Greg, I think you made a mistake on the filter size for the removal of
yeast. You want to go below .5 microns (1/2 0f 1 micron) to remove yeast.
Typically you could use a .45 micron absolute filter to get this done, but
may will use the .2 micron absolute in the line right before the wine goes
in the bottle.
I will tell you that as a home winemaker I have used a standard .45
micron cartridge filter in line with my bottle filler to remove the yeast
and not have to use sulphites.(about $35. each) I certainly wouldn't
recommend this for commercial practice, but I have only had a couple bottles
of "sparklers" and haven't ever had one blow up on me. Not truly sterile,
but has been good enough for me for several hundred gallons of off dry
wines. HTH
John Dixon


"Greg Cook" > wrote in message
s.com...
> On 6/6/04 10:54 PM, in article
> et, "stilettorain"
> > wrote:
>
> > I was chatting with a guy at a local wine/beer making supply shop the
other
> > day, and I mentioned to him that a mead I started 13 months ago, is
still
> > fermenting. He said that if I wanted to stop the fermentation, that all
I
> > needed to do was filter it. Not wanted to appear too uninformed, I just
> > smiled and agreed with him. But of course, I have very little idea what
> > he's talking about. I recall from a brewery tour, that some beer
brewers
> > filter their beer to 3 microns to remove active yeast, but is that
possible
> > at home for wine?
> > Do any of you all filter wine to end fermentation?
> > Thanks
> > Nate
> >
> >
> >
>
> You would need to filter with a very small (3 microns you mentioned is
> right) pore size to remove the yeast. The equipment to get sterile
> filtration would be impractical and too expensive for a home winemaker.
Many
> home winemakers use filters mainly to remove particulates and make a
clearer
> wine. They do not filter out all the yeast.
>
> Now, as to your mead . . I too have had meads ferment for a very long
time.
> A couple were going on two years and still bubbling ever so slowly. This
is
> a problem with mead that I believe has to do with acid levels.
Unfortunately
> I never tested the acid on my slow batches.
>
> If your alcohol level is high enough and you are happy with the sweetness
> level, you can chill your wine in a fridge to stop the fermentation, then
> carefully rack it cold and add potassium sorbate and potassium
metabisulfite
> to stabilize it and prevent renewed fermentation. This can be a bit tricky
> to do. For my batches, my alcohol levels were too low, so I added some
> everclear to bring the alcohol up and then stabilized it. That seems to
have
> worked well for me.
>
>
> --
> Greg Cook
> http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine
> http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/aws
>
> (remove spamblocker from my email)
>