So far so good with my crab apple wine. The secondary is finishing
the fermentation. There is a lot of pulp (I think) settling in the
bottom 1/4 of the carboy. I may have squeezed the apples too hard
before racking off the primary.

Question: How do I separate the wine from this pulp when it's time to
rack again? Can I rack most of the wine and pour the rest through
coffee filters for example? Any other suggestions?

TIA

"glad heart" > wrote:

> So far so good with my crab apple wine. The secondary is finishing
> the fermentation. There is a lot of pulp (I think) settling in the
> bottom 1/4 of the carboy. I may have squeezed the apples too hard
> before racking off the primary.

Squeezing them "too hard" might leave you with some bitter tannins, but it's
unlikely to cause "excess" pulp. Apple wine will drop several inches of
sediment after the press. This is normal. Stop worrying. It's settling!

> Question: How do I separate the wine from this pulp when it's time to
> rack again? Can I rack most of the wine and pour the rest through
> coffee filters for example? Any other suggestions?

Separating the wine from the "pulp" (i.e. sediment) is the primary reason
for racking. Look at the response I just posted in the "tomato wine
question" thread as to how to rack the wine off the sediment and recover
most of the remaining liquid.

I would do your best to rack the good wine off the pulp (which should've
settle to the bottom). Coffee filters will clog up pretty quick - I've
tried that among other things, but I worry about exposing the wine to all
that air. Now this has worked for me, but it may not be to everyone's
liking. I pour the pulp into a clear container, cover with plastic &
rubberband, and put it in the fridge. After a few days the heavier gunk
seems to fall to the bottom and leaves a clear liquid on top. When it seems
like the amount of clear wine is staying the same, I just rack the clear
liquid off. There is a method I've heard of about racking to a soda bottle
and putting it in your washing machine to spin, but I have a front loader,
not a top-loader. Good-luck.
Darlene

"glad heart" > wrote in message
om...
> So far so good with my crab apple wine. The secondary is finishing
> the fermentation. There is a lot of pulp (I think) settling in the
> bottom 1/4 of the carboy. I may have squeezed the apples too hard
> before racking off the primary.
>
> Question: How do I separate the wine from this pulp when it's time to
> rack again? Can I rack most of the wine and pour the rest through
> coffee filters for example? Any other suggestions?
>
> TIA

"Dar V" > wrote:

> I would do your best to rack the good wine off the pulp (which should've
> settle to the bottom).

Darlene, I think he's talking about a wine that is just finishing
fermenting. It's way to early to rack. He should wait about a month after it
stops fermenting completely, when it should be fairly clear. If he racks
now, he will have to do it again in a few days, and again in a few more,
exposing the wine to far too much air. Furthermore, because the "pulp" (i.e.
sediment) hasn't had time to settle, their will be much more liquid to
filter or discard.

> Coffee filters will clog up pretty quick - I've
> tried that among other things, but I worry about exposing the wine to all
> that air.

Like any filters, coffee filters are best used on a wine that is almost
clear already. The type of sediment that occurs right after fermentation
ends will clog a filter immediately.

> Now this has worked for me, but it may not be to everyone's
> liking. I pour the pulp into a clear container, cover with plastic &
> rubberband, and put it in the fridge. After a few days the heavier gunk
> seems to fall to the bottom and leaves a clear liquid on top. When it
seems
> like the amount of clear wine is staying the same, I just rack the clear
> liquid off.

That is a good method as well. It doesn't always work, but then neither does
filtering.

> There is a method I've heard of about racking to a soda bottle
> and putting it in your washing machine to spin, but I have a front loader,
> not a top-loader. Good-luck.

You can do the same with a front loader. It is centrifugal force, not
gravity that separates the wine from the solids. After centrifuging, set the
bottle upright, and the compacted solids will sink to the bottom --- just as
they do when removed from an upright.

Next time look at the primary before you do anything.

It's time to rack off the primary when the mush/yeast/solids fall to
the bottom. If it looks murky stir well and let sit a day. The
primary fermentation is going until those inches of lees drop--this
can be a week or it can be 3 weeks.

The you don't waste the space in the secondary. In fact, some people
don't squeeze apples at all--they just chop them coarsely, ferment to
the clear state, and rack off the best apple wine of all.

Irene

(glad heart) wrote in message . com>...
> So far so good with my crab apple wine. The secondary is finishing
> the fermentation. There is a lot of pulp (I think) settling in the
> bottom 1/4 of the carboy. I may have squeezed the apples too hard
> before racking off the primary.
>
> Question: How do I separate the wine from this pulp when it's time to
> rack again? Can I rack most of the wine and pour the rest through
> coffee filters for example? Any other suggestions?
>
> TIA