I make exclusively country or fruit wines. A few have great difficulting clearing and I very much like good color and clarity. I am right now for the first time trying a Vinebrite Filter to filter 5 gallons of Pear Wine. Oxidation is a concern of mine and my concern has increased due to the speed, or lack thereof in this process. I am in my 15th hours and probably two-thirds of the way through. Is this pace to be expected or am I doing something wrong? The results look great.
Keith
As you suspect, you're doing something wrong. :^/
Cloudy wines are not good candidates for filtration. They have so much suspended solids that they quickly blind the filter media and then the throughput rate slows to a trickle, which is exactly what you're seeing.
For your next batch you need to get the wine to a point where it has no more than a _slight_ haze prior to filtration. IOW, the wine should look like it doesn't really need to be filtered. To achieve that may require fining, a very long period of settling or both. Also, in the case of country wines especially, a pectin haze may be the problem. You can deal with that by treatment with a pectic enzyme - either pre or post fermentation, although my preference is pre.
You have just learned the same lesson I learned in 1984, except I had close to 200 gallons to deal with!
Tom S
I make a lot of country wines and find that most will clear on their own in
6 to 9 months. If they do not or I want to force them clear I use SuperClear. It is a two step clearing process. You rack to a bucket, stir in a packet of stuff, wait a few min's and stir in a second packet of a different stuff. Then put it back in a carboy under an airlock. It usually is clear the next morning but I give it a week just to be sure. Amazing stuff.Ray
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