Filtering

[Lonzo]

OK might be a stupid question but eh I'll ask it anyways. I am making a blueberry pomegranate. racked to the carboy last night at 1.006. When filtering do i treat this as a red and use a 5 micron filter or should i use my 1???

 

[roblloyd]

Since it's dark colored I would say the 5. You could always do the 5 then see how it looks with a light behind it. If it's still not what you want give the 1 a try.
How clear is it now?

 

[Lonzo]

i just racked it from the primary yesterday so it is nasty looking right now

 

[Rocky]

There is always the question of filtering versus letting the wine settle. I attended the AWS Pittsburgh Wine Conference over the weekend and a person who has won many, many prizes for his wine stated that he never filters wine. He uses fining agents and lets the wine settle naturally. I tend to agree with this position. The downside is the wine is "untouchable" for a longer period of time. The up side of that is you let your wine age a bit before drinking it.

 

[Lonzo]

i do add fining agents. in the primary i always ad benonite. then i racked in to the carboy. after about a week when it is completely dry i add k-meta, sorbate and sparkloid. let that sit for another 2 weeks and rack again leaving the sediment behind. that is when i bottle. really clear after that but i figured filtering wouldnt hurt.

right now, 1 day in the carboy, it looks just like tomato soup.

 

[cpfan]

i do add fining agents. in the primary i always ad benonite. then i racked in to the carboy. after about a week when it is completely dry i add k-meta, sorbate and sparkloid. let that sit for another 2 weeks and rack again leaving the sediment behind. that is when i bottle. really clear after that but i figured filtering wouldnt hurt.

right now, 1 day in the carboy, it looks just like tomato soup.

It's VERY early to be worrying about this.

By your comments, it looks like about 4 weeks to bottling. That's pretty quick too.

Steve

 

[wjdonahue]

There are two main reasons why filtering of wine has become so popular.
1. Commercial wineries that make lower grade wines want to get the wine into the bottle as quickly as they can.....so that they can sell it.
2. Kit makers want to get it into the bottle quickly too, but also realize that novice winemakers have more of a chance to contaminate the wine the longer the time before bottling.
In both of these cases, they are trying to get rid of any sediment at the bottom of the bottle which can be a turn off to the wine drinker. Time is money and time can allow for more contamination, so the filter gets rid of the this sediment.
Most good and great wineries are more concerned with the final taste of the wine. Bulk ageing gives the wine uniform exposure to the chemicals produced (phenols, aldehydes, etc.), proper oaking, etc. and only think of bottling the wine when it is ready to be bottled. Many of these wineries don't even use fining agents, realizing that the sediment will eventually settle and the wine will clear without them, and for every fining agent used there is some negatives to the wines. Since they are bulk ageing for long periods of time, why use the fining agents at all?
Most home wine makers forget about, and most cheap wine makers don't care about the three major rules of wine making. 1. Patience, 2. Patience, and 3. Patience. For the home winemaker, getting it into your mouth as early as possible can override what is necessary to make a really good wine.
OK...so where am I going with this. The best wines are made by letting them do their thing, and clearing is one of those things that they will do on their own if left alone. I'm not saying don't use finings or filter, I'm just saying to realize the effects that either will have on your wine. The best compromise is to let the wine clear, then filter it to remove any goobers that you might have stirred up during the last racking. The need to use coarse filters means that either the wine isn't ready to be bottled yet, or that you have significant problems with the wine itself. The use of sterilization filters can have a great effect on the final wine, actually filtering out some of the long chain polysaccharides that contribute to mouthfeel and perceived sweetness.
Do like most of the good wineries do, let the wine clear on it's own, then as a safety blanket, use only a medium polishing filter to make sure that anything in the wine due to your lack of meticulous handling are eliminated. And also recognize that in reds, no matter what you do, some sediment in the bottle after ageing is normal.
A great winemaker (the father of the California wine industry) once told me to always remember "Patience is a virtue, but in making wine, it is all ten of the commandments rolled into one."

