Back in the 90s whenI I used to brew white wine, I just left it until the sediment was almost solid. The wine got clear and tasted OK - or so I thought at the time, haha.
35 seconds in and I can tell this is gonna be good. I did this when I first started brewing because I lacked the funds to do it properly... it didn't work out as well and it takes way too long anyways. Took hours to do a gallon of brew. EDIT: I didn't think of the whole air thing. Which explains why it tasted nasty lol. Not to mention it doesn't get all the lees and sediment at the bottom.
I just now tried filtering a half gallon of "Welch's Reserve" through my Aeropress with double filters. Did not work just wasted about 30 minutes. I've come to embrace the yeast and I really don't mind it. My wife on the other hand, just knowing it's there, it puts her off. She prefers sweet red wine, so I poured her a glass of my DIY and she didn't notice until I asked her if she noticed anything different and after her asking enough times why there were condom wrappers in the trash I finally broke down and bought some damn airlocks. I think my next move is a 5 gallon batch of Welch's Reserve(wow, just googed how many bottles 5 gallons make, 24!) I also threw in a handful each of dried white grapes and cherries to use instead of yeast nutrient and there are no complaints here. Happy fermenting!
my mother suggested using coffee filters three separate times so far to save the leftover wine or mead after racking before. I told her repeatedly why it doesn't work, but she still suggests it
I did this with my first Mead. It was a Maple Blueberry Mead, and after properly siphoning my 4x750ml bottles that I left to age, I got about 250ml into the 500ml Maple Syrup bottle, with a swing top, that I had used for the mead. I ran what was left through a coffee filter and got another 250ml of mead, filling the Maple Syrup bottle, but it took about 15 minutes and still came out a milky colour. I chilled it and drank it green later that night. I did the same when I first racked it, though that time I only did enough to fill a small glass for sampling. Vinegar was not really a worry, when I was going to drink it right away.
I've left the leas behind because they go in with the flour and become focaccia the next day. An important point about the acetobacter. They are toxic to lactobacter. Lactobacter is a good bacteria that makes a lot of what we all love, from sauerkraut to yogurt to sour dough bread. Lactobacter also plays a role in the aging process of brews lending a healthy acid over time, but an acetobacter infection that may not result in vinegar could result in none of the benefits of lactobacter because it killed them off with the resulting brew still being bad.
LOL my wife did this today with her first brew of vinegar... er... I mean delicious cider... I got the proper supplies (including siphon) to do a different brew. I'll follow Brian's steps through what I've seen throughout the other vids. I bet it'll taste amazing!
Even doing the cold brew coffee, it's impossible to strain it through a coffee filter. There's just too much ultra fine particles that clogs up the filter.
you can modify the funnle with a mesh insert to enlarge the surface area of filtration (the same way a buchner funnle works) and speed up the gravity filtration process. also if vacuum filtration is an option, it would eliminate the oxygen problem and also speed up filtration by a ton.
@@CitySteadingBrews I'm just saying :D may be helpful for people in a hurry for small scale batches or for brews that won't clear up nicely other ways.
yeah... tried this with my last batch of mead since i havent gotten my siphon yet... didnt work very well. i did better with just pouring until i started getting sediment and stopping with a little liquid loss. siphon is next on my buy list.
I just made a bunch of beer and I ended up with a couple of bottles to fill and I ended up with some yeast at the bottom. I was really hoping to click on here and have the magic answer just give to me LOL but I get it. I just think I’ll rack it a couple more times than usual. Thanks.
My siphon tube has a filter chamber built into it where I place 2 filters folded I half into it and them do a forced siphon which forces the brew through the filters. I evacuate the air by pushing sterile water to fill the hose and chamber and then start the siphon process.
I remember brewing for the first time, I brewed maple syrup wine in a glass milk jug that I saved from the recycling and cleaned out(was 14 didn't have too many options). I actually used a fine metal mesh strainer it sorta worked just yeeted the solids in the trash periodically too speed it up. Worked ok I guess but the auto sythene is better.
Thanks Brian. Love your video's. I'm new to brewing since watching your videos. Have a traditional mead bubbling away right now. Look forward to trying it.
I tried a coffee filter with the cloudy, beer-like dregs that were left after racking the batch of Syr Michael of York mead I started awhile back. Forget it. Don't waste your time. The dead yeast particulates in suspension are so fine, they go right through it.
On top of everything else that Brian has said, I have found in my experience that yeast are too small for the holes in the coffee filter to catch them all.
I know this video is 2 years old, but I recently acquired a grape wine recipe that dates back to at least the 1850's. Ive made it as close to the original instructions as I humanly could. Although I have a few questions that maybe you can answer. The recipe is as follows: "Grape Wine - Ripe, freshly picked, and selected, tame grapes, 20 lbs. ; put them into a stone jar and pour over them 6 qts. of boiling soft water; when sufficiently cool to allow it, you will squeeze them thoroughly with the hand; after which allow them to stand 3 days on the pomace with a cloth thrown over the jar, then squeeze out the juice and add 10 lbs. of nice crushed sugar, and let it remain a week longer in the jar; then take off the scum, strain and bottle, leaving a vent, until done fermenting, when strain again and bottle tight, and lay the bottles on the side in a cool place" Making the wine I didnt have any issues at all. It seemed to ferment nicely, and is a very lovely color. My questions are, How do I tell when it is done fermenting? I know i can stop it from fermenting in various ways, but i want to stay as close to the original way it was done as possible. It said to leave a vent until its done fermenting... Without buying wine specific things to "leave a vent" what is the best way i could do so? And finally, what is the cheapest/"free-est" way to filter wine that you would recommend? Ive tried coffee filters and i agree with you, it sucks. Thanks in advance for this video and any advice you or anyone may offer. Youve earned a subscriber from me. And i would LOVE to see how you would make this recipe and how you would change it or wouldnt change it. The writer of the recipe says that he prefers it to 9/10th of all wines and that it is supposed to taste like the grapes.
I don't filter. As for when it's done, we have a video coming out tomorrow going over that. Airlocks are your friend. Trust me, the small investment is worth it.
