Filtering

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like every time I rack my meads I tend to pull a bit of sediment through. Sometimes it's a little, sometimes it's a lot, but there always tends to be some. And generally, spent yeast doesn't taste very well, IMHO.

So this weekend/early next week I'm going to try a little experiment. I'm gonna rack out of a one gallon carboy into another, until I get to about an inch off the lees (which will hopefully pull nothing else but liquid goodness through the siphon). I am then going to attempt to pour [as gently as possible] half of the remains into a carbon filter (Pur water filtration pitcher) and the other half through a couple coffee filters, to see if either are effective at cleanly separating mead from yeast.

Anybody else tried anything similar?

lsmith47 said:

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like every time I rack my meads I tend to pull a bit of sediment through. Sometimes it's a little, sometimes it's a lot, but there always tends to be some. And generally, spent yeast doesn't taste very well, IMHO.

So this weekend/early next week I'm going to try a little experiment. I'm gonna rack out of a one gallon carboy into another, until I get to about an inch off the lees (which will hopefully pull nothing else but liquid goodness through the siphon). I am then going to attempt to pour [as gently as possible] half of the remains into a carbon filter (Pur water filtration pitcher) and the other half through a couple coffee filters, to see if either are effective at cleanly separating mead from yeast.

Anybody else tried anything similar?

Click to expand...

It depends on what your aim actually is i.e. whether you just want to remove the sediment or whether you want to try and strip out a certain flavour.......

The coffee filter trick will just remove particulates, though you should remember that any appreciable amount of particulates present will clog the filter(s) quite quickly. The type used by commercial makers is often many different gauge filter elements, so that they might need to change the more course elements more often, but get something that is perfectly filtered in a single pass, as multiple single gauge filtrations can expose the brew to oxidation, or at least a higher chance of oxidation damage.

A carbon filter, unless matched with a particulate filter, will just remove some of the particulates and also absorb some of the flavour elements in the brew. Which is why, unless you're trying to filter more than just particulates out, a carbon filter should be avoided.

There's many types shown out there, if you search. And some are more successful than others.

I have a mini-jet, which is quite easy to set up and run, but has some leakage from between the plates and the filter pads. I also have an enolmatic vacuum filler, which can be reconfigured to provide just vacuum for the matching tandem filter housing and cartridge element. It's fine for larger quantities, and doesn't leak, but needs larger amounts as what is lost in the filter cartridge is greater (due to it's higher capacity).

Or you might find a "harris type" filter, which works on gravity, but is also more prone to clog if there's any appreciable amount of sediment left in the brew........