Clarifiers and Decanters in the Wine Industry

Clarifiers and their Contribution to an Increase in Quality

The quality of wine depends, among others, on the type of grapes, the winegrowing area, climatic conditions, yield and maturity of the grapes. Clarification plays a major role during the entire wine production process. Timely and effective clarification often determines flavour and wholesomeness and thus, in the final analysis, the eventual quality and market value of the wine.

Therefore, every winery needs an efficient clarification system which is capable of quickly clarifying large amounts of wine even in peak periods.

The need for clarification already begins with juice processing and continues right up to the point of bottling finished wines. Self-clarification of juice and wine is, from an economic viewpoint, time-consuming and, moreover, imperfect.

Clarifiers replace gravitational by centrifugal force. This not only clarifies naturally, but in a far shorter period of time. Clarification is, therefore, most advantageous for treatment of table wines, premium wines and late harvest berry wines.

Immediately after pressing, the greater part of solids is centrifugally separated out.

Thus all solids, including those dissolving later and eventually impairing the wine's purity, are removed in advance. Tank space is gained, as the wine does not require storing for sedimentation and contains less yeast during the first processing stage.

Yeast sediment is healthier and purer.

In the past, juice was often sulfurated to induce natural sedimentation.

Such measures, detrimental to quality, have been completely superseded by using clarifiers. Centrifugally clarified juice, moreover, later requires less SO2 as finished wine, since some of the oxygen transferring enzymes are already separated out with the solids at the juice stage. As a rule, half the SO2 dosage otherwise required is sufficient. This is of decisive importance for the entire "sulphur budget". Wines from centrifugally clarified juice can be better and more economically stabilized, filtered and sterilized.

The amount of fining agents can be reduced. Furthermore, fermentation is more uniform with clarified juice, which has a positive effect on the development of the wine. When wines are polished with new high-performance super clarifiers, filtration steps can be reduced to a minimum.

Savings in filter aids can be considerable. Today, clarifiers are indispensable in wineries for imparting to and maintaining in the wines those qualities which distinguish a good wine: clarity, elegance, sparkle, bouquet, nobility, flavour.

The following advantages are obtained by using clarifiers:

• Enhanced quality
• Production of clear quality wines
• No impairing of flavour
• Uniform fermentation
• Better clarification of the wine
• Reduced sediment after fermentation
• Considerably increased filter life and, thus, significant savings in filter aids (plates and diatomaceous earth)
• Savings in operating time
• Significantly reduced S02 requirements
• Early separation of lees after fining with reduced fining time
• Increased yield through greater compaction of solids
• Less tank space (storage capacity)
• Faster finish of ready-for-sale wines