Filtering?

Does anyone run their beer through a filter of any sort when transferring from carboy to bottling bucket to bottle/keg?

Wondering if I could reduce sediment by using a filter/strainer. Just curious if anyone does and if so what?

I have started using a plate filter. I siphon beer into a cornie, then use gas to push the beer from the 1st cornie, through the plate filter, to the second corner. My fist try was this past weekend, on an altbier and a IPA. My neighbor noticed right away and commented without me saying anything. It does make a very clear beer.

I now filter pretty much every beer through a 5 micron filter. This will leave plenty of yeast if I choose to bottle prime/condition or if I want I can still move it straight to a keg and have minimal "chunks".

I will filter some beers through a 1 micron filter that are supposed to be clear like a pale as example. This filter will strip out most of the yeast but not all of it. I would probably want to add yeast if I were to bottle it. Mind you, I seldom use this filter.

Last is the .5 micron which strips all the yeast and will even take sugars out. I will only use this for a pilsen or like style beer. I rarely use this filter because I do not brew much of this style to date.

IMO there is something to be said for the beers that go through a 1 micron or smaller filter. You start to strip out flavor. Not to mention those good for you B vitamins that aid in the lack of/recovery from hangovers... I personally never send beer through any filter unless I needed to.

ssiem37 said:

Does anyone run their beer through a filter of any sort when transferring from carboy to bottling bucket to bottle/keg?

Wondering if I could reduce sediment by using a filter/strainer. Just curious if anyone does and if so what?

Click to expand...

Have not found a need. Time will clear most beers. Occasionally I get one that does not clear, and use it to learn.

Beware! I have done this with a small piece of nylon around my autoshiphon,because i dry hopped with loose pelllot hops, they were still floating in suspension when i filltered so i rubberbanded a nylon cutting well halfway through it bubbled it bad maybe it was clogging, but i was worried about 0xidation, long story short, drinking them over 8months old ocassionlly they still taste good!

Best advice: Brew more beer--> so finished beers are waiting for you to drink them-->rather than, you waiting for the beer to finish.

Breweries filter and rush beers because beer in fermenters and conditioning tanks does not make them money (small profit margins--cost effective to spend money on filtering beer and sell more beer, more quickly). Also because it makes beers more consistent in flavor.

Homebrewers, imo, can make better beers by not rushing things. And consistency does not matter to us (whether achieved or not). As stated above-->

Time will clear most beers.

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Not only will time (and gravity) clear the beer, but it will allow the beer to condition naturally at its own pace. I have used all sorts of filters and finings before--and they work--but I think the best method is simply to buy a few more corny kegs or bottles and brew more....

I am now filtering my beer twice before fermentation. I use pellets and like hoppy beers so I have a decent amount of junk in my wort to begin with. I put a large strainer on my chiller pot and a smaller strainer in it. Pour wort slowly...as first strainer clogs the beer will rise out of the first and into the second.

I do the same thing again for pouring into the fermenter, except the funnels below the strainers have a small screen in it. If it still gets too clogged I have to switch out the small strainer for another.

This is NOT a lot of work...just leave the strainers in a bucket of star san and it takes 2 seconds to put them in place.

A couple of observations: Before this, I would get a thin layer of sediment at the bottle of my bottles (16oz) now its a tiny ring around the edges. Also, my trub is considerable lower and tighter.

I just filtered my first batch with a 7 micron plate filter.



The one on the left was in the keg for about 10 weeks, the one on the right
was in the keg for 2 days. Same grain bill, besides the plate filtering the only
differences were the one on the left used wyeast 1764 and was dryhopped
with 2 oz of pellets, the one on the right used wyeast 1056 and was
dryhopped with 2 oz of whole cones.







It took about 30 mins to push around 5 gallons through the filter. I also
cold crashed at 29 degrees for 48 hours before filtering. I'm pretty happy
with the results.

Buna_Bere said:

I just filtered my first batch with a 7 micron plate filter.

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Great, compelling post.

BTW, leak-proof, right? WTF. They need to redesign that plate filter. I'm planning on putting keg lube on the gaskets next time.

I tested it with water first and found a couple of small leaks, so I put hose clamps on every connection, that fixed it. The gaskets didn't leak at all. I'd recommend keeping the receiving keg cover open so the pressure doesn't build up.

Buna_Bere said:

I'd recommend keeping the receiving keg cover open so the pressure doesn't build up.

Click to expand...

I put an open gas fitting onto the gas post of the receiving keg. No pressure buildup. But my plate filter leaked like a sieve. I need to do some water testing before I run beer through it again.

Do you dry hop before or after filtering?

My experience was that filtering that finely removed significant hop character.

Your experience the same?

I tried dry hopping after the fine filtration, and it was good beer, but not the same (not as hoppy) as not filtering and then dry hopping.

I dry hopped before I filtered. It does seem to have less hop aroma, I was thinking maybe it was the fresh hops vs the pellets. I'm dry hopping it again with some more fresh hops in a fine mesh bag in the keg now.

Will using a filter degas The wine?