OK, so it's been done for a short while now, but I have been a bit too busy to write a proper write up; let me try and rectify that.
I did end up pressing this batch with a hanging bag type of setup, however, I did NOT use a filter from a manufacturer or other source. I tried to go DIY, and used jeans, as suggested in passing by trex66.
Here's a shot of the sacrificial pants:
Which were washed and sanitized:
Whilst they were being cleansed of their previous sins and prepared for holy filtration, I racked off what had settled in my jugs, which looked like this:
And this, respectively:
And ends up in the bucket looking like so:
Or in the glass in front of the white dishwasher as seen here:
Note the coloring (no flash used), as to compare later. Incidentally, this portion turned out a lovely smooth batch, well received by friends, neighbors, coworkers, barkeeps and myself.
Now... Take the soaked, rinsed, rerinsed, sanitized, and wrung dry "filter" (aka, jean leg), and tie one end shut with some simple sanitized string. Pour the remaining lees into the leg, tie it shut with more string, and hang it over a bucket, like so:
Do note, that despite what the bucket says, my sake DOES NOT taste like donuts... Yet.
Now, wait approximately 4 hours. No seriously; about 4 hours later, I had dripped maybe a third of what I had put in. It was nice and clear, and dripped at a steady pace to begin, and declined as the pressure/volume decreased. I imagine that a longer, narrower "filter would work better than mine, by keeping the weight and pressure localized to a smaller area. As it was, after 4 hours I got impatient and began gently "squeezing" the bag. After about an hour of gentle squeezing and some wringing, I netted about an additional third. The remaining third was disposed of in the trash, and looked like so:
And so, in the "filter":
The texture and viscosity was somewhere around regular yogurt. I imagine I could have squeezed more, but, it wouldn't have mattered, as I will explain later.
So, the "filtered" stuff looked like this (bucket, with flash, no flash):
I let it set for about a week, and came home to a nice settled jug (flash, no flash):
Which in turn, racked a finished product looking like so (flash, no flash):
So... here are my thoughts on the final product.
As you may have already distinguished, there is a slight greenish hue to the filtered stuff (amplified with a flash), which mostly settled out. The filtered stuff is also a bit paler and clearer. The big important difference is the taste; this stuff tastes like my regular brew, with the addition of blue jeans. Yes, IT ACTUALLY TASTES LIKE BLUE JEANS.
Needles to say, my choice of filter was a big mistake, and I won't be using the same material again. I wish I had stuck with my initial thought to track down some heavy weave and/or high thread count organic unbleached cotton. As it is, this stuff is undrinkable to me. I may try and use it to make shōchū, along with my leftover solids from the 1st racking (into primaries), but that remains to be seen.
It was a growing experience, and I take full fault and blame. Hopefully, I can save someone else the trouble. Fortunately for me, I lost less than two or three wine bottles or so of product, which I can live with. My only real regret (other than the obvious) is that I never tasted the drip stuff before I started squeezing. As I remember, it looked passably clear, with no real discoloration. It very well could have tasted like ass at that point, but it LOOKED passable... :roll:
Lessons learned: Hanging filter good, jean material bad. :cheers:
