Needing a Little Help on Filtration

Hi there everyone. Im not necessarily a rookie at making a good brew anymore but Im looking into trying to filter my beer before bottling. Any tips on how to do this on the cheap?

Filtering should not be necessary. But if you really want to do it there is no real cheap way since you need a new filter for every 5 gallons.

You need some yeast in the wort for bottling so it will carbonate so if you filter too much you will just have flat beer.

Filtering is most likely not necessary. You can do a few things to help clarify your beer.

1. Adding Irish Moss during the last 15 minutes of the boil will help precipitate insoluble proteins.

2. Also performing protein rests on less modified grains will help reduce beer haze by helping to break down proteins and starches.

3. When transferring wort from the boil kettle to the fermentor, try to avoid transferring cold break/trub.

4. Racking to secondary to remove most of the liquid from sediment and cold crashing before bottling/kegging.

5. Finally, for some reason, I find that kegging my beer produces the most clarity probably due to not bottle conditioning which produces a very high liquid to sediment ratio.

Any hope for me if I dont use a secondary fermenter? What about using a filter tip for my racking cane?

I agree with insubordinateK, filtering is not necessary. I would add that a good cold break also helps so invest in a chiller if you are still using a ice bath.

I don't see why you aren't using a secondary. That is probably the easiest thing you can do to clear your beer except for irish moss. A secondary will also improve the flavor which, IMO, is more important than clarity anyway.

I just read from Cheesefood's older threads in the past that the secondary wasn't really necessary so I went all cheap-o and saved the extra cash for more experimentation. I'll remember that in the future and see about buying a glass carboy for secondary use. Is the ice bath a quick, easy way to clear up the beer for now?

You'll likely run into some resistance to the necessity for a secondary to aid in flavor - but it will help with clarity somewhat.

It you are really wanting to filter - I saw a recent post for a 'cheaper' setup that would let you add filtering beer to your abilities for about ~$2 per batch, after you purchase the $20 filter holders... it includes an awesome part list and links:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-2-stage-single-pass-beer-clarity-filter-cheap-261897/ (Thanks Radix!)

Cheers

Secondary is not necessary clear beer but a good cold break after boil and a cold crash after fermentation works wonders. More time in the fridge works too but it's better to let it floc before you bottle. You can also use finings in the boil like whirlfloc tabs/irish moss or after fermentation with gelatin if you need to but it shouldn't be necessary. It should be noted that some yeast floc better than others. A lot is in your process though too. If you're careful when racking, you'll leave a lot behind without losing beer. Overall, filters are not practical and not needed.

bodhi314 said:

You'll likely run into some resistance to the necessity for a secondary to aid in flavor - but it will help with clarity somewhat.

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What exactly is the mechanism that allows beer to clear better without the yeast cake? It seems to me, rack it once or rack it twice doesn't change clarity.

SCSF336 said:

I just read from Cheesefood's older threads in the past that the secondary wasn't really necessary so I went all cheap-o and saved the extra cash for more experimentation. I'll remember that in the future and see about buying a glass carboy for secondary use. Is the ice bath a quick, easy way to clear up the beer for now?

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What I meant by the Ice bath comment was that a quick cool down after the boil will result in a better cold break and clearer beer. So the ice bath chill method is NOT ideal. You might get clearer beer using a counter flow or immersion chiller to bring the wort down to pitching temp.

The beer will also clear the longer it suits and ages. Cold crashing will expedite this process, but doing those things would be unwise without a secondary. You don't want the beer sitting on the trub for too long. Three weeks is risky imo and 1-1.5 is optimal.

Aging the beer a bit improves flavor and clarity noticeably, get a secondary and let it rest for two weeks before bottling. I agree that a secondary is not strictly necessary, but it isn't pointless either.

Hey MTB -

In terms of clarity - here's a few factors to play with:

1) If you're talking about trub/large break material (what you can see), much of this will be isolated by allowing to settle after primary fermentation and racking.
As you mention you can be brought to the next level by 'cold crashing'- if you are really concerned, larger filtration (5 micron filters) will remove.

2) If your issue for clarity is suspended proteins that come out of solution when you cool for serving "Chill Haze" - filtration can help this by removing the proteins responsible (lots of contributing factors here, but often associated with shearing during wort movement, which cuts the insoluble proteins into smaller bits so they can float -- also can be related to mash conditions somewhat, although most of your proteins are set up in malting)

This is where you get into trade-offs for natural carbonation - the filtration size required (0.5 to 1 micron) will filter out your yeast - they can be in the 3-4 micron range.

I know there are alot of other factors - but in terms of filtration these are the main decision points I'm aware of.

HomebrewMTB said:

What exactly is the mechanism that allows beer to clear better without the yeast cake? It seems to me, rack it once or rack it twice doesn't change clarity.

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You're right the absence of the yeast cake doesn't 'help' the beer clear.

You can age it longer with a secondary and time is what allows the yeast to settle out and the flavor to mellow a bit.

You know, if you're not going to go with a secondary just yet I guess you could cold crash the primary. The timing would be a bit tight. Wait till bubbling stops, take a gravity reading to ensure FG is reached and then put it in the fridge for 2 days, then bottle.

