Wine and Juice Lees Filtration
Recover higher value wine and juice from lees filtration
Recover More Wine and Juice Through Lees Filtration
Wine and juice lees contain valuable product that can be recovered through effective filtration. Recovering wine and juice from lees can help wineries maximize yield, reduce product losses and lower waste volumes while recovering valuable product that might otherwise be discarded.
What Are Lees in Wine and Juice?
Lees filtration is the process of recovering wine or juice from the sediment generated during winemaking. By separating valuable liquid from solids such as yeast, fruit particles and fining residues, wineries can increase product recovery, reduce waste and improve process efficiency.
Lees are the sediment that collects at the bottom of wine and juice tanks. They can represent up to 15% of a winery’s total production volume and contain recoverable wine or juice.
Types of lees generated during winemaking include:
- Juice lees: Pre-fermentation solids generated during harvest, representing approximately 10 to 15% of juice production
- Fermentation lees: Mainly yeast cells and other particles left after fermentation, representing approximately 1 to 2% of wine production
- Fining lees: Solids created when wine is treated with additives such as bentonite, representing approximately 2 to 10% of wine production
- Crossflow system concentrates: Residual solids remaining after wine clarification by crossflow filtration, representing less than 1% of production
Lees can have solids concentrations of 20 to 30%, leaving considerable potential for wine and juice recovery.
Why Is Wine Lees Filtration Challenging?
The high concentration and variability of suspended solids make wine and juice lees difficult to filter. Only certain filtration technologies can handle these conditions effectively.
Wineries must also balance product recovery with wine quality, operating costs, waste volumes and the practical demands of the harvest period. Environmental initiatives and waste reduction objectives can further increase the focus on recovering valuable product from lees. Selecting the right lees filter can help recover valuable product while supporting a more efficient filtration process.
Why Do Wineries Filter Lees?
Wineries filter lees to recover additional wine or juice, reduce product losses and lower waste disposal volumes. Effective lees filtration can improve production efficiency while helping wineries recover additional wine or juice.
Effective lees filtration can help wineries:
- Recover additional wine or juice
- Reduce product losses
- Maintain filtrate clarity
- Reduce the volume of material requiring disposal
- Use labour more effectively
- Improve filtration efficiency during harvest
See Lees Filtration as Part of the Complete Winery Process
Explore how wine and juice move through the wider filtration process.
Which Methods Are Used for Filtering Wine Lees?
Traditional lees filtration methods include chamber press filters and rotary vacuum drum filters. Crossflow filtration provides an alternative that uses microporous membranes without the need for filter aids.
How Does Traditional DE Filtration Work?
Diatomaceous earth filtration systems, including rotary vacuum drum filters and chamber press filters, are traditionally used to process wine and juice lees.
These systems can filter material with a high concentration of solids. However, their open design allows oxygen pickup, which can negatively affect product quality. Recovered wine may require additional processing and is often used in blends rather than being added back to the original batch.
DE-based systems also require large volumes of diatomaceous earth filter aid. This contributes to powder handling, winery waste, disposal requirements, labour demands and product losses.
In smaller and mid-sized wineries, the volume of lees from a single batch may be too low for immediate processing with a DE-based system. Lees may therefore be stored until enough material has accumulated. This delay can further reduce the quality and value of the recoverable wine.
How Does Crossflow Lees Filtration Work?
Crossflow filtration uses microporous membranes to separate wine or juice from concentrated lees without requiring diatomaceous earth filter aids. An enclosed crossflow system can help wineries recover additional product while avoiding the powder handling and DE waste associated with traditional filtration methods. Crossflow systems are also usually automated, allowing winery teams to use labour more effectively during the busy harvest period.
How Does Crossflow Compare with Traditional Lees Filtration?
The table below compares the relative characteristics of chamber press, rotary vacuum and crossflow filtration. In the original comparison, a lower score represents the more favourable performance.
| Chamber Press | Rotatory Vacuum Filter | Crossflow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAPEX | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| OPEX | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Hygiene | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Footprint | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Filtrate Clarity | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Product Losses | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Changeover/Set-up Time | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Oxygen Pickup | 4 | 5 | 1 |
In the comparison shown above, crossflow filtration achieved favourable scores for hygiene, filtrate clarity, product losses, changeover time and oxygen pickup. The most suitable filtration method will depend on the winery's process, lees volume and production requirements.
Oenoflow™ HS Lees Filtration System
The Oenoflow HS system is a crossflow filtration system designed to address many of the challenges associated with traditional DE-based lees filtration technologies.
It uses membrane filtration to process wine and juice lees without the need for diatomaceous earth filter aids. Its enclosed and automated operation supports efficient product recovery and more effective use of labour.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a lees filter?
A lees filter separates recoverable wine or juice from the concentrated sediment produced during winemaking. Lees can contain yeast cells, fruit solids, fining materials and other particles.
How much wine or juice can lees contain?
Lees can represent up to 15% of a winery’s total production volume. The recoverable amount depends on the type of lees, its solids concentration and the filtration method used.
What is wine lees filtration?
Wine lees filtration separates wine from the solids that settle or concentrate during production. The process allows wineries to recover additional product while reducing the volume of material requiring disposal.
What methods are used to filter wine lees?
Common wine lees filtration methods include chamber press filtration, rotary vacuum drum filtration and crossflow membrane filtration. Traditional systems often use diatomaceous earth, while crossflow systems use microporous membranes.
What Is the Best Method for Filtering Wine Lees?
The most suitable filtration method depends on lees volume, production goals and winery operations. Common options include chamber press filtration, rotary vacuum drum filtration and crossflow membrane filtration.
Does crossflow lees filtration require diatomaceous earth?
No. Crossflow filtration uses microporous membranes and does not require diatomaceous earth filter aids.
Why is oxygen pickup important during lees filtration?
Oxygen pickup can negatively affect the quality of recovered wine. Enclosed crossflow filtration reduces the exposure associated with open traditional filtration systems.
Find the right wine lees filtration solution for your winery.
Crossflow Lees Filter Experience Delivers Efficiency and Economy at Yalumba
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The Oenoflow HS Filtration System
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