Bill

 

[roblloyd]

Yup. Let it age and sit and clear on it's own for a month and see what happens. I've done the kits where it looks great after the fining agents have done their thing. Then I rack and let it sit for a couple more months. There is always something else on the bottom. Not much but sediment is there.

Better to age in the carboy where you can test and control what goes on and let it clear on it's own.

 

[Runningwolf]

Are we talking about a kit or from scratch? Either way I agree let your wine settle out and clear mostly on its own. Then add a clearing agent such as Super Kleer and let it go for another month before racking that off. I do filter all of my wines but not for sediment but to polish my wine.

 

[Wade E]

Ive had wines age over a year and still drop sediment in the bottle a few times. I have tfilkter system and admit I still refrain from filtering once in awhile and have kicked my self in the arse for doing it. With whites and very light fruit wines go with the 1, for darker wines you can still use a 1 if you want but not really needed as youll never see it truly sparkle like a white does.

 

[TicinoVintner]

There are two main reasons why filtering of wine has become so popular.
1. Commercial wineries that make lower grade wines want to get the wine into the bottle as quickly as they can.....so that they can sell it.
2. Kit makers want to get it into the bottle quickly too, but also realize that novice winemakers have more of a chance to contaminate the wine the longer the time before bottling.
In both of these cases, they are trying to get rid of any sediment at the bottom of the bottle which can be a turn off to the wine drinker. Time is money and time can allow for more contamination, so the filter gets rid of the this sediment.
Most good and great wineries are more concerned with the final taste of the wine. Bulk ageing gives the wine uniform exposure to the chemicals produced (phenols, aldehydes, etc.), proper oaking, etc. and only think of bottling the wine when it is ready to be bottled. Many of these wineries don't even use fining agents, realizing that the sediment will eventually settle and the wine will clear without them, and for every fining agent used there is some negatives to the wines. Since they are bulk ageing for long periods of time, why use the fining agents at all?
Most home wine makers forget about, and most cheap wine makers don't care about the three major rules of wine making. 1. Patience, 2. Patience, and 3. Patience. For the home winemaker, getting it into your mouth as early as possible can override what is necessary to make a really good wine.
OK...so where am I going with this. The best wines are made by letting them do their thing, and clearing is one of those things that they will do on their own if left alone. I'm not saying don't use finings or filter, I'm just saying to realize the effects that either will have on your wine. The best compromise is to let the wine clear, then filter it to remove any goobers that you might have stirred up during the last racking. The need to use coarse filters means that either the wine isn't ready to be bottled yet, or that you have significant problems with the wine itself. The use of sterilization filters can have a great effect on the final wine, actually filtering out some of the long chain polysaccharides that contribute to mouthfeel and perceived sweetness.
Do like most of the good wineries do, let the wine clear on it's own, then as a safety blanket, use only a medium polishing filter to make sure that anything in the wine due to your lack of meticulous handling are eliminated. And also recognize that in reds, no matter what you do, some sediment in the bottle after ageing is normal.
A great winemaker (the father of the California wine industry) once told me to always remember "Patience is a virtue, but in making wine, it is all ten of the commandments rolled into one."

Bill

Great post and I agree that some of the best wines I have had always had a bit more sediment than most others. Here the last few drops of sediment is considered the "Love" of the wine.

 

[Wade E]

I will add that especially with darker red wines we dont have or cant afford the right equipment to properly test the wine, for instance we really should be testing for total dissolved solids in the wines as even after fining there can be a signifacant amount of solids in the wine that will eventually settle out but this can take years! Filtering it is much chesper then the testing equipment needed! Another problem is imbalances in the wines and although we msy test for ph, ta, and SO2 the problem can go farther then that and we just dont have an usually cant afford equipment to test further.

 

[TicinoVintner]

Would siphoning with a cheesecloth at the end as a filter be sufficient for WM from grapes?