REVIEW: *Whole House Wine Filtering*

[JetJockey]

Dave,
I follow. I never really had the filter misalign on the wine filter, BUT I've experienced the problem on my water whole house filter. When I filtered both batches last week, I was able to get every drop out, except there was some drippage out of the filter itself when done. those filters hold a little wine in the filtration media.

The misalignment would be easily cured while manufacturing if they made the top and bottom housings with a tapered center ridge to self align. I always just hand press the cartridge onto the bottom bowl an then slowly screw it on while watching it to shift. If it moves. I start over - PITA! I never use the wrench until I'm sure it is aligned. I can kind of feel if it starts getting hard to tighten by hand too early. Then I know the cartridge shifted.

For my Wine Filter, I mounted it on a cantelevered 'L' shaped 2x4 with a 2X8 for the base. Most of the 2x8 is out the back to balance the weight of the filter. The 2x4 is then vertical with another short piece horizontal 2x4 on top to mount the filter housing out away from the vertical 2X4. Since the 2x8 doen't come out under the filter housing very much, I can unscrew the bottom bowl of the filter to change cartridges.

This stand then sits on the benchtop. I can also invert it to change filter since it isn't permanently attached to the base. I usually just hand tighten the filter housing bowl and don't use the wrench.

My reasons are two fold. One, I want every drop of wine out of that thing when I'm done. Just greedy, I guess. Two, the last time I filtered, I had the same problem some others have faced. The filter did not line up propery in the top of the housing and got damaged when I tightened it up with the wrench. There appears to be no way to be absolutely sure the filter is lined up right (you can't see the top of it) when you are screwing in the housing. I have seen rubber o-rings used to keep it lined up---and that's an option---but if I could invert the housing while installing the filter cartridge, I could make sure it's in the right place. In addition, invertion would allow the aforementioned complete draining of the housing at the end of filtering.

Killing two birds... Do you follow me?

 

[dralarms]

I have no problems with mine. But what I did was buy the threaded pipe, and use the dremel tool to "sand" down the threads tapering them just a tad. Then it screws in the top and seals well. I have about 1/2 inch clearance at the bottom and the only wine I waste is what's in the filter itself.

 

[dralarms]

Also, I used 2 #18 orings on my filter 1 on top and 1 on bottom. It got rid of my crease in my filter.

 

[JetJockey]

Norske,
Thanks for the video compliment. That's my 1st attempt at a YouTube video. I used a Nikon D600 DSLR to shoot the video. Just trying to learn the camera!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

JetJockey
Nice video !!
I wonder the difference between s pressed fit pipe vs a threaded one ?
Just wondering if you would get the same results ?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I also wonder about putting a round rubber gasket on the filter to aid in the crushing the seal area. I believe that the absolute filters have these ?

 

[Sudz]

1. Has anyone found a technique to lessen the amount of O2 that is initially injected into the system during pre fill?
2. Is the amount of air an issue in the possibility of oxidizing the wine during this initial 1-2 minutes it takes to prefill the filter?

I'm equally concerned with the amount of air involved at the start and finish of filtering. I have the standard Pentek system as described on this forum with an air tight tube installed.

I find that when starting if I hold the filter upside down and break the vacuum at the carboy mouth when the filter is about 2 inches full, then permit the filter to drain back toward the source by holding it high, this will clear the line and filling may be resumed without bubbles. Once the filter has completely filled, return the cartridge to it's upright position while filtering continues.

When the end is near you must drastically reduce the flow into the carboy to have any chance of controlling the air. This is where I have most of my problems with air. I'm still searching for the best method for purging the wine without aggressive gassing.

It also appears that keeping bubbles out of the system is best done by having the source below the filter and the receiving carboy above the filter.

I suspect there's a better method but this is how I'm currently doing it.

This I believe is a good subject for comment from those who are using the whole house filter. How about it guys?

 

[dangerdave]

Sudz,

If you keep the souce carboy above the filter and the receiving carboy below (as you said), you can shut the pump off when the source carboy gets low and let the last of the wine gravity feed through the filter. That prevents air from being forced through the system.

 

[Chiumanfu]

Sudz, since you are already flipping the housing, I'd suggest trying it without the tube and see if that works better for you.

Here is my process...

1) Start with the housing right side up. Turn on the vacuum.

2) Wait about 10 seconds for the housing to fill.

3) Once the wine starts flowing from the output port, flip the housing upside down. The wine flows in the bottom and out the bottom therefore never having the opportunity to mix with air.

4) At the end of the transfer, once the wine is almost finished emptying from the housing, open the bypass valve and blow off the vacuum.

5) Raise the housing higher than the receiving carboy to allow any last drops to gravity feed into the carboy.

