One of the challenges for any winery or winemaking facility is creating a repeatable and reliable process for wine production that produces wine at a high quality. This is often achieved through careful planning and time-tested processes that are overseen by a master winemaker. A more recent development in the wine making industry is to use filtration to add “polish” to a wine before it is bottled to enhance the appearance, increase stability and reduce the chances of re-fermentation after it’s bottled.
With new technology and a seasoned team of engineers this filtration process can be made more reliable, repeatable, and easier to oversee without the need of decades of experience. A customer who produces quality wine and spirits in the San Joaquin Valley partnered with Placer Process to implement a filtration system that was simple and safe enough for their workers to use while leveraging technology to achieve the desired filtration for their award-winning wine.
The solution Placer Process designed and installed included two sets of sanitary pre and post filter housings with different styles of filter elements. Each of the filter housings included isolation valves, vents, and sample ports with a surge tank to act as a buffer between the cellar tank and filler. The design also included a feed pump that was pressure controlled to provide a constant feed rate and pressure to the filler.
Like many filtration systems that Placer Process designs and installs this one featured a clean-in-place mechanism that used chemical and hot water sterilization before being rinsed with water for cooling and purged with nitrogen to remove all residual water and protect against oxygen contamination before the wine transfer.
This entire filtration system boasted automation and controls that allowed for monitoring of the entire process and easy operation by the workers of the plant. If you are looking for a proven partner for your winemaking filtration process contact Placer Process to see how we can help you achieve your goals.
Read the full wine filtration case study here for additional details
