Homemade Wine Filter

Wine filters are an excellent tool for the wine maker. They help eliminate cloudiness in the wine and clarify the flavor. Commercial wine filters can be very expensive. Homemade wine filters are just as effective and save a great deal of money.

Never filter your wine before it has been racked and cleared. You will clog the filter and spoil your wine if you do. Remember, the purpose of filtering is to get rid of live yeast and microscopic bits of sediment. Also, filtering may strip your wine of some of its flavor and color.

One simple way to filter wine is by siphoning it through a funnel. The funnel should have a coffee filter or paper towel in it to trap the sediment, according to jackkeller.net ("Dusty Wine"). This is simple: siphon the wine through the coffee filter or paper towel into the other container. To control the flow of the wine, use a plastic clamp on the hose (the kind you'll see at office supply stores; they usually come in black, and in different sizes). If this step is not taken, the funnel will overflow and ruin your careful work.

The easiest way to filter wine is with...time. Many winemakers will simply skip the entire filtering process and allow the sediment to settle out on its own. It may take longer than with a filter, but it will happen, probably within a few months to a year. The best part of this is that your wine will eventually clear and still have all of its flavor and color. When the wine is so clear you can read a newspaper through it, it is ready to be served.