I was able to filter the Pinot gris this week and it worked out very well. You can see how nicely the cake formed on the screen. The screens are not filled to capacity, when they are there are solid cakes of DE between each two screens rather than the semi separate cakes that you can see in this picture. The other tank is the mixing tank or dosing tank. A supersaturated solution of DE and wine is mixed in that tank and then slowly dosed into the main body of wine on its way to the screen. That is what I am watching in the lower sight glass, there is also a stainless steel flapper in the sight window which gives me an idea of how fast the wine is being filtered and a guess at the pressure as the pressure gauge no longer works. So the Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer are filtered and sitting quietly and I moved the Riesling to the small tank that I showed you last week and have the chilling turned on there. I hope that next week I'll be able to filter it.
Last week I didn't show you pictures but I did also check the free SO2 on the whites. I do this using the Ripper Method. It is faster than the Aspiration method I use for the reds but is still based on a color change. I avoid using this method for reds because the end point is when the color is a medium to dark purple it is hard to see. One thing I always find interesting when running rippers is that I first add a 25% solution of sulfuric acid to the wines and the pH shift can cause a color change. Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer are the usual culprits but this year the color in the sparkling base gets more intense which is the pink wine on the right and the Pinot gris just shifts a little, the second from the right. I didn't get any change in the Gewürztraminer for a change. I titrate with iodine, you can see it starting to cause the color change in the close up shot, and when I reach the end point there is a formula to calculate how much free SO2 is in the wine. I have to admit that I have a cheat sheet so off the top of my head I can't remember the formula.
Not much else to report, I am doing a tasting at the W. Salem Roth's tonight, Friday, February 18th, from 3-6pm if you care to drop by for a taste and a chat.
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| Our new red living room walls! |
I was able to filter the Pinot gris this week and it worked out very well. You can see how nicely the cake formed on the screen. The screens are not filled to capacity, when they are there are solid cakes of DE between each two screens rather than the semi separate cakes that you can see in this picture. The other tank is the mixing tank or dosing tank. A supersaturated solution of DE and wine is mixed in that tank and then slowly dosed into the main body of wine on its way to the screen. That is what I am watching in the lower sight glass, there is also a stainless steel flapper in the sight window which gives me an idea of how fast the wine is being filtered and a guess at the pressure as the pressure gauge no longer works. So the Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer are filtered and sitting quietly and I moved the Riesling to the small tank that I showed you last week and have the chilling turned on there. I hope that next week I'll be able to filter it.
Last week I didn't show you pictures but I did also check the free SO2 on the whites. I do this using the Ripper Method. It is faster than the Aspiration method I use for the reds but is still based on a color change. I avoid using this method for reds because the end point is when the color is a medium to dark purple it is hard to see. One thing I always find interesting when running rippers is that I first add a 25% solution of sulfuric acid to the wines and the pH shift can cause a color change. Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer are the usual culprits but this year the color in the sparkling base gets more intense which is the pink wine on the right and the Pinot gris just shifts a little, the second from the right. I didn't get any change in the Gewürztraminer for a change. I titrate with iodine, you can see it starting to cause the color change in the close up shot, and when I reach the end point there is a formula to calculate how much free SO2 is in the wine. I have to admit that I have a cheat sheet so off the top of my head I can't remember the formula. 
Not much else to report, I am doing a tasting at the W. Salem Roth's tonight, Friday, February 18th, from 3-6pm if you care to drop by for a taste and a chat.
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