Filtering wine?

Sep 22, 2004 12 Replies

I have been thinking about getting a Buon Vino Mini-Jet Filter. Can someone who has used this give some feedback about it? How easy is it to use as a filter/bottler combo?



The directions say to filter with a #3 prior to bottling but only after using the #2 filters. If I've let the wine age for 4-6 months can I skip the #2 filter all together?



Mark


The instructions say not to use is a bottler. Comes out with too much pressure.

I bought one mos ago. To be honest, I consider it a waste. Effect on filtering is cosmetic at best.

I have one and use it on almost all my wines even though most people look down on this practice. Very easy to use and I only use a #2 pads. I usually use it after 2 months in carboy and then after filtering I leave a few more months before bottling...

I've used one for the last 2 years, mostly on whites that simply won't clear on their own. While I like it, keep in mind that the smallest pore size available for it is 0.5 microns, which is too large to filter out yeast or ML bacteria. I'm now using a cartridge filter set-up from Presque Isle that costs about $50 more than the Mini-Jet, and it allows far more options.

Lee

----------------------------------------------------------- I am probably being impatient! I racked my plum wine off the sediment, topped up, added a crushed camden tablet and placed in a cool environment. (fermenting has ceased) The wine after one week shows little sign of clearing. how long should I leave? should I add finings? A pectin enzyme inhibitor was added during fermentation.

Regards..........Alex K

2 months is a sort of good time..... with fruit wines like plum, blackberry. rhubarb etc I bulk age for about 2 years anyway and will do an extra racking , if necessary, at the end of the 1st year ( and adjust the SO2 if needed). Also I rarely fine -- time and gravity (the heavy sort not the stern sort) do a very good job. But you do need a tad of patience -- and also an ongoing winemaking programme to make sure you always have wine ready for drinking. It just takes a bit of time to build up your stocks!!!!!!!!

I am vaguely against filtering -- it seems a lot of effort to remove particles which, to me, are an inherent and integral part of the wine. Still I don't make a fuss about it! Basically if you want to drink your wine young ( at about 2 months old) you generally need to fine and, I suppose, filter as well. But keep your wine for a year and it will be nicer and clear all by itself!

--------------------------------------------------------------- And there am I worrying after a week. Thanks.

Regards. Alex K

-------------------------------------------- At the moment I have transferred the wine to my unheated outhouse, figured it would prevent any further fermentation. This room is attached to the house and unheated. At the present time temp is

18% C, can drop to around 40% in the winter. Is their an ideal temp to store wine during the clearing process?

Regards.........Alex K

------------------------------------------------------- Sorry! getting my centigrade and Fahrenheit mixed up. I meant to say can drop to around 5%c in the winter.

Regards...........Alex.K

Well, call me crazy, but isn't the point of filtering wine a cosmetic point? We want that sparkling clear wine.

I use my minijet on about 80% of my wines. I love it. I usually let my wines age for 6-12 months in the carboy (sometimes longer). I filter after that. I usually only use a number 3 filter close to bottling time or right before bottling. It makes the wine sparkle.

I have used the Mini Jet quite often. I have never used a #3 filter. I use #1 for reds, and #2 for whites/blushes.

I have never used it as a bottler. We filter into a primary & then bottle from there.

Two problems that people seem to have...

1) putting filters in backwards. Don't laugh, I almost did it last month. Don't know where my brain was.

2) Wine is not clear enough or accidentally pick up sediment from carboy. This causes pads to get plugged up, and wine sprays usually out the top.

Steve

You are right. My response was not well written when I said it was cosmetic (too much wine that night).

I really mean to say the effect, to me, was cosmetic as in not really worth it. Yes, the wine was a tad clearer, but I didn't see such a great difference between my normal wine and the filtered wine. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, but lately I haven't bothered to use the filter at all, and can't say I notice the difference.

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