I've made a few batches of wine, mead, and cider. They taste good, however, I feel like every time I bottle, I end up with ALOT of sediment in the bottles (bottling still). Typically, Ive turned these around quickly. Two months max (one month primary, one month secondary). Is this WAAAY to fast? How can I achieve supreme clarity in my wines and ciders?
How do I achieve absolute clarity in wine/mead/cider....
- Thread starter mikesalvo
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nice! I figured that would be your answer. I was impatient for my first few batches, but Im glad I was. Got it out of the way. Ready to be patient and make something good. Does anyone ever rack out of secondary into another clean vessel after say a few months? To start fresh, and achieve a clearer finished product?
I find a cure for lack of patients (I am very impatient) is lots of small batches starting every 2-3 weeks. By doing it that way I always have something that needs to be messed with 
Once most of the lees has dropped out and the wine is mostly clear racking to a new clean container will help.
Once most of the lees has dropped out and the wine is mostly clear racking to a new clean container will help.
as a newbee, (only 4 batches of wine so far) it's my understanding several or more rackings (and time) is standard procedure for clarity in wine.
Time is the best way for it. What I do I rack into my secondary. Leave it for about 2 months. Then filter into a new clean bottle. Then I rack again every month after that until there is no sediment. Then I filter one last time before bottling. This should give you a clear wine.
huesmann
Well-Known Member
SuperKleer KC.
After filtering, you should not have any sediment at all. That's odd.
I do much as the others have said. Rack whenever there are lees 1/4" thick, or any lees at all after 60 days. I wait until the wine is crystal clear and then sometimes will stick it in a cold place for cold stabilization. Even when it's crystal clear, sometimes more lees will fall out when the temperature is dropped. That also causes tartaric acid (wine diamonds) to fall out.
Most wines (except for kits) are 9-12 months old or sometimes older when bottled.
No, filtering is done only with clear wines, so that sediment and debris doesn't clog up the pads. A wine should be clear before filtering- and then it will be brilliant. Here's a typical wine filter set up: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/mini-jet-wine-filter.html
If you already have kegs and co2 to push the wine, it can be done with a slightly different filter and hence a bit cheaper.
The mini jet works great but like yooper says get your wines clear first. I typically filter after the third racking, which is about 5 to 6 months. And if you wait that long normally you can filter 4 6 gallon carboys with the same set of filter pads.
