Filtering Experiment

Glen, I don't have any experience with the Super Jet but I do have a thought on it. I like the idea of what you are trying to do, but I am concerned that if the pads are rated at .5 nominal then it most likely rated that way through 3 pads that are the same. That having been said- I would imagine this wine is dry and has been through MLF so there shouldn't be any stability problems and it should be a good plan. John Dixon

I have a mini jet and it does not work that way, all 3 pads are exposed to the same wine via an input port; in your example most of it would go though the coarsest media. If you put your pads on and all of the holes line up identically, it works like mine. I have no experience with a super jet, but think it works the same way. Hope this helps. Regards, Joe

John & Joe,

It appears you're right Joe, I just checked the plates. It appears that the wine is channelled through the large intake hole at the top and is evenly distributed and forced through all three pads simultaneously before entering the out-take tube.

I will need to use the same pads during each operation otherwise it would result in only a portion of the wine running through the fine pad.

Obviously large wineries must set up simultaneous filtering through increasingly finer pads.

Thanks anyway and cheers,

Glen Duff

ps Does any> Joe, Are you saying that the wine does not have to go through all three pads

John & Joe,

It appears you're right Joe, I just checked the plates. It appears that the wine is channelled through the large intake hole at the top and is evenly distributed and forced through all three pads simultaneously before entering the out-take tube.

I will need to use the same pads during each operation otherwise it would result in only a portion of the wine running through the fine pad.

Obviously large wineries must set up simultaneous filtering through increasingly finer pads.

Thanks anyway and cheers,

Glen Duff

ps Does any> Joe, Are you saying that the wine does not have to go through all three pads

Typically, the wine that goes into the plate & frame filter looks just about as clear as the wine coming out. For some wines the plate & frame is followed by a sterile cartridge filter right at the bottle filler. The entire operation is done all at once.

There are some setups that use a crossover plate midway down the stack of plates (or thereabouts) so that you can use coarse pads on the first half of the stack and finer pads on the second half. The crossover routes the output from the coarse pads through the second (fine) pads. You _might_ be able to rig a Buon Vino filter to do that if you're handy with machine tools. Otherwise, just hang a 10" housing with sterile membrane cartridge on the output of the Buon Vino.

Tom S

Glen, They have a website but it does not say; Here is the information address though.

snipped-for-privacy@buonvino.com.

I never use anything but the finest ones on a white, I have the others but never used them. I fine first, so by the time I filter it's pretty clean to begin with.

Regards, Joe

John, Yes, if you wanted to use only 1 pad you might get away with it. Mine plug up pretty quickly with fined wine; maybe 10 gallons per set of 3. I think the most I ever did was 20 gallons of Chenin Blanc. At that point it looked like the Three Stooges were filtering the wine, it was spraying out of the sides everywhere. I just put the drain pan tube back into unfiltered wine and re-circulate the stuff that leaks out. None of these yellowed prematurely, so I guess I did not over-aerate it.

I always presoak mine in a ~0.5% citric acid solution and flush that through the filter after assembly (right before use on the wine) to try to eliminate a papery taste too. I can see if I have any leaks without wasting wine that way.

Regards, Joe

Does that work well? I've been trying to solve that papery cardboard taste of my filtered wines. Can you give me more details about your experience with this?

Greg, I use cartridge filters so I cant speak specifically about the pad types, but I think the premise is the same. I use a sulphite/ Citric acid blend in water and recycle it through my filtering system to sterilize and remove off flavors. I then rinse with cold clear water and taste it to make sure it tastes fine before proceeding. I recall reading something about presoaking the Mini jet pads prior to use some where and that makes sense to me. I would rinse them prior to putting wine through them though, or at the very least tossing the first 1/2- 1 bottles. ( which means put the second

Greg, John summed it up pretty well there. I do pretty much exactly what he said there, a sulfite/citric soak (about 1 gallon) for about 10 minutes and assemble. Run that solution through the filter, followed by about a gallon of clear water. Taste it. Then I waste the first bottle or so to purge the filter of the water, and add a bottle or so to top up. I usually filter into a carboy and let it settle down for a a few days at least before bottling. (I'm not trying to sterile filter; given my setup, it would be asking too much.)

Mine is a minijet so if you have the super, you may want to increase the quantities.

This filter has a pretty weak suction, but does the job once primed. One day I will lube the impeller assembly, that should help that.

Regards, Joe

I have yet to use a fine filter on my super jet. I use all mediums on white to polish. All I really care about is getting the protein out out so there is no clouding later. No problems after 3 years. I used a course once to clear a elderberry wine that wouldn't fine out. Tim

Thanks for your thoughts. I genearly soak my pads in cold water for 2-3 mintues and then run a gallon or so of cold water through the filter before running the wine. I still had a papery taste. I just tried rinsing with a citric acid solution and then rinsing by running with water. That seems to make a big difference!