Filtering

[Wineman727]

Alright So ive been reading the Alaskan Bootleggers Bible and he never mentions anything about filtering. But he says that when you bottle your wine, to use caps instead of corks because if you use a cap then when you open your wine to drink it, all the left over yeast that might have died of while you bottling it will be at the bottom and it wont stir it up when your pouring. Now I have never gotten a bottle of wine from a store that has had stuff at the bottom. So should I filter the wine before Im about to bottle it? Would a couple coffee filters work? Will it dilute the taste at all?

 

[Green Mountains]

I see no reason why corking or capping your wine should make a difference in stirring up yeast in the bottle.

 

[Wineman727]

I see no reason why corking or capping your wine should make a difference in stirring up yeast in the bottle.

Ok thanks. My main thing is, will filtering the wine before bottling not allow any sediment at the bottom of my bottles and will it take away from the taste at all?

 

[granda]

have patience most peaple only filter wines for competions but all all wines will clear enough for everyday life if given time and no i wouldnt use a filter if the wines are for drinking at home

 

[Wineman727]

have patience most peaple only filter wines for competions but all all wines will clear enough for everyday life if given time and no i wouldnt use a filter if the wines are for drinking at home

But there might be sediment in the bottle and I want my wine to look pretty

So will it make a difference if I filter it?

 

[Green Mountains]

I don't filter....yet.... but that being said I don't think it's done with a coffee filter.

 

[drizztkun]

so cheap to rent the machine at my local shop, and even if it doesnt improve on taste it does make it shine a lot more.

 

[cpfan]

I believe that filtering wine with a coffee filter will be painfully slow. We tried filtering a gallon of liqueur once and were frustrated to beat the band, used 2 or 3 coffee filters, and finally gave up.

Filtering PROPERLY (wine filter, proper pads etc) takes no flavour, taste, etc from the wine. But you need to filter cleared wine or the pads get blocked and wine squirts up down & sideways (yeah I've done it). I have on occasion had filtered wine set sediment (not wine diamonds) but it is rare.

Steve

 

[Wineman727]

I believe that filtering wine with a coffee filter will be painfully slow. We tried filtering a gallon of liqueur once and were frustrated to beat the band, used 2 or 3 coffee filters, and finally gave up.

Filtering PROPERLY (wine filter, proper pads etc) takes no flavour, taste, etc from the wine. But you need to filter cleared wine or the pads get blocked and wine squirts up down & sideways (yeah I've done it). I have on occasion had filtered wine set sediment (not wine diamonds) but it is rare.

Steve

So what do you do if the wine you filtered and bottled has sediment? Just leave it?

 

[Minnesotamaker]

My guess is that the Bootlegger Bible is suggesting caps instead of corks because they're believe that it's better to leave the bottle standing upright so that the sediment falls to the bottle bottom. If you use corks, you need to lay the bottle on its side to keep the cork moist.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I use a buon vino mini-jet filter - it does a nice job of clearing and adding a polished finish to my wine.

I was the same way - i would wait a long time - racking several times for clearing and adding clearing agents.

I still add my clearing agents before filtering - but the filtering does add a nice polished finish to it.

 

[Green Mountains]

That makes great sense Lon, hadn't thought of that.

Wineman, are you making recipes from the bootleggers bible? The easiest way to prevent sediment is patience and time, time and patience.

That and multiple rackings and use of fining agents.

I do however, have a white zin that I hurried along and have sediment wisking around in the bottles each time I pick one up to admire it, so I know what you mean.

 

[NSwiner]

If i was going to do the long process of racking numerous times and waiting for it to clear & age I don't think I would bother adding the fining agents .

Green mountain when you talk about sediment in the white zin did you filter that one or just put inthe bottles a little early ?

I filter all my wines I add the fining agent then wait a couple weeks then rack to another carboy let it sit atleast another week to see if anything else is going to drop out ,plus easier on the filters if you do the extra rack .So then I can filter 2 wines with one filter for sure with no problems .

 

[Rock]

We filtered and bottled our 08 wines in dec.and starting to see sediment in bottles,07 chilean syrah that was filtered and bottled 14 monthes later and were seeing alot of stain in the bottle.So filtering doesnt always help in the sediment part.

 

[mmadmikes1]

I filter before I bottle to prevent bottom of bottle dust. Being said I age first and filtering does sometime improve taste because it will take out remaining yeast and I don't like taste of yeast. It will also help in preventing re-activeated yeast and bottle bombs. Yes, it does make wine pretty and presentation counts.Ask any top chef

 

[winemaker_3352]

mmadmikes1 - I totally agree.

 

[Green Mountains]

Darlene,

I think we rushed it to bottle but it looked totally clear in the carboy after several rackings. It's actually more of the dust that Mike describes.

Darren