Never did the coffee filter however I just purchased a filter and pump to try. Not so much to filter anything you can get out with a siphon and racking but to polish the wine before bottling. We shall see how that goes.
I use a permanent coffee filter. Filtered in acouple seconds. I don't need anything fancy. I drink half gallon in about 4 hrs,then it's nap time,Lol, so it don't get no time to turn to vinegar. I was just looking for some ideas. Siphon is probably best. Thanks for a great video, you got New sub.😊
Meh I bought a siphon to rack my wine with a filter on the end, but the end that goes into secondary doesnt have a tube beyond the pump... so that means the wine has to go through all the air from the top of the 2ndary all the way to the bottom... I dont understand why they would make a siphon specifically for wine making that forces you to make the wine drip all the way from the top to the bottom like that... =/
I just did the same. I brewed without using a bag. They are so hard to find in the right size. Appreciate any help there. I plan to "scoop" the fruit out using a strainer and let it sit on the lees a bit longer as I'm just at the 2-week mark. Does that sound right Brian and Derica?
I dumped the brew into a stainless steel pot that had a painter’s straining bag in it. The straining bag worked really well and was cheaper. Then cleaned the fermenter and dumped the brew back in. Let it settle again, then bottled.
Really love how commited to simple home brewing you are, i'm on my 4th gallon batch now and they have all turned out great thanks to you, my latest brew has a LOTof lees and i dont want to lose too much, any ideas how to save as much as poss?
Let sit there as long as possible without any movement. Have brews that were cloudy for 2 years and then became almost clear in the 3rd year. The yeast will sink to the bottom, but it couls take - literally -years. If you can wait, do it. If not... Enjoy your drink. It's cloudy, it's not poisonous
I never thought of filtering the whole mead batch but I do want to try to use the filter only on the last bit that I can't get with the siphon. Since I an intending to drink it right away, the air thing isn't an issue. However, watching your demonstration, that brew seems very cloudy after going through the filter. Not sure the Coffee filter is fine enough to get the lees out at all. Thanks for the demo.
I have some 2 year old bottled mead that has some junk left in it. Still taste good. How would filter this? Have you ever tried using a water filter pitcher?
I won't bore you with all of the details on how I made my Homebrew wine, but my concern is after I added the yeast, it became very cloudy. I tried to filter it through a glass drip coffee maker which has a spaghetti strainer and I used a coffee filter. Unfortunately it didn't take out very much of the cloudy substance out of my brew. I'm wondering what I can do to make it as clear as when I first started before the yeast? Please note, I made this as a homebrew, and I don't have the expensive or fancy equipment that most Professional Brewers have. If I really had to, I could make a filter out of charcoal and some other sediment capture layers in order to potentially remove the cloudy look, but I want a professional opinion or perhaps your comment section, seeing how they seem to be well knowledgeable on this subject. Any help would be much greatly appreciated. This is my first time actually attempting this on purpose, and I want to get the best product possible for my own first attempt. It may not look the greatest, but it does taste like wine, but I noticed it does kind of smell off, when I first brewed it, it had a wine slash beer smell to it, but now I think I'm starting to smell a vinegar smell to it, not what you think wine should smell like. But then again, it is my first attempt, and I'm kind of playing around with it too, dialing things in.
I agree with everything, but one thing is that I feel the o2 issues isnt the largest issue. I made grape wine by freshly crushed garden grapes, some store bought wine yeast, After I siphoned for my first rack, I had so much liquid left cause of some uncrushed grapes and some caught in skins so I had to full thru a almond milking cloth and squeezed all the juice out of the skins and seeds. This resulted in a great wine, however I do support your idea of getting the least amount of o2 into your brew whenever possible.
My paint sprayer has a rough screen on the bottom of the paint pickup (called a rock catcher) and I've thought something like this would possibly be a good way to add some filtration to the siphoning process. It would be hard to get the screen size right, and that seems like it would vary depending on what you have in the primary...
I use a funnel with a tube (extended to bottom of flask) in a bung, on a 2 L Erlenmeyer flask with a vacuum port. the vacuum provide the negative pressure and will provide extraordinary clarity. but then I do collect lab glassware.
I use filter paper sheets to filter my wine, and approximately an hour I filtered 20 liters of wine. I have, obviously, not used coffee filters or small circular filters.
Well... siphoning is the answer. You can use cheesecloth over it to keep out some chunks, but it won't stop the lees. Racking twice is a good plan too :)
Love your Videos. They have helped me greatly for producing my own meads. Very informative, and solid infromation. However, with all due respect, I see an issue regarding the filter and it does work, especially if you use a wider coned funnel. Here's why! I get oxygen is bad for the final finish, and that there is air already trapped in the bottle, however for a liquid to enter and occupy a closed space (bottle with funnel) then the previous air has to be released, otherwise the area is just being pressurized and no liquid can continute to enter, as a result of the debris cloging the entrance throung the filter. I notice the funnel is rested at the opening of the bottle. With the filter in the funnel, naturaly the opening would clog as it traps the undesireables. However, as liquid rises the debris settles below the surface trapped in the filter, thus trapping the liquid. So given the observance of displacement, any remaining liquid would escape through the easiest exit, rising over the debris, escaping through the pours of the filter and being released. But in this case it cant. Some how the previous air is unable to escape. Its due to the funnel blocking the neck of the bottle and causing a seal resulting in an airlock. So the filter will work, but the funnel has to be raised a little to let the trapped air out and the rest of the fluid to pour through. I hope that made sense. Again, I love your vids, and I am a subscriber. I hope you continue to make more videos and inform the populous on the joys of brewing at home!
I use coffee filters. But I combine metal mesh coffe filters with ordinary paper filters. The reason paper filters clogs up is due to poors being blocked when soaked and pressed against plastic surface. if you put it in e metal mesh or strainer the surface area increases greatly and also flow/rate. Its still not the best solution but for those like me who dont want to spend extra cash its definetly useful for sorting out chitosan and silica compounds that have interacted with yeast and proteins. Just make sure to flush the filters so you dont get cellulose in your brew and its useful for stuff you dont intend to shelf for a very long time.
