Do cartridge filters work for anyone? They aren't working for me!

This is my filter
And this is the result. My 1 micron filtered beer is on the left looking totally hazy. The beer on the right is for comparison, it's a commercial beer (Maui Brewing IPA). If I filter with a 1 micron filter should not my beer be clear? I don't think the cartridge system works. Total waste of money and time is what I am thinking. What do you think? Anyone w/ experience? Am I somehow doing something wrong?

If you let the beer warm, does it clear? That is, is that purely chill haze? Are you filtering when cold?

I've never filtered beer, just asking some questions. Lamarguy filters, maybe do some searching and look for some of his posts.

I use a .5 micron filter for my water but could give two ****s if my final product is totally clear. I have considered filtering in the future so my mom could drink my beer. The yeast wreaks havoc on her when she drinks my brew(allergies). Lowes sells a .5 micron non charcoal filter around the whole house filter area. Have you tried gelatin in secondary? I've been able to get some really clear beers that way and there's no hassle of filtering.

I really liked the idea of being able to spend 1hr filtering and get a beer that had so to speak 'instant age' where a filter pulled out things that would normally fall out over a few weeks. Figured that would totally be worth my time. But my system or my process is not working. I do filter cold and the beer stays hazy in the glass even when it warms. I have tried gelatin in the past and think I will just go back to fining and forget this setup.

I am really curious if this type of filter system works for anyone? I know some people use a special wine filter w/ excellent instant results (Mike McDole for one) but I've even used a .5 micron on this system and gotten no change in clarity. Am I missing something here? I'm wondering if I should have been on the short bus all these years.

Are those ratings nominal or absolute?

all nominal

.5 micron nominal is still pretty flipping fine. If you are filtering cold that should get chill haze and yeast. Either something is going wrong or you have some very small particles causing a ton of haze.

Have you tried fining? If that works or doesn't it can at least indicate what the haze causing substance is. Try gelatin first and then if that doesn't work Polycar VT (fine PVPP).

for clearere beers there are a few things i do. One is my container goes through 3 containers, i cold crash, and i use gelatin

2- 3 weeks in the fermenterthen transwer a secondary vessl to drop more things out 2-4 weeks in secondary vessel. THen i start the cold crashing process for 2 days in the secondary, next i transfer into a tertiary container over 2 cups of disolved water and 1 package of gelatin. The hole process wastes a few cups of beer but im fine with that.

One of my homebrew buddies calls me a freak. Because my beers get so clear

I don't think that a .5 micron filter is going to rid your beer of protein causing hazes. Proteins are far smaller than .5 micron. I believe you will need to use a filter specifically designed for filtering wine and beer. I've used finings and I dont really like any of them. Just takes time.

I had a similar experience with a cartridge filter. I tried a couple of different filter types and sizes, and none of them seemed to do anything but waste my time. It was a cheap experiment, and I chalked it up as a failure.

To get commercially clear beer by filtering, you need one of those insanely expensive 0.3 micro ceramic cartridges. And even that doesn't fix chill haze.

you can get the filter pads from northern brewer or likely your LHBS. It should cure your problem or just, as charlie P. says, "increase your worrying and decrease your relaxedness."

seriously it's in his second book in the filtering section.

I'm not sure but I have become, a minimalist, a germ a phobe or just lazy.I ferment 3-4 weeks (sometimes longer), I no longer use a secondary. Cold crash @ 34-36 degrees for 5-7 days, heat 2 cups of water to 190 degrees mix one pack of gelatin, let cool, pore in keg and rack beer on top. The first pint or two off the keg may be a bit cloudy from the particulate the the gelatin adhered to. But by the third pint it is crystal clear.

Never filtered but from what I've heard (and it's from the internet so it must be true.) you could be having one of the following problems.

1. Chill haze. Hard to filter out needs time or finings or process change upstream to eleminate.

2. Filtering too fast. Filters work very sloooowly.

3. You're going too fine initially at .5 or 1 micron. If you have a lot of particulate matter your .5 micron filter will clog very quickly and become useless. You have to filter first at around 5 or 10 microns then "polish" filter after at .5 or 1 micron.

(This is mostly recieved knowledge from the BN and Tasty. I'm lazy I use time and temp)

Rudeboy