very basic question

Joe, I don't know what sort of wine you are making, but (IMO) the time of transfer from primary to secondary fermenter is MUCH MUCH TOO SOON to be filtering. As you noticed, all you accomplish is to clog the filter, and expose the wine to far too much air (much less the water). Filtering is only a means of polishing clear wine, or removing certain bacterial accumulations from the surface. Rack without filtering until the final racking prior to bottling. And even then it is probably not necessary.

accumulations

accumulations

I don't think you would want to do this even with white wine, although the author of the book apparently disagrees. Filtering is normally done only once, just before bottling.

Normally, when you go from primary to secondary, the wine is still fermenting. If you attempt to filter at this stage, you will filter out some of the yeast colony and flavour ingredients. This may cause your fermentation to stick (halt prematurely) or your wine to lack some of the robust flavour you seek. There is nothing wrong with 2-3" of sediment in the DJ (I'm not saying to leave it there forever), and if you let it settle a bit before racking, you will probably find it to be only 1-2".

For red wines, you should let the wine clear for about one month (in a topped-up secondary) after fermentation ends before the first racking. The second racking (if needed) should be after another 2-3 months, and the third racking (if needed) after another 3-4 months. More racking than this is unnecessarily exposing the wine to oxygen, and a waste of valuable drinking time. (IMO of course).

Negodki, This person is not talking about fine filtering -- just straining the fermenting must through a cheesecloth. This will not remove any yeast at all, only gross fruit solids.

I agree this is not necessary for most wines unless you have a lot of fruit solid. For this I would recomment a coated metal strainer that you can pick up at wallmart or a wine press with bag as suggested earlier for larg batches. (See my chokecherry wine page for pictures of how I do it). Otherwise, you should rack your wine from the primary off the gross lees and transfer it to your secondary carboys.

I wouldn't worry about the water, it's a very negligeble amount.

Before I put red wine into a barrel, I put it through a screen of sorts, kind of like a tea strainer, but larger. I suppose window screening might work as well.

You'd want to catch any of the large fruit particles, the yeast and little bits won't matter so much, IMHO

Sounds like it.

Usually the order is,

1)Crushing: crush grapes and let them sit on their skins for a time

2)Pressing: a) put mash into a wine press (or in a press bag) and press the mash, OR b) use cheesecloth to hand press the mash

3) put the juice through a screen or seive on the way to the carboy to catch any bits that got through the pressing stage

With fresh squeezed grape juice you will get some pulp getting through. These cells will break open as they ferment and release extra juice (bonus). The cell walls and dead yeast will sink to the bottom, no way around it; just rack the wine off these lees after a week.

Mike P.S. I have read of some wine makers letting the grapes macerate for up to 30 days. I don't think you have done any harm, other than reduce your yield.

M.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. From now on I will either put a "press bag" in the press or use a particle strainer only. This should save me a little time in the process and reduce the exposure of the wine to oxygen.

Joe

If it's a red wine and you're the fermentation is just finished, I wouldn't worry about oxygen exposure, especially the little bit you'd get at racking from primary... the air probably does the wine good at the time.