I've been reading this thread and decided to comment on a couple of points.
First off, you shouldn't find sterile filtration to be that daunting. I've done it at home and had no problems with re-fermentation in vitro. It isn't necessary to remove every last yeast cell before bottling. That's pretty much impossible to accomplish even at a commercial winery. You do need to run the wine through a sterile membrane filter though, and they are expensive. Fortunately, they are also reusable if used correctly and will last along time if you run nothing but well filtered wine through them. You also need to be sure the wine has adequate sulfite prior to bottling.
Secondly, if you folks are having trouble with filter media loading up on you, it's probably because the wine wasn't clarified sufficiently prior to filtration. The best candidates for filtration are wines that really don't look like they need to be filtered.
Making wine at homeMaking wine at home isn't necessarily easy. There's a lot of work involved, especially in...
Here's a little tip: A light bentonite fining (1 or 2 lbs.-1000 gal.) aids filtration by dropping out mucilaginous sugars that are invisible to the eye, but tend to blind filter media. Most winemakers don't think reds require bentoniting, but you and the wines certainly can benefit from it.
Ruby Cabarnet Grapes 241Actually, my Ruby Cabs seemed easier to handle than the Zinfandels I did last year. A qualification: I have been stripping them from the stems by hand, then crushing...
Tom S www.chateauburbank.com