I posted a link to a video a page back.

 

[Norske]

.......quote.....
2) Wait about 10 seconds for the housing to fill.

This is where I may be having a problem. I havn't timed mine yet, but I imagine mine takes almost 2 minutes to fill. How long is your tubing?

 

[dralarms]

If you are using the Aio then you got a bad air leak somewhere. Mine takes no time to fill the housing.

 

[Norske]

Yep, that is correct. As soon as I had read the post about only taking 10 seconds to fill, I knew I had a problem. I had no leaks at any of the connections. Where it was leaking was where the filter mates the housing. I went down to the hardware store and bought a cheapy water filter that did not have the hard plastic solid core like the ones that came with the filter. As soon as I turned on the AIP, less than 10 seconds it was full with NO air in the system.

After reviewing and testing this, I do not like the recommended housing with the filters they sale. In my opinion one would be better off finding a whole house filter that doesn't have poor fitting filter to housing makeup. This is just my personal opinion and does not reflect on anyone else's who may have success with this. Anyways, problem solved. Now with a different type of filter in the housing it works like it should. Will be putting this to work next week filtering the last of the cold treatment stuff.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Morske
Which housing did you get ? Part #
I will make some phone calls and I will not recommend this from now on - unless they fix the problem.
I just want to make it clear - I only recommend where to purchase the filters and housings. I do not sell them

 

[Norske]

No worries Steve. We all know that you make the All in one wine pump and are only trying to help locate extra items. The filtration is up to us. Your product is OUTSTANDING. And again, this is just my personal opinion on this particular filter and housing. Here are the part numbers I purchased.


Order Details:
244047 Pentek 3G SL Bracket Kit for S 1 EACH 6.74
SW-1A Pentek SW-1a Filter Wrench, WW 1 EACH 2.70
PD-1-934 Pentek PD-1-934 Polydepth Filt 4 EACH 18.00
158116 Pentek 158116 10" Slim Line Fi 1 EACH 15.60

By the way, I have 3 new filters (1 micron) free to whoever will pay the medium flat box fee which I think is $12.

 

[Chiumanfu]

This is where I may be having a problem. I havn't timed mine yet, but I imagine mine takes almost 2 minutes to fill. How long is your tubing?

I do not use a tube. Flipping the housing during the process negates the use of the tube.

Where it was leaking was where the filter mates the housing.

Sounds strange to me. I can't imagine that a poor seal between filter medium and housing lid will cause an air leak. Maybe it will let sediment through, but not air. I would more suspect the lid and housing are not forming a perfect seal or the barb fittings are leaky.

That being said, there have been plenty of post of people having problems with the WHF and, on the other hand, plenty of people with no issues at all. Maybe it is a Pentek quality control issue.

 

[Sudz]

Sounds strange to me. I can't imagine that a poor seal between filter medium and housing lid will cause an air leak. Maybe it will let sediment through, but not air. I would more suspect the lid and housing are not forming a perfect seal or the barb fittings are leaky.

My viewpoint as well.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I have already put a call into filterfast and described the situation and they are looking into this. I told them that maybe the filters are just a little bit taller and causing the housing not to seal properly. And if they have a similiar filter that does not have hard ends - instead more gasket like or a softer material to make a better connection and a little more give when tightening the housing

I will inform everyone, once I get an answer back

 

[Norske]

I compared the height of the pentek filter, with the one I bought with the soft rubber ends. The pentek was 1/8" taller. This may be part of the problem. It may have not allowed the housing to seat all the way in. My barb fittings do not leak and I have my housing mounted and use the wrench to tighten it up. The new filter being just a bit shorter works perfect. Anyway, I am set up now and will be filtering a way.

 

[Sudz]

This weekend I competed my first effort at filtering using the WHF defined in this post. I practiced with water extensively to establish a procedure to help limit the air involved but this remains a bit of a challenge.

My first wine was a white and it went reasonably well. The next was a red Zin and it finished with a volcano of air in the full receiving carboy. I stopped things immediately but my wine really took a shot of aggressive air which was rather dramatic.

Freaked me out to say the least. I immediately hit my 6 gallons with a good dose of meta. It was at 37ppm before the blow out. I jumped it to 67ppm after the event. It actually tasted better after the added meta as compared to before the blast.

I went ahead and bottled. Was there anything else I should have done to counter this massive oxidation event?

I'm assuming we should drink this one early...??

 

[vacuumpumpman]

What did you do different between the red vs the white ? I think you might of released a little more vacuum before sucking up the last drop per say ? Compared to the red you did ?
I think if you get a little blast of air - it will not cause the wine to get oxidized that fast - just my personal opinion