Need to filter, after bottling?! Help!

[Head Brewster]

So after about 18 months in the bottle, my 'cloudy apple' has cleared, leaving a lot of sediment! I also think it needs back sweetening. (I know, a bit late for both!) Two things I've never done before! My first thoughts were to decant the wine through a filter into a carboy, sweeten with honey, re bottle, job done! However, after thinking this through, I realise that this will introduce a lot of air into the wine. Anyone have any ideas how this can be done, without expensive filtering equipment? This is the only time I've needed to filter, and tbh, the wine as it is, is quite undrinkable.
Thanks in advance to all you experts!

 

[Julie]

Just out of curiosity why did you bottle if the wine was cloudy and did you taste it to see if it should have been backsweened? Fruit wines normally do need to be sweeten at least a little to bring our their flavor. You won't introduce enough air to cause any issues, I would go ahead and put them all back into a carboy let it sit until clear, rack and make sure you add k-meta and sorbate if you haven't already before backsweetening.

 

[salcoco]

DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE AIR. DECANT EACH BOTTLE UTIL YOU REACH SEDIMENT, PLACE THE WINE WITH SEDIMENT INTO A CARBOY. THE CLEAR WINE GOES INTO ANOTHER CARBOY. DO BENCH TRIALS ON THE CLEAR WINE TO DETERMINE AMOUNT OF HONEY TO ADD TO FULL BATCH. ADD SUFITE AND K-META TO CLEAR WINE WITH HONEY AND BOTTLE. FOR THE WINE WITH SEDIMENT ADD SUPER KLEER OR DURAFINE( SAME PRODUCT) DIFFERENT NAME. ONCE CLEAR REPEAT THE STEPS MADE WITH THE CLEAR WINE. FIRST RACK OFF OF THE SEDIMENT THEN PROCEED WITH HONEY ADDITION AND BOTTLING. ADDING SULFITE AND SORBATE. THEY WILL WILL PROTECT THE WINE AS WELL AS PREVENT REFERMENTATION.

 

[Head Brewster]

Two very good questions, Julie! As a novice at the time, I knew no better! I just thought it would 'sort itself out' as most wines seem to?! (Re the sweetening) and thought the cloudiness was just a trait! Silly old novice!
So to be clear ( no pun intended!) You think it would be fine to pour through a filter paper into a carboy, with a funnel, back sweeten and rebottle, as is?
K-meta and sorbate? ?= Campden and potassium sorbate? Classic case of bottling too soon! Schoolgirl error!
Thanks so much for replying! x

 

[Head Brewster]

Salcoco, thank you! Sorry, didn't see your reply until I'd posted again! I made 5 gallons of the stuff, much less now, as I will keep trying to make sure it's undrinkable (!) I found if I filtered the bottle through kitchen towel, then added honey to the glass, it was lovely. Fine, but I want to give a bottle or two to the lovely ladies who donated their apples - I can hardly expect them to follow the above steps!xxx

 

[GreginND]

If you want to open them up I would not recommend using a filter paper. Much of the cloudiness would still go through once disturbed. I would carefully decant them leaving the sediment behind as Salcoco suggests.

However, if this is just for your personal use and you are not going to be giving it away to others, I would just leave it as is. It is not necessary to open them all up. Whenever you open a bottle for serving, just decant it off the sediments and add whatever sweetness you like before drinking it. You can simply add some sugar or you can make up a simple syrup of 50:50 sugar and water which would dissolve more quickly into the wine.

 

[Julie]

Two very good questions, Julie! As a novice at the time, I knew no better! I just thought it would 'sort itself out' as most wines seem to?! (Re the sweetening) and thought the cloudiness was just a trait! Silly old novice!
So to be clear ( no pun intended!) You think it would be fine to pour through a filter paper into a carboy, with a funnel, back sweeten and rebottle, as is?
K-meta and sorbate? ?= Campden and potassium sorbate? Classic case of bottling too soon! Schoolgirl error!
Thanks so much for replying! x

Lol, been there done that! Yes you can paper filter or just dump all back into a carboy and let it clear on its own. And yes k-meta and sorbate = campden and potassium sorbate.

 

[meadmaker1]

Question asked late advice given late.
Ive taken the next month aproch, if you think its time to bottle date it and plan for next month. If there is even a dusting of sediment, see you again next month. Then rack it and wait a month.
ive had to put apple bottle bombs back into car boy with success.
sediment that has settled and gotten stirred back up in a car boy after sweetening or adding ?? Seems to fall out much quicker the second time. No clinical testing to this just an observation.