A Technique to Filter Wort

I've just filtered my wort before bottling and the result (so far) looks exceedingly good with crystal-clear beer in my bottles and absolutely no visible trub even at the bottom of my bottling bucket.

Essentially, I've copied the BIAB idea and simply racked my wort into a large but fine filter bag inside the bottling bucket. This seemed significantly more effective than what I tried before such as tying a filter bag to the suction end of the auto-syphon or just sieving the wort from the pot to the fermenter.

Anyway, I hope it works for you too.

Thanks for the technique! I'm going to try this to filter the remaining wort and hops that I have on my fermenter.

This seems like an easy enough idea. I have been trying to come up with a way to keep my bottle wand from getting clogged by hops.

The technique will work just fine, however, make sure that the filter bag does not hang above the bottling bucket beer as you will most assuredly be aerating your beer (not a good thing). Stick the siphon wand in the bag and keep it in the drained beer until completed draining.

jroot said:

The technique will work just fine, however, make sure that the filter bag does not hang above the bottling bucket beer as you will most assuredly be aerating your beer (not a good thing). Stick the siphon wand in the bag and keep it in the drained beer until completed draining.

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Absolutely. Keep the bottling wand tip at the bottom of the bucket and make sure the bag is deeper than the bucket (if not then tie off the bag mouth around the wand as tightly as possible).

I love BIAB bags for filtering!

When I pour my cooled wort in the fermenter, I also use two layers in my funnel and it cuts the quantity of trub at the bottom of the carboy in half.

You filter through the BIAB bag when transferring into the fermenter? Or when you transfer from fermenter into bottling bucket? The bottling wand in the picture is throwing me off for some reason.

Also, do you have any issue with the bag filling up and draining slowly? When I filter through a sieve and it picks up trub/hops it slows down significantly and I have to shake the junk out before resuming.

rjthomas21 said:

You filter through the BIAB bag when transferring into the fermenter? Or when you transfer from fermenter into bottling bucket? The bottling wand in the picture is throwing me off for some reason.

Also, do you have any issue with the bag filling up and draining slowly? When I filter through a sieve and it picks up trub/hops it slows down significantly and I have to shake the junk out before resuming.

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The OP was talking about filtering through BIAB bag when bottling. It's great, I do it all the time, but I do it also when I'm transferring from the kettle to the fermenter. I've found that strainers always corrode pretty quickly, even when it's labeled as SS.

Yes, it does slow down when pouring from kettle to fermenter through BIAB bags. But, it also aerates the wort pretty well IMO. I just pour slowly. What I do is the following:

I insert a small (6 x 6) bag in the carboy, with the edges sticking out. I insert the funnel firmly in it. Then, I put a 24 x 24 bag over the funnel and secure it so that it hangs a bit loose on the funnel's opening but not too much, so that the junk doesn't clog the funnel's hole.

I BIAB.

Why would particles that slip through the BIAB bag during mashing (i.e. very small ones) all of a sudden no longer slip through the same bag when you transfer the wort from the kettle to the fermentor?

Or are you using a finer bag?

Or is it the hops residue that you are trapping, and not other particulate? If its hops residue then do you use a hops bag, and if so, is it fine enough?

At one point I tried using a 300 micron strainer but it blocked up quickly. I may try using Chads stainless steel hops container as a filer at some point.


My concern with transfering wort and running it through a bag is the bag must be sanitized. You cant use the bag for mashing, then let it sit out gathering dust for an hour plus. You have to clean it and soak it in Star San prior to using it with cooled wort.

The same is true when using it as a strainer when bottling. There is a chance of infection and Oxidation. At the very least soak the bag in Star San and use it wet, so Oxygen is less likely to get in.

I don't get lots of particulate when bottling, unless I stick the racking cane all the way into the trub.
Instead I keep it suspended above the trub and gradually tip the bucket. I also leave behind a beers worth that would otherwise have a lot of yeast in it.


I do BIAB and I don't have an excessive amount of trub. I's say it's not too much more than extract, though I could be mistaken as I haven't brewed extract recently.

First, my intention was not to hijack the thread, sorry bout that, OP.

I don't BIAB, I'm AG in a cooler mash tun. I also don't use a hop bag during the boil as I find its a hassle for hop additions at different times during the boil.

I trap a LOT of trub that way, way more than the quantity of hops I added, so I figure I catch a lot of extra particulates. I hate racking in general, and I brew 3 gal batches, so for me it's easier to just pour from the kettle directly to the fermenter. Therefore, I don't whirlpool the wort and wait for it to sediment.

I use two bags, so that the little bag doesn't become clogged with trub right away. Having a large filtering surface allows me to change the place where I'm pouring. The bags are cleaned with a mild soap and soaked in starsan until I'm ready to pour into the carboy.

About filtering when bottling, as someone pointed out earlier, I always leave the tubing in the bottling bucket under the level of wort, so I don't think I'm oxygenating the beer. If I do, it's not significantly more than if I wasn't filtering. Again, the bag comes out a bit dirty, and there is less sediment at the bottom of the bottles.

That's it! Works well for my setup, may not be suited to everybody's needs.

So when transferring the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, you place the tubing inside a bag and place all of that in the bottom of the bottling bucket and let it fill up that way (removing the bag/tubing at the end)? Am I understanding that correctly?

I have heard not to filter if bottling because necessary yeast is lost (removed). Any opinions out there?

This type of filtering won't remove all of the yeast unless you were to use an exceedingly fine bag. When filtering to remove yeast you use a 1 micron filter (or is it .1 micron I can't remember)These bags are likely much larger than that much like coarse filtering cartridges with 5 micron pores)

Tippsy-Turvy said:

I've just filtered my wort before bottling

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Why are you bottling wort?

rjthomas21 said:

So when transferring the beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, you place the tubing inside a bag and place all of that in the bottom of the bottling bucket and let it fill up that way (removing the bag/tubing at the end)? Am I understanding that correctly?

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Yes

jstraight said:

I have heard not to filter if bottling because necessary yeast is lost (removed). Any opinions out there?

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I agree with the above, yeast is 5–10 micrometres in diameter.

Until recently, I had huge losses to kettle trub, and also big losses when bottling due to yeast settling. I had just accepted the fact that because I don't use a siphon, such as life. I recently used Irish moss for the first time, and chilled my wort into the mid 60's ( which I really hadn't done before) and the settling was amazing! I put a paint filter in a large strainer, and slowly poured the wort through. Not only was the majority of the wort almost clear, but the paint strainer mesh caught 80% or more of the trub. I lost less than a quart, instead of a half gallon or more, so it was worth the trouble. When I got ready to rack into the bottling bucket, I cold crashed for three days instead of overnight, and the layer on the bottom of the bucket was very compact. I then opened the spigot very slowly to drain out and stopped when I got down to the trub. Once again only losing a quart if that. For the seasoned brewer this may just be redundant, but someone who is new to the whole process, it may save them a lot of lost beer, and improve their technique. I had read the same basic words here when I was very new, and it still didn't quite sink in. I now have more, better tasting beer, and all the help giver here is the reason. Thanks to everyone.

MindenMan said:

Until recently, I had huge losses to kettle trub, and also big losses when bottling due to yeast settling. I had just accepted the fact that because I don't use a siphon, such as life. I recently used Irish ...

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I like to use as little finings as possible. MY own obsession. So I'm bent on finding mechanical avenues of filtering wort.

For bottling, yes, I should cold crash since I can. My main concern with cold crashing is suck backs. Pressure in the carboy falls quite rapidly when I go from 65-70F to 22F. Also, I don't have a CO2 tank on hand to flush with since I bottle. I don't like the idea of the content of the bubbler going in the beer. Even if it's vodka, boiled water, starsan or whatever. Again, MY own obsession. So, mechanical filtering again.

Works for me, might not work for you, etcetera.

For the record, I attached a nylon bag firmly around the end of the hose as I was siphoning into my bottle bucket and this was the best discovery since I learned about swamp coolers.

No more hops clogging the filters and/or getting into the finished product.

JRinke said:

For the record, I attached a nylon bag firmly around the end of the hose as I was siphoning into my bottle bucket and this was the best discovery since I learned about swamp coolers.

No more hops clogging the filters and/or getting into the finished product.

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Do you mean the end that is in the bottling bucket? If so, I'm afraid that would aerate the beer and cause oxydation...

JRinke said:

For the record, I attached a nylon bag firmly around the end of the hose as I was siphoning into my bottle bucket and this was the best discovery since I learned about swamp coolers.

No more hops clogging the filters and/or getting into the finished product.

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Let us know how yours turns out. My bottles are carbing nicely and the beer's still exceedingly clear. There's still some yeasties at the bottom but it's more a fine film compared to the layer of gunk I'm used to. I'll open one to taste next week.

ph0ngwh0ng said:

Do you mean the end that is in the bottling bucket? If so, I'm afraid that would aerate the beer and cause oxydation...

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No worries about that. It flows through just fine as long as it isn't the super fine nylon.

Tippsy-Turvy said:

Let us know how yours turns out. My bottles are carbing nicely and the beer's still exceedingly clear. There's still some yeasties at the bottom but it's more a fine film compared to the layer of gunk I'm used to. I'll open one to taste next week.

