6 gallons or less) and the pads are cheap. I think at some point I'll upgrade to the Super Jet as my production seems to get bigger every year. I have found that I need to open up the pump gears every season and lubricate them with Vasoline or I have trouble with priming, but it's really easy to do and the results are amazing.

 

[JohnT]

The results are astounding! It will take an otherwise clear white and make it sparkle. A friend of mine kidded about needing sunglasses to look at the glass.


For the superjet, the filters cost about $5 (usd) and consist of three 8 inch square paper "boards". Depending on the amount of sediment that is being removed, a filter pack should easily filter 2 DJs worth of wine (108 liters). Much like coffee filters, once used they should be tossed.

There are three different grades of of filters #1, #2, and #3 each having a different level of filtration.

A #1 (Blue - filter) is good for the initial racking.
A #2 (Red - polish) is a good "all around" filter.
A #3 (Green-sterilize) is about as tight of a filter as they come.

What I normally do is 2 rackings and and then filter all (red and white) wine with a #2. I find the #1 filters are not really needed since the same amount of clearing occurs through racking.

After a number of months, I filter the whites (just the whites) with a #3. Since white is more translucent than red, I find a benefit to this second, tighter filtering of whites (not so much of a difference in reds)


One note: The filters should be quickly plunged into SO2 solution then assembled in the press. I have found that the filters hold about 500ml of fluid, so I normally toss the first 500ml of fluid comming out of the press. This is the amount of wine that I will loose each time I filter. Some more loss may occur by wine oozing out the sides of the paper filter (but this is very minor).

For this reason, I would not recommend a superjet if you are filtering just a carboy.

 

[robie]

Robie, funny you should mention Tontitown grapes, I have 5 gallons brewing made from Marrs grapes as we speak, or should I say type. Chris Renaldi has a roadside farmers market in front of his small vineyard and is going to open The Tontitown Winery.

I talked with Chris about making wine, he's old school, the conversation went something like this; Chris should I wash the grapes? Nah don't worry about that, should I de-stem? Nah just run them through the masher and put'em in the fermenter, what about yeast, don't worry about yeast, they got plenty of yeast. What do you think the SG is? How would I know.

I'll let you know how it comes out. bk

That is funny, but believable. Those folks from Tonitown have been making wine all their lives. It must work for them. I guess "the proof of the pudding is in the eating"; so have you gotten to taste Chris' finished wines? If you find it a little tannic, maybe you could leave out the stems on your own fermentation. Some commercial wines are still being made with stems on. Fermenting with naturally occurring yeast is still a very active methodology.

I would love to have learned wine making under one of the old-timers from Italy. What a privilege that would have been!!! I lived next to Tonitown for 7 years and never thought about it then.

Because you didn't have the old Italian grandpa to teach you, you might go by SG and use the stabilizing chemicals you have been taught to use on this forum. You have lots and lots of flies and gnats around there, so keep your wine covered.

Keep us informed, I'll bet your wine turns out great.

 

[Wade E]

Filters do a great job, especially when making a white wine or if cutting the time down on bulk aging. With thebtalk about wild yeast. I am not against it just dont want to gamble with my wine anymore. Ive had it come out good and bad this way. I also know of a few people who make their wine this way and most of the wine I dont like but that goes either way also. Al Fulchino on the forum has a commercial vineyard in New Hampshire and makes outstanding wine this way without the addition of blending any Cal. juice or grapes into the mix like a lot of wineries do to an extent and some even cheat and add more then they are allowed to. A winery in Ct. got busted last year or the year before using more Cal products then allowed by law, funny thing is I went there not long before this happened and thought their red wines were one of the worst so even doing that they failed in my eyes.