I would argue that the absence of the yeast cake will help reduce the chance of transferring sediment to bottles/kegs. The reason beer is cloudy or hazy is due to insoluble material in the final product. It is just a simple separation of liquid from solid.

Although I frequently go from primary to keg and end up with good clarity. So the impact of the secondary is minimal at best. I think the most effective techniques are protein rests and irish moss.

You know, if you're not going to go with a secondary just yet I guess you could cold crash the primary. The timing would be a bit tight. Wait till bubbling stops, take a gravity reading to ensure FG is reached and then put it in the fridge for 2 days, then bottle.

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Won't the cold really really impede the priming solution from homogenizing with the beer when its going into bottles?

So lets put all that other stuff about clarifying beer aside for a moment and talk about the original topic.

Filtering is a rather simple process but can be attacked in many ways. So first off you need to determent your objective. Are you trying to filter out whole hop cones, yeast, proteins, starch haze, or flavor. There is a big difference between a colander and a RO filter. To pick the right one you need to think about partial size or if your trying to make Bud Light activated carbon content.

You don't necessarily want a filter that will get 100% of the partials out. This will result in a clogged filter quickly. A filter when new will give fast flow but let small objects pass, but when dirty will filter much better but only give a slow flow (the reason I rarely change my car's fuel filter).

Okay so back to your beer, you want to get starch, protein and or yeast out, and I'll assume that is all you're trying to do. So first rack your beer into a bottling bucket or something like that, just get it off the cake. I'd start with a coffee filter. It will not catch much at first, but on a second pass will get a lot of the junk. You want the filter set up so that the junk in it works as the filter an doesn't get disturbed. You could rap the end of a racking cane with a bit of the filter and a rubber band. This may clog up fast as there is little filter surface, but it would be a simple way to "set it and forget it".

Some things to think about...

SCSF336 said:

Won't the cold really really impede the priming solution from homogenizing with the beer when its going into bottles?

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Why would you think so? A solid such as corn sugar might not dissolve but why would one solution not mix with another?

Wont the priming solution going to need to be stirred in more when mixing with a nice cold batch of beer ready to go into bottles?

SCSF336 said:

Wont the priming solution going to need to be stirred in more when mixing with a nice cold batch of beer ready to go into bottles?

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Again, I ask why would you think that?

If you had 2 glasses of water, one with red dye and the other with yellow, mixing them together will get you orange regardless of the temp of the two glasses. Try it and see. Cold or hot, they will mix easily. I'm not an engineer and I could be wrong, temp could somehow matter but even in that case the effect is probably inconsequential in the practical application of priming your beer.

The exception I can see would be if you had a saturated warm liquid and mixed it with a saturated cool liquid. Then the dissolved solid, sugar in this case, would come out of solution as the mixture cools. That is not an issue with mixing the wort with the priming solution.

Do a search, lots of people cold crash before bottling. The usual concern is that not enough yeast will be present to carb but experience has shown that that too is a non-issue.

Lost said:

Again, I ask why would you think that?

If you had 2 glasses of water, one with red dye and the other with yellow, mixing them together will get you orange regardless of the temp of the two glasses. Try it and see. Cold or hot, they will mix easily. I'm not an engineer and I could be wrong, temp could somehow matter but even in that case the effect is probably inconsequential in the practical application of priming your beer.

The exception I can see would be if you had a saturated warm liquid and mixed it with a saturated cool liquid. Then the dissolved solid, sugar in this case, would come out of solution as the mixture cools. That is not an issue with mixing the wort with the priming solution.

Do a search, lots of people cold crash before bottling. The usual concern is that not enough yeast will be present to carb but experience has shown that that too is a non-issue.

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Well actually it is a little (very little) harder to mix the two glasses of water if they are of a different temp. This is because the colder one is denser and would be happier to go to the bottom. A very genital stir would overcome this though. Another way of saying this in brewers terms: Fluids mix better when of the same specific gravity.
But the priming solution will be denser because of sugars, there for if it is of a higher temp than what it is being mixed into it will actually be easier to mix that if it was of the same temp as the difference in SG will be smaller.

But, and this is a big but, it really doesn't matter for this. You'll mix it a little by just pouring it which will be enough to get a relatively good mix, two turns of a spoon will mix it 10 time more than you actually need to.

DrJerryrigger said:

Well actually it is a little (very little) harder to mix the two glasses of water if they are of a different temp. This is because the colder one is denser and would be happier to go to the bottom. A very genital stir would overcome this though. Another way of saying this in brewers terms: Fluids mix better when of the same specific gravity.
But the priming solution will be denser because of sugars, there for if it is of a higher temp than what it is being mixed into it will actually be easier to mix that if it was of the same temp as the difference in SG will be smaller.

But, and this is a big but, it really doesn't matter for this. You'll mix it a little by just pouring it which will be enough to get a relatively good mix, two turns of a spoon will mix it 10 time more than you actually need to.

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So, what are you stirring with?

Honestly, I wasnt going to stir with anything except a large, sterilized plastic spoon.

I use a hop bag twisty'd to the end of the OUTPUT of the hose (sanitized as such in the keg or in the secondary.

Oak chips or tons of hops and no secondary can call for a filter.