Studies on Polish Filtration of Wine with Plate and Frame Filters

¹ PERALTA WINE COMPANY

DUE TO THE EXTREME VARIABILITY OF FIBER TYPES IN ACID WASHED ASBESTOS, EXPERIMENTS WERE CARRIED ON WITH 12 AND 18 INCH PLATE AND FRAME FILTERS TO IMPROVE PRECOATING CHARACTERISTICS. IT WAS FOUND THAT PASSING THE ASBESTOS SLURRY THROUGH A CENTRIFUGAL PUMP AIDED IN SEPARATING THE FIBERS.

STUDIES MADE AT UP TO 60 P.S.I. ON TWILL CLOTHS, CELLULOSE FIBERS AND ASBESTOS PADS SHOWED NO GENERAL MARKED IMPROVEMENT OVER ASBESTOS PRECOATING, ALTHOUGH BETTER CLARITY WAS OBTAINED IN SOME INSTANCES. IN ALL INSTANCES THREE SIZES OF DIATOMACEOUS EARTH WERE USED.

EXPERIMENTAL POLISH FILTRATIONS MADE WITH PAPERS AT UP TO 60 P.S.I. SHOWED ONLY EATON-DIKEMAN 301.052 TO BE ENTIRELY SATISFACTORY FOR ALL TYPES OF WINE. EXPERIENCE HAS SHOWN THIS PAPER TO BE MORE VERSATILE AND DEPENDABLE THAN ANY MATERIAL TESTED. FILTRATIONS WERE FOUND TO RESULT IN GREATER CLARITY WHEN THE FINER SIZED DIATOMACEOUS EARTH POWDERS, SUCH AS FILTER CEL OR SUPERAID, WERE USED. 0PTIMUM AMOUNTS OF THESE FILTER AIDS IN SETTING UP THE FILTERS WERE FOUND TO BE 1 TO 1 POUNDS PER 10 SQUARE FEET OF EXPOSED PAPER SURFACE BECAUSE ADDITIONAL POWDER SHORTENED THE CYCLE.

EARLIER CHECKS ON CLARITY WERE MADE BY PASSING A INCH BEAM FROM A 500 WATT LIGHT THROUGH THE WINE IN A 250 ML. BEAKER. LATER VALUES WERE OBTAINED NEPHELOMETRICALLY.