Filter Wine - Coffee Filter? 

I've done this and can definitely say that it takes a VERY LONG TIME! Don't do this. Listen to Brian.

I just strain it through the few teeth I have left and chew the chunks.

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 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.

Thank you for the clarity Brian.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Great video - short, informative and just enough information to mull over.

Fantastic video, love the way you laid out the example and info. Keep up the great work! :)

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.

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.

Thank you for the PSA :) Trying to filter anything thru a coffee filter, beyond coffee, is a time-consuming mess.

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.

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!

Very clever execution Brian

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.

I love the way this was shot. Good lighting, focus, etc.

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.

Anything Apple I love. More Apple beverages please!

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!

Great video, thanks for the info.

Very well done video. Looks great.

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.

Very informative 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.

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

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?

Thank you. I learned something on vinegar and saving the wine :)

Ah, answers my question, thank you.

Thank you for the tip! 😊

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.

Woow I got alot of information thanks dude

GREAT VIDEO ! Coffee Filter .. ...,ok i did it to. & .PORTAFILTER BASKET too !!!

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.😊

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.

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.

I tried doing it when straining my ginger tea for ginger beer. I gave up quickly and just used the strainer :P

It certainly did work, and I didn’t oxidize it, but my goodness it took forever, so yeah haha

Good stuff!

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Thank you for this. I had the filter idea, but imagined my way out of it pretty quickly. However, I used a brand new auto-siphon to rack the other day and the rubber must have been dry rotted because it sucked air into the siphon hose with the mead. If it goes to vinegar, I'll understand why. :)

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.

Thank You from Phoenix Arizona ;

Thank you! I I now have a 122 750ml BOTTLE COOLER!

Glad I saw this. I never tried it. Thought about it but now I know not to

Great video thanks

I used a coffee filter today to get rid of extra hop crap....it's a SLOW process...but it seems to be working....

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.

Good idia. I like it

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.

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to perfect my wine making. I want to hit my goal of 500 bottles in a year. 🍻

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 have just looked into the wine filter. Do you think this would be a good addition to the final process? The buon Vino?

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.

Thank you for your good experiment and explanation. Can we keep mead long for aging and does aged mead taste better?

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... =/

@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

I also use the siphon.

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 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?

Tried this on my first rack. I will try not to in future xD...

Ok I have a question. I made a strawberry apple mead and I realized upon racking for the secondary that I completely f@&%ed up out the gate because I forgot to take a gravity reading. Usually when making a,,, higher abv drink that's not a problem or so I hear wink wink whistle whistle. So at this point can I ever figure out the abv or am I just S.O.L.?

I started fermenting mead about a year and a half ago. I initially made three, one gallon batches: a show mead, a black berry melomel, and another show mead. I havent tasted the third batch yet, but the first two I have drank several bottles of. The black berry melomel, after 6 months of aging, was pretty tasty. I just opened a bottle of the 1st batch last week and it tasted like it went bad. I thought it may have been the leas that were still in the bottle (being inexperienced and lazy I dont think I racked enough/I should have tried cold crashing). Is there some other reason why it would taste bad? It started off pretty astringent (alcohol forward), but with aging settled into what I expected it to taste like with some very off underlying notes. I'm fairly certain I went above and beyond sanitizing every time I handled the mead. I used Lalvin QA23 yeast. My only thought is that I left the mead sitting on leas for too long. Also, I use cheesecloth that I boil, in combination with a metal sieve/colander, and a pouring pitcher when I go to drink the mead. It filters out larger sediment without taking a while. Finally, I enjoy watching your videos! I wish I had found them before I first started!

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 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 :)

Curious, what about an activated carbon filter like they use in distilling?

After siphoning the wine to the next bottle is it safe to drink? I’m in the middle of brewing and I don’t know what I should do. If someone could comment on this that would be very helpful. Thanks

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?

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 used cheese cloths and syphoned at least twice to get rid of sediment. It seemed to work great

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.

Hi Brian. I’m looking for a good home brew filter. I work at a commercial distillery and winery. We use a cross flow filter to filter our finished wines and plate and frame filter pads for spirits. Is there some type of home brew filtering system that will achieve the same results.

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

Just made my first batch and am trying to learn can I pour the wine off and just throw the what I now know is Lees away and then seal bottle ?

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?

I wonder if you tie it on the end of the racking tube and pass the liquid through would that make a reasonable difference?

What's a good filter to use to keep out the wort during transfer while keeping as much liquid as possible?

Pretty sure I have a pectin haze working in my mead. Being new to all of this, I'm not sure how to deal with it. Any advice?

How well does it work when used with distillate?

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.

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

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.

Y'all really are the Will and Dawn of homebrewing

If I'm looking for a cheap way to remove sediment from cheap wine, is this a sound way of doing it?

My question is how should we remove the fruits and berries when taking it from a bucket to put in the gallon bottles

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

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 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.

So a vacuum filter might be more effective? (I’m genuinely asking…I have zero experience with this)

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.

Brian, thank you for all your videos. Wondered if you knew if oxidation would also be bad for a base for liqueur...? I am presently preparing a batch of sugar wine/ kilju with hopefully a relatively high abv to use for different flavours of sweet liqueur's (will later let mint, orange peel etc. Age with the base, some I will flavour with aromas, also to see what turns out best). Most I have seen recommend running kilju through a carbon filter, fx a simple Brita pitcher, to purify the taste, remove yeast/yeast nutrient leftover tastes. Planning on sifon'ing it to and from the pitcher, but guess it will oxidate some... Do you have any inputs/information/experience? 🙂 Thanks again, best regards from another Brian 🙂

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?

Brian my fermentation is almost done how do i stop n kill n clear at end of wine

Then how to filter that thickness in home brewing can’t i get clean wine ?

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.

Have you tried the panty hose on the end of the auto siphon. I tried it for and IPA and it seemed to have the same issue.