Has filtering ever caused drastic color change?

[Ajmassa]

Just curious if anyone else experienced a similar outcome. I purchased and used a plate filter system for the first time. My batch required some surgery after some unfortunate neglect.
The now 10 ga. batch is my families simple **** red recipe. Muscat : Alconte. 2:1. After only just filtering through the rough filters (2-7 microns) I noticed that the color cleared and brightened up almost too much.
I must say the wine does look gorgeous now, like glass. But it now it does not look like what I know it should. Instead of a hue or tint that normally is typical of most similar table wines, it now resembles a Rose instead.
Has this family recipe always supposed to look like this and I'm now just finding out because it was filtered for the first time, or is there something else that play that I'm not aware of?

AJ

 

[dralarms]

Yes. Once. I used a charcoal filter instead of a regular one. Was not a good situation

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Yes. Once. I used a charcoal filter instead of a regular one. Was not a good situation

What type of filters are you using ?

I know that the ones I recommended for use of the Allinonewinepump (Spun Polypropylene Filter) - do not pull off any color or taste of the wine,

 

[dralarms]

Steve, it was my first try at filtering and dumb me bought a refrigerator filter. About ruined a peach wine

 

[rustbucket]

...Has this family recipe always supposed to look like this and I'm now just finding out because it was filtered for the first time, or is there something else that play that I'm not aware of?

AJ

AJ,

I've filter several red wines made from juice buckets through a denser filter than you're using and only noticed a slight lightening in the color.

I'm curious:

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• How dark was the wine you're refering to before you filtered it, and

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• Did you have a lot of sediment in the bottles after the wine you made from this same grape variety aged in prior years?

I'm suspecting that you may have guessed correctly; the light rose color of your filtered wine is what your prior year's batches should have looked like had they been filtered.

 

[rustbucket]

By the way, AJ, I noticed that you are a fairly new member. Welcome to the forum.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Steve, it was my first try at filtering and dumb me bought a refrigerator filter. About ruined a peach wine

I understand about the charcoal filter causing those symptoms -

I was referring to mainly -Ajmassa5983

Sorry I should of been more direct -

 

[Ajmassa]

To answer the question about what types of filters, I picked up the octagon shaped plate filter that requires x2 filter discs per 5 ga. about. Rough (2-7 microns) medium (1-4 microns) and polish (.5 microns). At this point I've just put it through the rough filter. View attachment 32455

And to answer the other questions about sediment, yes there is been a fair amount of sediment over the years. Even with multiple rackings for whatever reason this specific combination of white/red tends to leave sediment unless racked like crazy and/or drank after bottling rather quickly. This is the exact reason reason which lead me to suspect the color the batch currently has is potentially the true color of this family red, and nobody ever took to the time to research and figure out until now. The color has always been that of a standard red. Not too deep. Would not leave the purple ring on the lips (unless we had ourselves a very long night that is) but dark enough that you could not see through the glass. I will post pics of the new. I don't think I have any 'before' pictures though.
In the vessels I didn't notice the color change though. I wasn't until I drew out some wine for sampling and testing that I realized how light and clear she looked. I've never seen the family red look so clear and it definitely took me by surprise.

Also Mr Vacuumpumoman, you responded to another post by me which I never responded to, in regards to filtering without a pump and solely by gravity (always the salesman I see). Well just know I did look into your product. It seems as legit as anything. The similar priced pumps look slightly simpler and user friendly, but after some research I think the ability to easily capture the overflow might be the nail in the coffin, which the other pumps don't even mention or show they are even capable of doing at all. Alas, it's hard to make a judgement having never used any kind of pump at all yet. But gravity is for my ancestors. They can have it. Along with bocci ball. I found that I could never get a true siphon to be anything more than a trickle while filtering because the filter system disrupts the true airflow needed. If filtering again on future batches, I refuse to NOT pump.
The main goal of my filtering was to save a batch from bacteria (mycoderma) and in a happy accident I think I've made the first true family red (i say "family"'so I don't get censored again)
My original question i suppose I didn't verbalize correctly tho. Is it possible to filter wine and filter out too much? Can these filters catch certain things that I actually would rather still be in there ? I never would have thought this before my red turned into "perhaps of bottle of Rosè instead. I'll meet you any time you want. At our Italian restaurant".
AJ

 

[rustbucket]

The answer to your stated question is no, the filtering process will not take out essential elements of your red family wine. As a rule, rough filters are used for fruit wines or red wines when there is sediment visible in the wine. After the rough filter, many people filter red wines again with medium filters to get the clarity in their red wines that you're already experiencing in yours. The polishing filters, generally, are reserved for white wines. Even with this level of filtration, all of the wine's essences are preserved. In support of that point, I just filtered a white wine a few days ago; it is crystal clear and tastes fantastic.

I hope this answers your question.

 

[Ajmassa]

Yes, That did answer my question. Thanks rustbucket for making it through my rambling post (had a few in me that night)

 

[Tom_S]

The first time I made a Cabernet Sauvingnon, I made the mistake of filtering it. Filtering took out the deep, rich red color I wanted and made it a somewhat transparent lighter red. So I made the decision to not filter any of my red wines like that in order to leave the color in. When I made a Burgundy I purposefully did not filter it because I didn't want to lose the deep, dark, purple color it was.

The filter I use is a Buon Mini-jet filter with the #2 pads.

 

[Ajmassa]

Tom that's exactly what happened. I don't think that color loss affected the taste in any way though. And that happened after my initial filter through the rough pads. A week or so later I filtered 5 ga. Of my 10 total through the medium pads (1-4 microns) and realized this might have been unneeded. So I stopped there. Before I bottle I am going to rack half of each carboy together so I end up with 1 complete batch of the same wine.
I had no clue that could happen. Out of all the filtering research I've done I have not seen that mentioned once. Yet another reason why I've come to know that this forum is by far the most helpful winemaking tool out there.