I'm accustomed to making wine out of juice, sugar, yeast, water and campden tablets. Then I rack to get rid of the lees.
My question is how do I get rid of the slop from using whole fruit or pulpy juices. I'd like to use old fruit, peels and such, but it seems like the trouble of separating the wine from the junk is just too much trouble. Is there a way to separate a messy mash from the wine easily?
Chia Pet,
Have you tried putting your fermentables in a fine mesh bag, like a straining bag used for straining paint? Some people also use (new) pantyhose; I think the mesh might be finer. In either case, occasional handling of the bag helps extraction, but may release more gunk. Removing the pulp then becomes a simple matter of taking the bag out & letting it drip into a bowl for a while. Squeezing it works, but it may also release too much solids.
HTH, Mike MTM
That's a good idea. I'll give it a try. I've tried just letting pulp settle in some wines, but it's terribly messy and wasteful. The solids are puffy, and when I try to filter, the filter just clogs.
In an chemical industrial setting we used a large filter bag and pump to press the liquids through (not for wine but other chemical filtration), but it's expensive for small runs.
Has anyone ever tried freezing? (though I imagine that might be illegal a a form of distillation)
Strain the must through a collander or a wire screen of some sort. Then you can press or squeeze the remaining pulp to obtain more wine. That's the basic way I do things.
Just ferment on the fruit and then pour it through a straining bag when SG gets down to below 1.010. Squeeze gently. (Or hard if you are frugal.) Then let finish fermenting. It will still throw a lot of sediment. Just use a racking wand and leave the sediment behind. Do not bother straining this. It really is no major problem. Then clear and rack as with any other wine.
Ray
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