I tried the same thing myself a few years ago with the same results. I just take the last inch or two of the jugs and combine them to drink for myself. Tastes about the same and it's all for me. Might try some layers of cheese cloth if I really feel like it.
I have been searching all over for a video explaining why my first batches of mead tasted like sour vinegar. Now I know! However, I'm still confused as to exactly how I did it. It fermented for about 3 weeks. I racked into second vessels with the hose all the way to the bottom. Sanized very thoroughly. Clean hands, rubber gloves, the works. Idk. I wanted to avoid the potassium sorbate, but I think I'm going to crater and try it on batches 3 and 4.
@@CitySteadingBrews you guys pasterize, right? I think I saw a "how to" video of you guys pasterizing. I'm gun shy now and scared I'm gonna set myself back 2 months again.
@@CitySteadingBrews Well I'm 50 years old and I wanted a new hobby and thought about wine making for some time. I teamed up with this older retired guy. Did a fair amount of research and talk to other wine makers( mostly older folks). I want a variety of flavored wines. Plus when I pick up a hobby I get a little obsessed. So far I've made 55 bottles of choke cherry wine and 33 bottles of high bush cranberry wine. I want to make dandelion, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry and mango wine. These type of fruits a abundant in this neck of the woods except the mangoes. I guess if I was to give my wines as a gift to people and they say that it's good shit. It would give me satifaction. Me and the retired guy said we're living the dream ha ha ha . Have a good day.
Did a sweet Mead last year, racked a couple times but the cloud never would fully settle. So just went and bottled it, for months it was still cloudy so i was getting a little worried. Just looked at it a couple days ago and it had fully settled, so that was from June 27th 2019 to Feb 20th it took to settle, poured of as much as i could from the bottle into another. I'm just gonna leave the other bottles alone till I finish this one.
Not really, just let them sit. Time works wonders and you're aging it too. We did a video on why we don't use clarifiers though: ua-cam.com/video/eSwXBpq7-ZA/v-deo.html
I tried a cover filter about two or so months ago but for a different reason. A long story short I was using a juicer for apple juice, problem was that it was throwing a lot of blended pulp into the juice. Thought about filter paper in the form of an A4 but wasn't sure if it would be food grade. Went with the obvious coffee filter paper. Set up a bottle and a funnel and put the coffee filter in. Filled it up and it filtered for about five seconds and stopped, thought it was a bit odd but had a rough idea why. Removed the funnel and empted the paper back into the pulpy juice. Tried a second time, same thing. At this point I knew it wasn't going to work but wanted to try just one last time and ditch it if I could get it to work. Third try came and the same result. Ditched that idea really fast. My logic was that pulp like dirt would allow the water or in this case the juice to run/filter through and then into the paper because there would be micro air gaps. What I didn't account for was the fact that the pulp would clog all air space to prevent it from filtering, I didn't account for this because of the previous reasoning. Moral of the story? Coffee filter paper was pointless, I wasted more time by trying to save time. Conclusion? I learnt helpful information that can be or in this case not applied in future applications.
I use a variety of filter but usually only with the lees. Even then the funnel (4 pint capacity) has a pipe attached and the pipe goes in the bottle. Never had a problem :)
Im a Commercial HVAC guy . So would it be better to make a filter and pump set up for brewing . Because all the one’s i have seen . Are nothing more then a cheep or a half ass attempt to filter . But what i have planed would do it fast . And with a bum hole you can keep it air locked
Would this be a good idea if you wanted to save the liquid in the dregs and make apple cider vinegar with it, or is there a better way to reclaim that last bit?
Wish I’d seen this a week ago. Made my first batch of wine. Wondered why I would symphony when I could run it thru a filter. Hopefully I didn’t ruin it. But question, if it does turn to vinegar can I use it as vinegar?
just a thought, could you use the filter in the end of the hose when your doing your first rack? If it's on the end of the hose in the bottle it wouldn't be introducing air and it might give more surface area as to not clog, again it's just a thought.
So before I saw your videos I was making Dandelion wine and after a couple weeks I reracked it to get the Dandelion flowers out but now I have introduced oxygen, what now?
@@CitySteadingBrews I ran it through a stainless steel strainer to get the little Dandelion flour parts out. It is the next day and its back to bubbling and smells like Co2. I'm not sure if you have a video on this but I have argon I could add? Saw it in someone else video. And yes I see from your videos now I should have used a cheese cloth lol.
don't know if anyone has tried it but what about using a fuel filter in your syphon tube? You wouldn't be adding oxygen and if you really wanted to filter it it might work
Hey Brian, That was pretty clear and concise! I do have a question for you, I started your recipe for Ginger Beer on the 7th Feb', it was slow to start, about 12 hours (average temp' here is 30 c, no AC.), now it has completely stopped, your thoughts and or suggestions, please? On the previous day I did Jalapeno, it is still going strong. As always your views from your videos are very clear and always look forward to the new ones, You and Derika are the reason that I finally took the plunge to start brewing. Fred and Soraya... Indonesia
Fred Christie check the Facebook group, we've covered a whole slew of different problems with ginger beer. Just hop in and search ginger beer, the answer will be somewhere in there.
@@RyanC1984 Thanks for your response Ryan, however, because of my location (Indonesia) Facebook will not let me access it as they think I am trying to hack into my own account... Thanks anyway, Fred
@@RyanC1984 Hi Ryan, sorry to take so long in getting back to you, I have over the past day taken very close observation on the G/B as it turns out it has not actually stopped , it is however as you said very slow! It was very slow to start then went crazy for a day and a half, so after the observing I have decided to just leave alone for now. I am not sure if you noticed I am in Indonesia, getting the right equipment is extremely difficult, i.e.: I ordered a Hydrometer 6 weeks ago and has still not arrived, it took 2 weeks to get my airlocks, even then only two arrived from the 6 I ordered. The other thing I have to contend with is the ambient temperature which is a very constant 30 c and this is the rainy season, so any suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your assistance. Fred... Indonesia.
