Straingin out solids

[RadicalEd]

Ok so I put my sake fermenter away for a few months and forgot about it, but I gots to move out! So I was figuring it'd be a good idea to get it into bottles or at least a glass carboy, rather than the large stone crock it currently is in.

Just one problem...the entire thing is a massive goopy mix! The particles are just fine enough to not entirely settle out, and block up any filter material I've tried to use. I don't have a wine press, or access to one. How do you guys recommend I strain this stuff?

Thanks in advance,
Eddie

 

[mrhead]

The first thing that came to my mind was distillation. Not sure how feasible this would be with sake, but if it works you'd get one hell of a high alcohol level. Just rig up an old pressure cooker with some copper tubing and let heat pull out the liquid. Again, I have no idea if this is smart with sake, the heat could have negative or positive effects, or you could just end up with moonshine

 

[BigKahuna]

Ok...First, STOP TALKING ABOUT DISTILLATION! It's not legal, and it isn't tolerated here.
If you search other Sake Recipies, you will find out that it is NOT like wine, but maybe some vinters tricks may help:
The chunks are unfermented rice solids. They will evenutally settle out, try cold crashing.

Search the forum for clearing sake, and maybe clearing wine. Post back and let us know what you decide to do.

 

[RadicalEd]

Well, I had to get all of the moving done with, so I tossed all of it into a glass carboy. Hopefully the additional vertical height will assist in the solids settling out (the crock is much wider). If that fails, I'll try to assist it with a bunch of gelatin. And if that fails, I'll just decant off what little I can and call it a day. Seriously, there's no way to filter this stuff, at all.

 

[BigKahuna]

Well, I had to get all of the moving done with, so I tossed all of it into a glass carboy. Hopefully the additional vertical height will assist in the solids settling out (the crock is much wider). If that fails, I'll try to assist it with a bunch of gelatin. And if that fails, I'll just decant off what little I can and call it a day. Seriously, there's no way to filter this stuff, at all.

Serious last result...
Pasta strainer and rinse a tea towel in starsan, and wring it out. Use the towel to line the strainer. You will end up with a ball of goop in the cloth, kinda like straining the curds out of cheese.

 

[RadicalEd]

I already tried that with a nylon paint strainer, with even courser holes than a tea towel. So should let the fluid out more easily, right? Well, the hardest squeeze I could muster (and I'm a big guy) yielded just a trickle of liquid out. Maybe I'll try again with squeezing smaller amounts (I was trying to squeeze ~ a gallon of the stuff), as I should be able to increase the pressure on it more.