Filtering your wine isn’t necessary but some people do this to leave their wine super clear with tons of clarity. Personally I’ve never filtered the wine that I’ve made and I didn’t see any problem what-so-ever with the wine looking unclear, cloudy or like it had any foreign debris in it.
Filtering wine is simply forcing your wine through a barrier or media that grabs onto the solids or particles that are in the wine. The wine is either pulled through this filter with a vacuum or is pushed through with some sort of pump or pressurized gas. In either the push of a pump or the pull of a vacuum you need force to make the filter work. In case you’re wondering a coffee filter won’t do you any good in filtering your wine.
Wine filter rigs come in two basic varieties, they are:
1. Canister Filter Rig – A canister wine filtering system works with a cellulose filter media that the wine is pushed through with the help of a pump. This inexpensive wine filtering setup will set you back about $100.
2. Wine Filtering Pad Setup – This filter setup pushes the wine through a set of filtering pads that are held together. These are also called Buon Vino Filter Rigs. These cost around $400 but can handle higher capacities of wine.
You can also look into renting wine filtering equipment. You might want to check with your local Home Brewing Store to see if they can rent you filtering equipment. This might be a cheaper alternative especially if you are only doing a few batches of wine a year.
I also checked on Amazon and found a wine filtering systems that was only $53 and is called Vinbrite Wine Filtering Kit. After looking at this I “might” considering purchasing this. Like I said though, I’ve never ever noticed any issues with wine floaters or any other noticeable particles in my homemade wines.
My advice is if you’re just getting started making wine, make a batch of wine without filtering and go from there you can always purchase a wine filter down the road if you feel the need.
The majority of the particles settle out and are left behind as you “rack” your wine of from one wine vessel to the next. Racking wine properly takes a little practice. The idea is not to stir up the particles. Wine filters could be a way to combat a cloudy wine, etc.