Yeah just be patient, my ginger beer have taken anywhere from 15-24 days, we’re in winter here in the USA so it’s throwing things for a loop since this is the coldest winter we’ve had since I started brewing.
I have a question what is the difference from using regular fleischmann's bread yeast vs using the fleischmann's extra rise yeast and also is there another way to filter wine better than a coffee? filter I have little cash flow right now and can't get a siphon.
I haven’t seen much difference in those yeasts tbh. Don’t use coffee filters…. A siphon is the best way. That can just be tubing if that’s all you can get.
I have a question for you though. I have a fruit wine that I racked using egg whites, it tastes great, very clear but it causes my face super flushed and hot when I drink it. What does that sound like to you? It only happens with that specific fruit wine.
I've yet to add egg whites to a brew, just seems like it could go badly. I'm thinking this has a high alcohol content, that can cause what you're experiencing, or you're allergic to something in it.
It’s certainly high abv, had 2 glasses and I was about to lose my legs. Egg whites have always work well for me with the wines I make with high diacetyl because they give it a kind of lite smooth texture.
@CityStandingBrews Question what about whole house filter systems can these work without changing the taste of the wine? I mean it would be the cloth filters yes more expensive but if worth it then great. Please and thank you for any feed back
Have you tried allulose as a sucrose substitute? Do you know whether it ferments? If so, does it have a 1-to-1 replacement value? Supposedly only 70% as sweet. I suppose I could just try it, but I work in 1- and 3-gallon batches (and not many of them at a time), and I don't want to waste one on a potentially dumb experiment.
We have used it to backsweeten many of our brews in the past year or so. It does not ferment. It works great to sweeten things you want to carbonate or, if you don't want to pasteurize.
For those that still want to do the paper filter with some modification: pour some of your good brewing water through a paper filter and taste the difference in the water from before and after - yuck! It also ruins whatever you just spent time brewing too, but is not as easily detectable. Or as Brian already said - don't do it!
I've done this and can definitely say that it takes a VERY LONG TIME! Don't do this. Listen to Brian.
Should i just siphon?
Same XD
Yes, siphon.
Back in the 90s whenI I used to brew white wine, I just left it until the sediment was almost solid. The wine got clear and tasted OK - or so I thought at the time, haha.
I just strain it through the few teeth I have left and chew the chunks.
Lol
hahaha
🤣
Ik a buddy j like this lmao made my day
A trooper!
Loving the one on one feel this has. Definently keep these kinds of videos on small topics. Short and sweet with a little information
Thanks, we are trying new things!
Thank You! This video saved me from the mistake of filtering through a coffee filter and causing issues with my homebrew.
35 seconds in and I can tell this is gonna be good. I did this when I first started brewing because I lacked the funds to do it properly... it didn't work out as well and it takes way too long anyways. Took hours to do a gallon of brew. EDIT: I didn't think of the whole air thing. Which explains why it tasted nasty lol. Not to mention it doesn't get all the lees and sediment at the bottom.
What about a Britta filter? Just before drinking?
@@zebman74 there is active charcoal in there. You would filter out the majority of flavours.
I just now tried filtering a half gallon of "Welch's Reserve" through my Aeropress with double filters. Did not work just wasted about 30 minutes. I've come to embrace the yeast and I really don't mind it. My wife on the other hand, just knowing it's there, it puts her off. She prefers sweet red wine, so I poured her a glass of my DIY and she didn't notice until I asked her if she noticed anything different and after her asking enough times why there were condom wrappers in the trash I finally broke down and bought some damn airlocks. I think my next move is a 5 gallon batch of Welch's Reserve(wow, just googed how many bottles 5 gallons make, 24!) I also threw in a handful each of dried white grapes and cherries to use instead of yeast nutrient and there are no complaints here. Happy fermenting!
my mother suggested using coffee filters three separate times so far to save the leftover wine or mead after racking before. I told her repeatedly why it doesn't work, but she still suggests it
Well now you can show her this video! 😃 👍
I used a fine muslin cloth , it was brilliant
I did this with my first Mead. It was a Maple Blueberry Mead, and after properly siphoning my 4x750ml bottles that I left to age, I got about 250ml into the 500ml Maple Syrup bottle, with a swing top, that I had used for the mead. I ran what was left through a coffee filter and got another 250ml of mead, filling the Maple Syrup bottle, but it took about 15 minutes and still came out a milky colour. I chilled it and drank it green later that night. I did the same when I first racked it, though that time I only did enough to fill a small glass for sampling. Vinegar was not really a worry, when I was going to drink it right away.
I've left the leas behind because they go in with the flour and become focaccia the next day. An important point about the acetobacter. They are toxic to lactobacter. Lactobacter is a good bacteria that makes a lot of what we all love, from sauerkraut to yogurt to sour dough bread. Lactobacter also plays a role in the aging process of brews lending a healthy acid over time, but an acetobacter infection that may not result in vinegar could result in none of the benefits of lactobacter because it killed them off with the resulting brew still being bad.
LOL my wife did this today with her first brew of vinegar... er... I mean delicious cider... I got the proper supplies (including siphon) to do a different brew. I'll follow Brian's steps through what I've seen throughout the other vids. I bet it'll taste amazing!
Thank you for the PSA :) Trying to filter anything thru a coffee filter, beyond coffee, is a time-consuming mess.
Actually most of them suck for coffee too!
Thanks for sending me this. It was informative. I'm doing research now. Getting the base knowledge about to get my a bunch of tools to start.
Even doing the cold brew coffee, it's impossible to strain it through a coffee filter. There's just too much ultra fine particles that clogs up the filter.
Agreed. I keep my grind coarse with a burr grinder and that helps a lot.
you can modify the funnle with a mesh insert to enlarge the surface area of filtration (the same way a buchner funnle works) and speed up the gravity filtration process. also if vacuum filtration is an option, it would eliminate the oxygen problem and also speed up filtration by a ton.
Doesn't really solve the issue. It's just so much better to let it attenuate out over time and use a siphon.
