"Tom" > wrote in message
...
> John,
>
> Heap of questions on your Enolmatic filler.
>
> Where did you buy your filler?
I bought mine from a display at the Midwest Wine and Grape show from a
vendor, but they are readily available.
Did you buy two filter units or are you
> passing only one?
What I have is 1 clear water cartridge 10 inch housing that I bought from a
plumbing store.($25) I'm still thinking about putting 2 inline but haven't
yet. ( like a 1 micron in front of a .45micron) I then buy the filter
cartridges from Presque Isles. This cartridge set up is mounted on a wood
frame set up similar to what you can see on Presque Isles website with the
addition of a on/off switch.
What I do is filter all the different wines using a Procon pump( $110.)
I also bought from Presque Isles that is attached to what is called a
carbonator motor by means of a v-band clamp that cost about $1.85 from
Presque Isles (it is needed to couple them). The 1/4 hp GE motor was
purchased from Granger for about $60.
Are the filters washable? and how long do the filters
> last?
It depends on what you define washing is. Before I use the filter cartridges
I put fresh water in a pail and add sulphite and citric acid. I run this
through the pump and filters and the bottle filler if I am using it
recycling it for a minute or so. I then run some more fresh water without
sulphite through it tasting the water until I cannot detect any off tastes.
Take out the water and start filtering the wine. When I am done I rinse in
reverse until I am satisfied it is clear of wine. I then store the
cartridges in a strong sulphite/ citric acid water in tupperware spagetti
containers labeling which filter is which and how much wine has been through
the filter. I have also heard of people using vodka and pvc tubing for
storage.
As to how long they last it depends on which filters you get
(type,brand, how fine) and the biggest factor is the clarity of your wine.
I only filter a wine if I think it is ready to go in a bottle without
filtering. I tried to filter a cloudy Rhubarb wine once with a cheaper 1
micron wound filter and it was plugged by the end of 5 gallons. Had that
been a $35. filter you can see how expensive it could get in a hurry.
Presque Isles has some notes as to what amount of wine you can expect to get
through their filters, but 200 gallons plus is not out of line.
Now if the wine has already been filtered, or I am only going to put it
through 1 filter I have put the filter cartridge in line between the carboy
and the Enolmatic filler and vacuumed the wine through the filter as it is
going in the bottle. This is as close to sterile filtering I can get in my
basement. Doing this I have eliminated using Sorbate on almost all of my
wines and knock on wood I have only had a couple bottles carbonate on me out
of a few hundred. Those that did I suspect it was from pushing the filter
past it's lifetime causing the wine to go around the filter cartridge. A
good way to tell if the filter is at deaths door is to install a pressure
gauge on the pressure side between the pump and filter. Usually the needle
barely moves off 0- 1psi in my setup. As soon as it gets up around 5 psi it
is trash. An exception seems to be the wound filters which have backpressure
when new. Just note when you get the cartridge new what if any pressure
there is when you are filtering just water as a baseline. Note that other
than seeing the speed of filling decline there is no way to tell that the
filter is clogging in line with the Enolmatic as it is using Vacuum. I
suppose something could be rigged up, but I haven't bothered.
HTH
John Dixon
>
> Thanks a bunch!
>
> Tom
> "J Dixon" > wrote in message
> news
> > Tepe, I have an Enolmatic counter pressure bottle filler and I think it
is
> > ideal for the home/small winery. It will fill a bottle in about 6-7
> seconds
> > when set at it's maximum setting, or it can be adjusted down to go
slower.
> > It has the advantage of allowing you to adjust the fill height easily,
and
> > being that the wine is drawn by vacuum it helps with degassing at
bottling
> > time. The pump is also strong enough to draw wine through a cartridge
> filter
> > which I put inline when I am not using Sorbate. HTH
> > John Dixon
> > "Tepe" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > I am looking for a faster way to fill wine bottles. Currently I use
> > gravity
> > > and a Listermen bottler filler.I had an idea. what do you think of
> filling
> > a
> > > corny keg, add a picnic faucet with a hose attached to the end. I
would
> > only
> > > add a few lbs pressure to force it out. Pro's / Cons?
> > > Tom
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > Home of the
> > > MOON RIVER BREWERY
> > > &
> > > DELANCO VINEYARDS
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>