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So far, so good. I have done it with two batches so far. One about two weeks ago which is carbing just fine, and one last night.

And you are right. I still have a layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle, but it is no where near as gunky so far.

Added apricot purée to a pilsner extract to make a fruit beer to finish the summer. So, I'm going to have a little bit of "pulp" to strain out. Is it going to clog the bag too quickly? Should I strain it twice with progressively finer strainers (being sure not to aerate, of course!)?

I think as long as the bag is large enough then you won't encounter major clogging nor need to filter twice. The higher the beer level rises, the larger the surface area of the filter bag doing filtering.

If, however, you tie off a small filter cloth/bag around the tip of the tube/wand then it'll clog much more easily.

From what I'm reading it seems so long as the filter size is >5 microns then you won't filter out the yeast. I don't know how fine my bags are (nothing on the packaging) but they're definitely finer than standard BIAB bags but aren't constricting the yeast enough to prevent the rather vigorous carbonation i'm achieving!

ph0ngwh0ng said:

I like to use as little finings as possible. MY own obsession. So I'm bent on finding mechanical avenues of filtering wort.

For bottling, yes, I should cold crash since I can. My main concern with cold crashing is suck backs. Pressure in the carboy falls quite rapidly when I go from 65-70F to 22F. Also, I don't have a CO2 tank on hand to flush with since I bottle. I don't like the idea of the content of the bubbler going in the beer. Even if it's vodka, boiled water, starsan or whatever. Again, MY own obsession. So, mechanical filtering again.

Works for me, might not work for you, etcetera.

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Why dont you remove the S-airlock and replace it with aluminium foil - this way it wont go back to the beer. I am doing that for my cold crashing and I am very happy.

BrazilianBrewer

Tippsy-Turvy said:

I've just filtered my wort before bottling and the result (so far) looks exceedingly good with crystal-clear beer in my bottles and absolutely no visible trub even at the bottom of my bottling bucket.

Essentially, I've copied the BIAB idea and simply racked my wort into a large but fine filter bag inside the bottling bucket. This seemed significantly more effective than what I tried before such as tying a filter bag to the suction end of the auto-syphon or just sieving the wort from the pot to the fermenter.

Anyway, I hope it works for you too.

View attachment 138559

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Kind of looks like you aerated your beer before bottling based upon the picture. Can't recommend this technique. Oxygen pickup after fermentation is not a good idea.


Adam

I just opened a bottle last night from the "wort-filtering" experiment and......MAN OH MAN IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! Absolutely zero "off flavors" to indicate oxidation or anything wrong in fact.

It was a Big River Amber (my first darkish beer) and the flavors and aromas that instantly hit you are spectacular! They likely came from the potent mix of Caramel 80L, Special B and Roasted Chocolate Malt specialty grains. All my hops were late additions and I reckon that changed the bitterness to be smooth and mild, allowing my taste buds to focus more on the roasted-grain/coco bean-ish flavors.

The beer was very clear too but I didn't take a pic as it was in the evening and the beer is rather dark for night photography. I'll attach a photo later on when I open one in the daytime (great Rugby Championship matches coming up!).

Tippsy-Turvy said:

I just opened a bottle last night from the "wort-filtering" experiment and......MAN OH MAN IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! Absolutely zero "off flavors" to indicate oxidation or anything wrong in fact.

It was a Big River Amber (my first darkish beer) and the flavors and aromas that instantly hit you are spectacular! They likely came from the potent mix of Caramel 80L, Special B and Roasted Barley specialty grains. All my hops were late additions and I reckon that changed the bitterness to be smooth and mild, allowing my taste buds to focus more on the roasted-grain/coco bean-ish flavors.

The beer was very clear too but I didn't take a pic as it was in the evening and the beer is rather dark for night photography. I'll attach a photo later on when I open one in the daytime (great Rugby Championship matches coming up!).

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I'm right there with you on all of this.

Filtering my beer/wort has been my most recent awesome discovery.

A quick update for those interested.

I opened another bottle the other night to try to impress a friend but it was completely flat! Even pouring it quickly into a straight glass produced no head (although there was modest mouth feel) whereas that first bottle produced excessive head.

I'm concluding that after filtering the beer into the bottling bucket I should have gently mixed the solution. Instead, because the flow of beer through the filter bag was quite gentle, the sugar solution did not get mixed well and stayed largely at the bottom of the bucket.

Anyway, here's a pic of one of the bottles taken during the daytime. It's such a dark beer that I had to shine my most powerful LED torch through it to illustrate its clarity.