The above photo shows the filter stripped down, the filter pads and plastic tubing.  Sterilise and rinse these parts thoroughly apart from the filter pad, along with the fermenting bucket used to collect the filtered wine.

The above photo shows the top half of the filter with the pad fitted on the left, the base which is on the right simply snaps onto the top half.

After assembling the filter, the first step is to run a gallon of cold water through the filter.  This removes any loose particles in the pad and also swells it, making it ready for use.

I also push a length of plastic tubing onto the filter outlet; this reaches the bottom of the collecting fermenting bucket preventing oxidisation.

The above photo shows the filtering stage in action.

To start the filtering, suck on the length of tubing which fits on the wine filter inlet, use the white flow control clip on the tubing to stop the wine flow when it is running down the tubing, give the end of the tube you have sucked on a rinse in a jug of water, push the tubing onto its post in the centre of the filter body, ensure that the tap on the short piece of tubing is closed, then release the flow control clip and the filtering will start.  After a few minutes, slowly open the tap on the end of the short piece of tubing, the wine will rise up it, close it again before it reaches the tap.  This acts as a vent, it will prevent air from being trapped in the filter body which could cause the filtering to stop. If the wine is flowing into the filter quicker than it is coming out the outlet, you may see the wine weeping from the filter base joint, if this happens simply click the flow control clip on the inlet tubing; this will slow the flow rate down.

When the wine is almost transferred, I carefully lean the fermenting bucket backwards and place a wedge under the front of it; this allows the U bend to collect all the wine, as showed in the above photo.

The filtering is now complete; there is a small amount of sediment left in the fermenting bucket.

The above photo is the discarded filter pad, as you can see it has done its job.  There is a mixture of sediment and fine particles of oak chips on there.

As this wine is to be left a minimum of 6 months, I added 1/4 tsp of campden powder to a small amount of cooled, boiled water, mixed well and added this to the wine.  This is recommended in the kit instructions as the kit contains a very low sulphate level.

I will leave the wine a minimum of 48 hours before I bottle the wine, this will allow the extra sulphate time to mix with the wine.

Update.

As an alternative method of using a u-bend and extension, I will show you a simple way to connect the wine fermenting bucket containing the wine to the filter.

Push a length of 8mm plastic tubing into a length of 6mm plastic tubing as shown in the above photo.

Cut the tubing to the correct length required, push the 8mm tubing onto the fermenting bucket tap containing the wine and push the 6mm tubing onto the wine filter inlet.  The wine can then be filtered in an identical manner as shown above.  You can see in the above photo that I have only slightly opened the tap; this will prevent the wine entering the filter body too quickly, therefore preventing the wine from weeping from the filter base joint.

The above photo shows the filtering in action using the alternative method.

Please go to the next page, bottling the wine.