@@CitySteadingBrews I'm just saying :D may be helpful for people in a hurry for small scale batches or for brews that won't clear up nicely other ways.
Thank you for the clarity Brian.
yeah... tried this with my last batch of mead since i havent gotten my siphon yet... didnt work very well. i did better with just pouring until i started getting sediment and stopping with a little liquid loss. siphon is next on my buy list.
I just made a bunch of beer and I ended up with a couple of bottles to fill and I ended up with some yeast at the bottom. I was really hoping to click on here and have the magic answer just give to me LOL but I get it. I just think I’ll rack it a couple more times than usual. Thanks.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
I love the way this was shot. Good lighting, focus, etc.
Thank you for noticing! We are working hard to improve our production value!
My siphon tube has a filter chamber built into it where I place 2 filters folded I half into it and them do a forced siphon which forces the brew through the filters. I evacuate the air by pushing sterile water to fill the hose and chamber and then start the siphon process.
Never seen one like that. I would think the filtration might slow or stop siphoning though...
Very clever execution Brian
Thank you kindly
I remember brewing for the first time, I brewed maple syrup wine in a glass milk jug that I saved from the recycling and cleaned out(was 14 didn't have too many options). I actually used a fine metal mesh strainer it sorta worked just yeeted the solids in the trash periodically too speed it up. Worked ok I guess but the auto sythene is better.
Thanks Brian.
Love your video's.
I'm new to brewing since watching your videos. Have a traditional mead bubbling away right now.
Look forward to trying it.
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
I tried a coffee filter with the cloudy, beer-like dregs that were left after racking the batch of Syr Michael of York mead I started awhile back. Forget it. Don't waste your time. The dead yeast particulates in suspension are so fine, they go right through it.
On top of everything else that Brian has said, I have found in my experience that yeast are too small for the holes in the coffee filter to catch them all.
While I agree that you should not use a coffee filter. You could reduce the issue of oxygen exposure by attaching a tube to the end of the funnel.
true, but when the tube fills up, where is the force coming from to force the liquid into the bottle?
@@Silvers24 Yeah, you would have to slowly raise the funnel to keep the tube just below the surface
By the time you've done that.... you could have siphoned 10 gallons.
I know this video is 2 years old, but I recently acquired a grape wine recipe that dates back to at least the 1850's. Ive made it as close to the original instructions as I humanly could. Although I have a few questions that maybe you can answer. The recipe is as follows:
"Grape Wine - Ripe, freshly picked, and selected, tame grapes, 20 lbs. ; put them into a stone jar and pour over them 6 qts. of boiling soft water; when sufficiently cool to allow it, you will squeeze them thoroughly with the hand; after which allow them to stand 3 days on the pomace with a cloth thrown over the jar, then squeeze out the juice and add 10 lbs. of nice crushed sugar, and let it remain a week longer in the jar; then take off the scum, strain and bottle, leaving a vent, until done fermenting, when strain again and bottle tight, and lay the bottles on the side in a cool place"
Making the wine I didnt have any issues at all. It seemed to ferment nicely, and is a very lovely color.
My questions are,
How do I tell when it is done fermenting? I know i can stop it from fermenting in various ways, but i want to stay as close to the original way it was done as possible.
It said to leave a vent until its done fermenting... Without buying wine specific things to "leave a vent" what is the best way i could do so?
And finally, what is the cheapest/"free-est" way to filter wine that you would recommend? Ive tried coffee filters and i agree with you, it sucks.
Thanks in advance for this video and any advice you or anyone may offer. Youve earned a subscriber from me. And i would LOVE to see how you would make this recipe and how you would change it or wouldnt change it. The writer of the recipe says that he prefers it to 9/10th of all wines and that it is supposed to taste like the grapes.
I don't filter. As for when it's done, we have a video coming out tomorrow going over that.
Airlocks are your friend. Trust me, the small investment is worth it.
Never did the coffee filter however I just purchased a filter and pump to try. Not so much to filter anything you can get out with a siphon and racking but to polish the wine before bottling. We shall see how that goes.
I used a coffee filter today to get rid of extra hop crap....it's a SLOW process...but it seems to be working....
I use a permanent coffee filter. Filtered in acouple seconds. I don't need anything fancy. I drink half gallon in about 4 hrs,then it's nap time,Lol, so it don't get no time to turn to vinegar. I was just looking for some ideas. Siphon is probably best. Thanks for a great video, you got New sub.😊
Meh I bought a siphon to rack my wine with a filter on the end, but the end that goes into secondary doesnt have a tube beyond the pump... so that means the wine has to go through all the air from the top of the 2ndary all the way to the bottom... I dont understand why they would make a siphon specifically for wine making that forces you to make the wine drip all the way from the top to the bottom like that... =/
My question is how should we remove the fruits and berries when taking it from a bucket to put in the gallon bottles
I just did the same. I brewed without using a bag. They are so hard to find in the right size. Appreciate any help there. I plan to "scoop" the fruit out using a strainer and let it sit on the lees a bit longer as I'm just at the 2-week mark. Does that sound right Brian and Derica?
I dumped the brew into a stainless steel pot that had a painter’s straining bag in it. The straining bag worked really well and was cheaper. Then cleaned the fermenter and dumped the brew back in. Let it settle again, then bottled.
Really love how commited to simple home brewing you are, i'm on my 4th gallon batch now and they have all turned out great thanks to you, my latest brew has a LOTof lees and i dont want to lose too much, any ideas how to save as much as poss?
Let sit there as long as possible without any movement. Have brews that were cloudy for 2 years and then became almost clear in the 3rd year. The yeast will sink to the bottom, but it couls take - literally -years. If you can wait, do it. If not... Enjoy your drink. It's cloudy, it's not poisonous
It certainly did work, and I didn’t oxidize it, but my goodness it took forever, so yeah haha
Anything Apple I love. More Apple beverages please!
Great video - short, informative and just enough information to mull over.
I never thought of filtering the whole mead batch but I do want to try to use the filter only on the last bit that I can't get with the siphon. Since I an intending to drink it right away, the air thing isn't an issue. However, watching your demonstration, that brew seems very cloudy after going through the filter. Not sure the Coffee filter is fine enough to get the lees out at all. Thanks for the demo.
Fantastic video, love the way you laid out the example and info. Keep up the great work! :)
Thank you!
I have some 2 year old bottled mead that has some junk left in it. Still taste good. How would filter this? Have you ever tried using a water filter pitcher?
I wouldn't, just don't shake it up and pour carefully.
Y'all really are the Will and Dawn of homebrewing
I have no idea what that means.
I won't bore you with all of the details on how I made my Homebrew wine, but my concern is after I added the yeast, it became very cloudy. I tried to filter it through a glass drip coffee maker which has a spaghetti strainer and I used a coffee filter. Unfortunately it didn't take out very much of the cloudy substance out of my brew. I'm wondering what I can do to make it as clear as when I first started before the yeast? Please note, I made this as a homebrew, and I don't have the expensive or fancy equipment that most Professional Brewers have. If I really had to, I could make a filter out of charcoal and some other sediment capture layers in order to potentially remove the cloudy look, but I want a professional opinion or perhaps your comment section, seeing how they seem to be well knowledgeable on this subject. Any help would be much greatly appreciated. This is my first time actually attempting this on purpose, and I want to get the best product possible for my own first attempt. It may not look the greatest, but it does taste like wine, but I noticed it does kind of smell off, when I first brewed it, it had a wine slash beer smell to it, but now I think I'm starting to smell a vinegar smell to it, not what you think wine should smell like. But then again, it is my first attempt, and I'm kind of playing around with it too, dialing things in.
Curious, what about an activated carbon filter like they use in distilling?
Better to just use time and an autosiphon. Charcoal filtering will remove some flavors I'd think.
Woow I got alot of information thanks dude
Thank you! New to this! Definetly liked and subbed
Awesome, thank you!
I agree with everything, but one thing is that I feel the o2 issues isnt the largest issue. I made grape wine by freshly crushed garden grapes, some store bought wine yeast, After I siphoned for my first rack, I had so much liquid left cause of some uncrushed grapes and some caught in skins so I had to full thru a almond milking cloth and squeezed all the juice out of the skins and seeds. This resulted in a great wine, however I do support your idea of getting the least amount of o2 into your brew whenever possible.
My paint sprayer has a rough screen on the bottom of the paint pickup (called a rock catcher) and I've thought something like this would possibly be a good way to add some filtration to the siphoning process. It would be hard to get the screen size right, and that seems like it would vary depending on what you have in the primary...
I use a funnel with a tube (extended to bottom of flask) in a bung, on a 2 L Erlenmeyer flask with a vacuum port. the vacuum provide the negative pressure and will provide extraordinary clarity. but then I do collect lab glassware.
I use filter paper sheets to filter my wine, and approximately an hour I filtered 20 liters of wine. I have, obviously, not used coffee filters or small circular filters.
I've just made a batch of elderflower wine. I've done the primary and now I've got two full demijohns of wine. Problem is, there are tiny little
When you rack, put some cheesecloth over the tubing on the output of your siphon. IT should catch them all.
I did try a piece of coffee filter on the exit end of the siphon. I had a couple of blowouts but didn't really see advantage when it didn't blow out.
Thank you! I I now have a 122 750ml BOTTLE COOLER!
I used cheese cloths and syphoned at least twice to get rid of sediment. It seemed to work great
Well... siphoning is the answer. You can use cheesecloth over it to keep out some chunks, but it won't stop the lees. Racking twice is a good plan too :)
Love your Videos. They have helped me greatly for producing my own meads. Very informative, and solid infromation. However, with all due respect, I see an issue regarding the filter and it does work, especially if you use a wider coned funnel. Here's why! I get oxygen is bad for the final finish, and that there is air already trapped in the bottle, however for a liquid to enter and occupy a closed space (bottle with funnel) then the previous air has to be released, otherwise the area is just being pressurized and no liquid can continute to enter, as a result of the debris cloging the entrance throung the filter. I notice the funnel is rested at the opening of the bottle. With the filter in the funnel, naturaly the opening would clog as it traps the undesireables. However, as liquid rises the debris settles below the surface trapped in the filter, thus trapping the liquid. So given the observance of displacement, any remaining liquid would escape through the easiest exit, rising over the debris, escaping through the pours of the filter and being released. But in this case it cant. Some how the previous air is unable to escape. Its due to the funnel blocking the neck of the bottle and causing a seal resulting in an airlock. So the filter will work, but the funnel has to be raised a little to let the trapped air out and the rest of the fluid to pour through. I hope that made sense. Again, I love your vids, and I am a subscriber. I hope you continue to make more videos and inform the populous on the joys of brewing at home!
What you said is fine but doesn’t change the fact that you are needlessly exposing your brew to oxygen and the filter won’t remove lees anyway.
I use coffee filters. But I combine metal mesh coffe filters with ordinary paper filters. The reason paper filters clogs up is due to poors being blocked when soaked and pressed against plastic surface. if you put it in e metal mesh or strainer the surface area increases greatly and also flow/rate. Its still not the best solution but for those like me who dont want to spend extra cash its definetly useful for sorting out chitosan and silica compounds that have interacted with yeast and proteins. Just make sure to flush the filters so you dont get cellulose in your brew and its useful for stuff you dont intend to shelf for a very long time.
I tried the same thing myself a few years ago with the same results. I just take the last inch or two of the jugs and combine them to drink for myself. Tastes about the same and it's all for me. Might try some layers of cheese cloth if I really feel like it.
I have been searching all over for a video explaining why my first batches of mead tasted like sour vinegar. Now I know!
However, I'm still confused as to exactly how I did it. It fermented for about 3 weeks. I racked into second vessels with the hose all the way to the bottom. Sanized very thoroughly. Clean hands, rubber gloves, the works.
Idk. I wanted to avoid the potassium sorbate, but I think I'm going to crater and try it on batches 3 and 4.
We have never used sorbate.
