On 10/25/2011 9:43 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> What do you use to filter the fruit parts out of the wine?

Gravity and time. Especially time. This is not a hobby for the impatient.

> My red wine has
> fine particles in it. What I've decided to do is let it sit around long
> enough so that all settles to the bottom

Good plan.
> and then carefully pour off the
> clear wine.

Bad plan.
>
> What's the proper technique?
>
Wait for the crud to settle (assisted by finings if needed), then siphon
the wine off of the crud. Every time you move the carboy, you're going
to stir up some of that stuff on the bottom; the more you move it,
especially the farther you tip it, the more stuff you're going to stir
up. There is *no way* that you're ever going to *pour* clear wine off of
the sediment at the bottom of the carboy; however, if you're reasonably
careful, you can easily *siphon* clear wine off of the sediment.

Depending on how thoroughly the solids have settled, out, you may need
to do this more than once: wait, siphon, wait a month, siphon again.

I have found a handheld laser pointer to be quite valuable in seeing
suspended particles in the wine. Works best in a dark room. The more you
can see the beam in the carboy, the more matter is suspended.
Oftentimes, a wine will look clear, and shining a laser through it
suddenly shows it's not nearly as clear as it looked at first.