filtering

I was thinking of placing a coffee filter that had been sanitized on the end of my racking tube and holding it with a rubber band to help filter out hop flakes from dry hopping. Is this a good idea or will it hold out the suspended yeast and give me carbing problems?

Ben

You won't be able to siphon with a coffee filter attached...it won't flow nearly well enough to maintain siphon. I use a muslin hops bag when I need to keep stuff out of the siphon. I tried using a piece of nylon stocking once and even that restricted the flow enough to stop the siphon several times.

If they are whole hops and you have the plastic tip on the end of your racking cane, very few will make it in anyhow.

At my LHBS they have big funnels that come with a 3-4 inch filter that snaps in and out. Filters out junk, but flows well enough to siphon through it and not filter out the good stuff. May want to look into something like that. You could use a nylon mesh hop/grain bag to filter through as well.

Paper coffee filters are way too fine. They clog instantly. The gold mesh ones will work.

I have had decent success using a piece of santized hopsack and a rubberband to block stuff in the past.

I use a very fine copper wire mesh. It keeps out any left over hops but it doesn't filter any sediment.