@@CitySteadingBrews you guys pasterize, right? I think I saw a "how to" video of you guys pasterizing.
I'm gun shy now and scared I'm gonna set myself back 2 months again.
We do.
I wasted 3 hours trying to filter through a coffee filter and it sucked
Same
I wonder if you tie it on the end of the racking tube and pass the liquid through would that make a reasonable difference?
It would break the siphon it’s too slow.
Thanks for the info. I'm trying to perfect my wine making. I want to hit my goal of 500 bottles in a year. 🍻
Curious why that is your goal?
@@CitySteadingBrews Well I'm 50 years old and I wanted a new hobby and thought about wine making for some time. I teamed up with this older retired guy. Did a fair amount of research and talk to other wine makers( mostly older folks). I want a variety of flavored wines. Plus when I pick up a hobby I get a little obsessed. So far I've made 55 bottles of choke cherry wine and 33 bottles of high bush cranberry wine. I want to make dandelion, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry and mango wine. These type of fruits a abundant in this neck of the woods except the mangoes. I guess if I was to give my wines as a gift to people and they say that it's good shit. It would give me satifaction. Me and the retired guy said we're living the dream ha ha ha . Have a good day.
Did a sweet Mead last year, racked a couple times but the cloud never would fully settle. So just went and bottled it, for months it was still cloudy so i was getting a little worried. Just looked at it a couple days ago and it had fully settled, so that was from June 27th 2019 to Feb 20th it took to settle, poured of as much as i could from the bottle into another. I'm just gonna leave the other bottles alone till I finish this one.
What yeast was used?
@@CitySteadingBrews Lalvin EC-1118
Very unusual, but, as always, time is your friend in brewing.
is there a video on how to clear your brews
Not really, just let them sit. Time works wonders and you're aging it too. We did a video on why we don't use clarifiers though: ua-cam.com/video/eSwXBpq7-ZA/v-deo.html
Sir can filtering help with removing acetobacter (flowers of wine) a thin film of bacteria which look like a snow when we shake bottle.
That’s not acetobactors. It’s either a brettanomyces or mold.
Filtering won’t work btw.
So how to remove mold.
Should i store on 4 degree C or lower. Would it help.
You don’t. It’s potentially hazardous. You dump it and sanitize everything really well.
Tried this on my first rack. I will try not to in future xD...
What about a wash cloth much faster and gets rid of major sediment
Not fine enough. It will just pass right through.
Thank you. I learned something on vinegar and saving the wine :)
Very well done video. Looks great.
Thank you!
Great video, thanks for the info.
I tried a cover filter about two or so months ago but for a different reason. A long story short I was using a juicer for apple juice, problem was that it was throwing a lot of blended pulp into the juice. Thought about filter paper in the form of an A4 but wasn't sure if it would be food grade. Went with the obvious coffee filter paper. Set up a bottle and a funnel and put the coffee filter in. Filled it up and it filtered for about five seconds and stopped, thought it was a bit odd but had a rough idea why. Removed the funnel and empted the paper back into the pulpy juice. Tried a second time, same thing. At this point I knew it wasn't going to work but wanted to try just one last time and ditch it if I could get it to work. Third try came and the same result. Ditched that idea really fast. My logic was that pulp like dirt would allow the water or in this case the juice to run/filter through and then into the paper because there would be micro air gaps. What I didn't account for was the fact that the pulp would clog all air space to prevent it from filtering, I didn't account for this because of the previous reasoning. Moral of the story? Coffee filter paper was pointless, I wasted more time by trying to save time. Conclusion? I learnt helpful information that can be or in this case not applied in future applications.
for small fruit pulp particulates, put a stocking or mesh bag around the auto siphon this will keep them from being sucked up.
I use a variety of filter but usually only with the lees. Even then the funnel (4 pint capacity) has a pipe attached and the pipe goes in the bottle. Never had a problem :)
There's a lot of ways to make it work. Just takes forever.
Im a Commercial HVAC guy . So would it be better to make a filter and pump set up for brewing . Because all the one’s i have seen . Are nothing more then a cheep or a half ass attempt to filter . But what i have planed would do it fast . And with a bum hole you can keep it air locked
Would this be a good idea if you wanted to save the liquid in the dregs and make apple cider vinegar with it, or is there a better way to reclaim that last bit?
It's more pain than it's worth. Vinegar is made from the liquid anyway, not the sediment.
Wish I’d seen this a week ago. Made my first batch of wine. Wondered why I would symphony when I could run it thru a filter. Hopefully I didn’t ruin it. But question, if it does turn to vinegar can I use it as vinegar?
Yes, you can use the vinegar.
Glad I saw this. I never tried it. Thought about it but now I know not to
When first tried my hand at filtering my wine I used a coffee filter.... hell no never doin that again 😅 it took forever and it made the wine horrible
Yep, yet people still do it all the time, or ask if they should!
When I finish racking, I’ll pour the lees into a coffee filter and let it sit. After a couple hours I’ll come back for a nasty little drink 👍
I have just looked into the wine filter. Do you think this would be a good addition to the final process? The buon Vino?
Never tried, and likely won't... seems just an added expense to me. I'm all about keeping things simple. :)
I have white film in my wine and this is my first time making it without much knowledge. I just saw a quick video. What do I do with the film?
Some films are harmful but others just alter the flavors. Personally, I wouldn’t trust it. It sounds like a possible infection.
So a vacuum filter might be more effective? (I’m genuinely asking…I have zero experience with this)
We just let time do it's thing and siphon. There are filter systems, but they are messy, and largely unnecessary.
I use a coffee filter when making my cold brew coffee. I pre-wet the filter.
Makes a difference with coffee. Would it with wine?
Just asking.
Don’t use a coffee filter for wine is the gist of the video.
just a thought, could you use the filter in the end of the hose when your doing your first rack? If it's on the end of the hose in the bottle it wouldn't be introducing air and it might give more surface area as to not clog, again it's just a thought.
Wouldn't it just clog at the end of the tube?
Ah, answers my question, thank you.
