vinbrite like molasses??

[DrJayman]

Friends-

Added a vinbrite a while back more so for whites, but wanted to check it out on a barolo which was ready to bottle.

This wine was pretty clear, but my big dismay was how freaking slow it was. It started fine, but seemed like 2-3 hrs in was still only halfway and had ground to a stand-still/drip long before. (Did occasionally bleed air out and move it around as well.) I began to panic, as I have read as I recall Wade mentioning it taking like 45 minutes, that it would be exposed to too much O2....so I shut it down, racked the rest over and bottled. When I pulled apart the filter assemble, the filter was darker but wasn't a noticable deposit of junk on it.

1. Is this indicative of the time you are accustomed to accomplish/complete?

2. Is there anything any of you do to prevent introduction of O2 into wine since the filter just rests on top of the depository carboy.

3. Any other thoughts or advice for prosperity?

 

[ibglowin]

In order to use the Vinbrite your wine has to be crystal clear. Remember this is for polishing only. If you have ANY sediment in the wine and you stir it up your toast.

Just stop what you are doing pull out the tubing and let it sit for 2 weeks. A clear Red will take 45 min to an hour. A white 30-40 mins.

The filter should be red but should not have noticable junk on it.

If you bottled this you will most certainly have a fine layer of silt deposit forming on the side on your bottles down the road.

I am speaking from experience here BTW!

 

[Wade E]

Another thing with the Vinbrite is to keep the racking cane way away from the sediemnt until the very last second cause anything to keep thyat filter as clean as possible will keep things flowing good. Ive used my Vinbrite at least 20 times over the years and its always around 45 minutes for 6 gallons withn the exception of one batch where I dropped the racking cane down and it sucked up some sediment and that cloged it up and I had to switch filters in the middle. I wouldnt worry about thyat time period unless you were very low on sulfites at the time. Always make sure you wine is sulfited properly especially when racking as its at its most vulnerable at this time.

 

[DrJayman]

Wade, although the filter didn't appear gunked, it was darker on top side than bottom. I did forget to mention as this was what I would term an introductory kit, I added grand cru and a spiral to give it more backbone, and probably gave it a month in bulk. This was meant to be a "sketti quaffer' so moved it to bottles for short-term consumption this summer.

I will say your point of keeping out of sediment may of course hold some creedence. The bottom was displaced with marbles, and prior to racking I do customarily block the bottom on one side to tilt the carboy to transfer all the "goodness" possible. Although it didn't appear gunked, I so suppose it may have held beyond what it could handle.

I did "internally euthanize" last night the partial bottle left-over from bottling, and although young, was not disappointed for what it was.

DJ