What are the Pros and Cons of Filtering?

[PolishWineP]

Time can be very good for settling your wines, maybe even an extra racking after some extra time in the carboy. I don't think we've ever filtered a red; we don't seem to mind the sediment in the reds like we do the whites.
We use a gravity filter, low cost, low stress, no noise. But really, time in the carboy can be your best friend.

 

[Dean]

What was the temperature of the wine when you were degassing? If the wine was below 74F, then you will have a much harder time degassing the wine. You need to measure the liquid temperature and not the ambient temperature to get an accurate temperature. I usually degass all my wines at closer to 78F.

 

[Dominick]

I tried something lastnight.

Around midnight I grabbed a bottle off the rack and put it in the refrigerator
just checked the bottle now after racking the Lambrusco, and it has no sediment marks, nothing on the sides of the bottle like the earlier pics on this post.

It is still laying down in the fridge so im gonna let it sit there too see if any sediment appears to stick to the bottle or if it floats in the wine.

 

[Dominick]

Dean i did not take temp when i degassed. Ill make sure to give that a try next time. - My cellar temp was around 73-74 at the time. - Didnt temp the juice though. I remember degassing before & after the liquigel & siligel, i followed directions that were in the MM booklet. I try to go exact to those directions.

The only thing different i done was

1. added yeast nutrients into the must right before the 1st racking
2. added 4-5 camdem tablets along with the Sorbate before bottling

I think, I should of never added the liquigel and siligel,
It says too bottle about 8days after adding that, but i didnt i let it sit in the carboy longer. -- what i should of done was not add the fining agents. --- and right before bottling added them. Thats what I'm thinking.


Edited by: Dominick

 

[Wade E]

Another good thing to do is rack off the sediment from clearing and let it sit in that carboy for awhile and then bottle from there or from a bottling bucket with spigot. this way lets you bottle from a vessel with much less sediment in there so as not to get as much or any in your bottles. I always do this!!!!!!!Even if its only a few days between you will get much less sediment this way!
Edited by: wade

 

[JimCook]

Dominick,


On the new Mosti instructions, I believe it states that if you are planning on bulk aging the wine to delay adding the liquigel and siligel until 8-10 days before bottling. Based on Wade's excellent advice about degassing before clarifying, I would personally let it sit a bit longer than 8-10 days. Time is your friend here, to the point where you may actually not need the clarifiers at all. Worst case scenario, you can pop the bottlesand put the wine back into a carboy to let the sediment drop out before bottling again.


Uavwmn - I think a lot of people bottle early, so who knows what the 'norm' really is. I try to emulate the scale of a production winery's timeframes, so I'd rather have stuff aging en masse, but that's just me.


- Jim

 

[Dominick]

My last racking I left the sediment behind.

Then I transfered the wine from the carboy to the fermenting bucket.
When I did that there was no sediment in the carboy. The wine was clear.

Thats why im really surprised to see sediment in the bottles.

 

[Wade E]

Sounds like you did everything right then except giving it more time.

 

[Dominick]

yea gonna start writing down dates and keeping track of the time.
i wanna get this down pat, its good to have have some sediment in the bottle, but not at this early age, if it was aging for 2yrs or more, then i guess it would'nt be that bad.

So would you consider this wine corked? - Would you drink this wine after it aged some? Can use decanter to leave the sediment in the bottle?

This is the Nero. I really dont want to toss it out.


Edited by: Dominick

 

[Wade E]

To be honest I might consider putting this back into carboy to let everything settle out if you feel that this is a fining agent and enough in there that might give you an off flavor as a fining agent can do if left on there too long. On the other hand if its not fining agent residue or not that much of it then I would decant as you said and leave the residue behind or just pour carefully out of the bottle.

 

[Dominick]

I just opened 2 bottles.

1 bottle of my Nero that i put in the refridge lastnight
1 bottle of Arancio 2006 Nero D'Avola

Since i put my Nero in the refridge last night the sediment has disappeared, so I pop the cork on the bottle to smell and taste.

Also opened the Arancio 2006 and smell and taste.
Had my dad do the tasting with me.

We both came to conclusion my NERO is 100% better in smell, taste, and everything. So I just grabbed another bottle off my rack one that is showing the sediment and put that one in the refridgerator. Now i want to see if the sediment is gonna disappear like the bottle from lastnight.

No sun out today so i put a flashlight under the glass and looked at the wine. Although not crystal clear it was Clear.

This is what it looks like with about 2inches of wine in the cup.

and

This is what it looked like with the glass half full. I see maybe 3 dots.

I used a regular glass not a wine glass.
I'm gonna take the shot and keep it in the bottles and take it from there.
Hopefully it will turn out Ok.

After pouring out the wine from the bottle of Arancio, we saw there was alot of sediment on the bottom of that bottle.Edited by: Dominick

 

[uavwmn]

Jim, the bulk aging is hard for me!! I seem to have more patience "aging" my wine in a bottle all cozy with the other bottles in my wine rack.

 

[rshosted]

I have a filter and have done it both ways. I, too, have found that white 'stuff' in a bottle, even after filtering. I have done wines since, filtered and unfiltered and found they do not have that 'stuff' in them. Here are a few things I have 'fixed' about my technique.

I bulk age a LONG time now. Usually a year. But I also barrel now too and use time in a carboy.

I degas much better. I use a vacuum degasser and turn it on and let it degas.

I stopped using camden tablets and purchased a scale. I use potassium metabisulfite directly. I have no clue what they use as a 'filler in camden tablets. I know it won't hurt you but that extra stuff has to go somewhere if it isn't absorbed. (which it might, but I don't know.)

I've noticed in fresh grape wines that I've made they also drop a white powder looking stuff. It's pretty cool actually. Also, I would NOT open up any of the bottles if they are already bottled and pour them back into a carboy for fining; just learn from your experiences. Drink the wine and make more.

As for the wines I have seen drop sediment after filtering... I used the filter primarily with reds. I used a large/coarse filter as I didn't want to take any 'flavor' from the wine. In retrospect I don't believe filtering takes flavor. I do KNOW that filtering shocks wine. And many believe that it alters the flavor. It takes a bit longer after filtering it to get back to where it is happy. Much like bottling, but even more invasive. Filtering can affect the protein chains and polysacharides that may be forming in the wine. But they will reform in the bottle after filtering, it just takes longer.

Anyway, I know filtering causes many many debates and I've done research on both sides. I personally dont believe it makes a difference, other than you will get a clearer wine.

I've also cold stabilized a few wines. While I didn't get crystals, I did get a fine layer of white dust on the bottom of my carboy. Seemed to clarify it pretty well. So if you live in a climate like I do, leave your carboy in the garage during the winter months and let it cold stabilize.

Either way, drink and enjoy. I have no doubt that your wine is perfectly drinkable.
Cheers,
Ryan