i have found that the wine i recently bottled (a kit) is all murky. it dodnt look that way a couple weeks ago when i bottled it but who wants to drink it like this? yuk! i just opened all the bottles, put them back in the car boy and will rack a couple more times but should i really be filtering instead? i dont have one and thought i could go through this wine hobby without all the fancy stuff...is it really necessary to purchase a filter???
How young was the wine when you bottled it? If a dry wine is properly fined, cold stabilized and sulphited properly you can get by without filtering it.
Sterile Filtering (0.45 micron) is needed if you want a wine with residual sweetness, unless you use potassium sorbate.
Did you follow the kit's instructions to the letter? They should have provided a sachet of bentonite or some other clarifying agent... anyway, since you have all the wine back in the carboy, leave if for a while longer, say a month or two until all the sediment settles out. You'll want to add an appropriate amount of S02 as well (campden tablets). If it doesn't clarify on it's own, head back to the store you bought the kit and talk to the people there, they should be more than willing to help out...
My understanding is that cold stabilization causes excess tataric acid to percipitate out as crystals, which is what you saw in your concord wine. Some folks stick their wines in an old fridge to cause this to happen in a carboy rather than bottles... normally this is only done with white/rose' wines though... the crystals are harmless. HTH
The kits really are well designed to avoid this. You may question the quality of a kit but it should yield clear wine. If it does not you may have missed a step. The steps should be followed with little deviation. It is usually okay to wait longer between steps but never rush one. Also, one of the most basic rule of wine making is "never bottle a wine that is not crystal clear." It is hard to figure what you might have missed at this point but next time follow the instructions to the letter. If there is any step you do not understand, ask here or contact them.
Ray
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