So before I saw your videos I was making Dandelion wine and after a couple weeks I reracked it to get the Dandelion flowers out but now I have introduced oxygen, what now?
Just keep going and do the best you can. There’s no guarantee anything will go badly. How did you introduce oxygen?
@@CitySteadingBrews I ran it through a stainless steel strainer to get the little Dandelion flour parts out. It is the next day and its back to bubbling and smells like Co2. I'm not sure if you have a video on this but I have argon I could add? Saw it in someone else video. And yes I see from your videos now I should have used a cheese cloth lol.
If it’s oxygenated there’s nothing you can do but leave it. Hopefully it doesn’t cause off flavors. Adding argon won’t help.
@@CitySteadingBrews Ok, Thank you for responding and the wonderful videos you share.
don't know if anyone has tried it but what about using a fuel filter in your syphon tube? You wouldn't be adding oxygen and if you really wanted to filter it it might work
If you want to. A siphon works just fine.
I agree, just wondered if someone tried it. my cyser happens to be clearing up just fine with time :) but waiting is hard lol
If I'm looking for a cheap way to remove sediment from cheap wine, is this a sound way of doing it?
Nope. Let it settle and rack it.
Hey Brian, That was pretty clear and concise! I do have a question for you, I started your recipe for Ginger Beer on the 7th Feb', it was slow to start, about 12 hours (average temp' here is 30 c, no AC.), now it has completely stopped, your thoughts and or suggestions, please? On the previous day I did Jalapeno, it is still going strong. As always your views from your videos are very clear and always look forward to the new ones, You and Derika are the reason that I finally took the plunge to start brewing. Fred and Soraya... Indonesia
Fred Christie check the Facebook group, we've covered a whole slew of different problems with ginger beer. Just hop in and search ginger beer, the answer will be somewhere in there.
@@RyanC1984 Thanks for your response Ryan, however, because of my location (Indonesia) Facebook will not let me access it as they think I am trying to hack into my own account... Thanks anyway, Fred
Ok, I can field this one then. what are you using to determine that it has stoped? My ginger beer has always been kinda slower to ferment.
@@RyanC1984 Hi Ryan, sorry to take so long in getting back to you, I have over the past day taken very close observation on the G/B as it turns out it has not actually stopped , it is however as you said very slow! It was very slow to start then went crazy for a day and a half, so after the observing I have decided to just leave alone for now. I am not sure if you noticed I am in Indonesia, getting the right equipment is extremely difficult, i.e.: I ordered a Hydrometer 6 weeks ago and has still not arrived, it took 2 weeks to get my airlocks, even then only two arrived from the 6 I ordered. The other thing I have to contend with is the ambient temperature which is a very constant 30 c and this is the rainy season, so any suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your assistance. Fred... Indonesia.
Yeah just be patient, my ginger beer have taken anywhere from 15-24 days, we’re in winter here in the USA so it’s throwing things for a loop since this is the coldest winter we’ve had since I started brewing.
I have a question what is the difference from using regular fleischmann's bread yeast vs using the fleischmann's extra rise yeast and also is there another way to filter wine better than a coffee? filter I have little cash flow right now and can't get a siphon.
I haven’t seen much difference in those yeasts tbh. Don’t use coffee filters…. A siphon is the best way. That can just be tubing if that’s all you can get.
I really don't think filtering is necessary, but could you vacuum filter it? It'd go much faster.
I've seen it done. We used a Vacu Vin in a video and it worked well enough.
@@CitySteadingBrews Do you recommend a fining agent for clarifying wines and ciders? Or just let them settle or cold crash?
@@saturnslastring we let them clear naturally.
Could you use dry ice to fill a container with CO2?
I don’t think I would do that. The temp would hinder fermentation
Thank you, what about cheese cloth and tipping the funnel so the brew runs down the side? FYI, I'm still doing 1 gallon batches.
Chesecloth is far too coarse to filter a brew.
CS Brews multiply the layers?
@@bentroelstra8288 Still not remotely fine enough for lees.
I have a question for you though. I have a fruit wine that I racked using egg whites, it tastes great, very clear but it causes my face super flushed and hot when I drink it. What does that sound like to you? It only happens with that specific fruit wine.
I've yet to add egg whites to a brew, just seems like it could go badly.
I'm thinking this has a high alcohol content, that can cause what you're experiencing, or you're allergic to something in it.
It’s certainly high abv, had 2 glasses and I was about to lose my legs. Egg whites have always work well for me with the wines I make with high diacetyl because they give it a kind of lite smooth texture.
Thank you for your good experiment and explanation. Can we keep mead long for aging and does aged mead taste better?
Yes, and yes. Properly bottled, it can last for years and gets better with time.
@CityStandingBrews Question what about whole house filter systems can these work without changing the taste of the wine? I mean it would be the cloth filters yes more expensive but if worth it then great. Please and thank you for any feed back
Very informative Brian
I tried doing it when straining my ginger tea for ginger beer. I gave up quickly and just used the strainer :P
Have you tried allulose as a sucrose substitute? Do you know whether it ferments? If so, does it have a 1-to-1 replacement value? Supposedly only 70% as sweet. I suppose I could just try it, but I work in 1- and 3-gallon batches (and not many of them at a time), and I don't want to waste one on a potentially dumb experiment.
We have used it to backsweeten many of our brews in the past year or so. It does not ferment. It works great to sweeten things you want to carbonate or, if you don't want to pasteurize.
Thanks.@@CitySteadingBrews
For those that still want to do the paper filter with some modification: pour some of your good brewing water through a paper filter and taste the difference in the water from before and after - yuck! It also ruins whatever you just spent time brewing too, but is not as easily detectable. Or as Brian already said - don't do it!
Yep, never even got to the taste altering part!
What's a good filter to use to keep out the wort during transfer while keeping as much liquid as possible?
I use an autosiphon. Filtering will remove some flavors and it’s more trouble.
a V60 could sort the fliter clogging issue mostly
People told me to use a coffee filter for filtering deep fry oil, it was horrible. gets clogged in a matter of seconds just like the wine does