I have been looking at some posts on sterile filtering and have a few questions. I currently filter with a 2.5cfm vacuum pump with a 5 micron filter. I read sterile filtering requires a .45 micron filter. Then I came across an old post started by Norcal in 2016. Stickman responded in the post as follows:
Unfortunately there is no cheap .2 micron filter that works really well. The good ones are between $30 and $40 depending on where you get them from. PIWC has one for $32, it's not absolute rated, but has much greater retention rates than the typical cartridge. The absolute rated filters are twice that price, and even though they are technically the correct one to use, I've never had to go that far to prevent re-fermentation, no issues with back sweetened Riesling with bottles still in the cellar since 2005, 2007, 2011.
So does the .2 micron filter actually take out more "stuff" than the .45 micron essentially making it more sterile. The .2 micron that stickman mentions is cheaper than a .45 anyway.
My other concern is my 2.5cfm pump. Is that going to be strong enough to filter the wine through a .2 micron filter. I was thinking of staring with a 1 micron and then pass it through the .2. Does anyone have any experience filtering with a similar pump. Just want to make sure it's going to work.
Unfortunately there is no cheap .2 micron filter that works really well. The good ones are between $30 and $40 depending on where you get them from. PIWC has one for $32, it's not absolute rated, but has much greater retention rates than the typical cartridge. The absolute rated filters are twice that price, and even though they are technically the correct one to use, I've never had to go that far to prevent re-fermentation, no issues with back sweetened Riesling with bottles still in the cellar since 2005, 2007, 2011.
So does the .2 micron filter actually take out more "stuff" than the .45 micron essentially making it more sterile. The .2 micron that stickman mentions is cheaper than a .45 anyway.
My other concern is my 2.5cfm pump. Is that going to be strong enough to filter the wine through a .2 micron filter. I was thinking of staring with a 1 micron and then pass it through the .2. Does anyone have any experience filtering with a similar pump. Just want to make sure it's going to work.