Filtration

What kind of filtration do you guys use? I'd like some specifics, never done any filtering before and am curious about the techniques out there and the results. Thanks

cdew4545 said:

What kind of filtration do you guys use? I'd like some specifics, never done any filtering before and am curious about the techniques out there and the results. Thanks

Click to expand...

Filtration really requires kegs. You rack to a keg, then use the CO2 to force the beer from Keg A, through your filter, and into Keg B. I guess you could get a suction pump to do this, but I've never met or talked to anybody who did that.

As for filters, most on-line HBS that I've visited have filters for sale. It's not cheap, once you add in the cost of the kegs and co2 bottle.

I bought a filtering system to go along with my kegging equipment. Works pretty well, gets most of the crap out of there. I screwed it up last time, so some of the smaller particles got thru and there wasn't a noticable difference in clarity. Next time there should be.

I use a common household canister filter. Filter setup I clean and sanitize a keg, leaving the sanitizer in the keg. I pressurize the keg to about 5 psi and connect the filter to the OUT. This lets the sanitizer flow through the filter, then the CO2 blows the sanitizer out of the filter. I've found this works better if you turn the filter upside down.

Once the filter has been blown out, I disconnect it from the new keg and connect it to the OUT of the keg with the ale in it and the IN of the freshly sanitized keg. I use about 5 psi on the source keg to push the ale through the filter. You have to burp the target keg by pulling the ring on the pressure relief valve once in a while to keep the ale flowing. Setting the pressure relief valve so it is just out-gasses is a good way to spray foam all over the garage.

Once the source keg is empty, I invert the filter to get the last quart out of the filter into the target keg. If I was starting over, I'd get a 5" filter rather than the 10" one, less ale loss. Most of the time the 0.5 micron filters do the job.

DO NOT USE A CARBON/ACTIVATED CANISTER! These are sold for cleaning water and they'll do a real number on ale!

I probably filter 10-15% of the lighter ales. Most dark ales, I don't worry about.