Filtering your beer?

I'm really new to home brewing, but I must say I absolutely love it. I just finished the last bottle from my first batch (a red ale), and my second batch (summer ale) is in the primary fermenter at the moment.

Anyway, My first batch had a small layer of sediment at the bottom of each bottle. It doesn't bother me too much, but my poker buddies weren't big fans. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a good filtration system or knows some good tips for clearing up your brew.

Thanks!

-Bobby E.

That layer of sediment was the yeast that carbonated your beer. Unless you plan to force carbonate your bottles (Obviously it can be done, the commercial breweries do it, but I don't think you want to spend THAT much money on equipment...), or you want to drink flat beer, you WANT that layer of sediment. Homebrew generally is not drank straight from the bottle. You poor it out into a glass and leave a 1/2 inch or so of beer at the bottom of the bottle with the sediment. The other option is to keg, which again, is not generally cheap for the equipment. Glad to hear your first brew came out good though. I had some trouble with mine (sanitation mistake during bottling ). Second batch should go better though I hope... It's a Coopers Real Ale in the primary at the moment.

I would tell my friends to stop whining or buy their own beer!!!

I'm also a new brewer, but I think the only way to avoid this sediment is to move on to kegging your beer and filtering it beforehand, since the yeast is necessary to carbonate your beer in the bottle.

Oh and you could pour the beers into cups and leave the sediment in the bottom of the bottle. This has worked for me in keeping most of the sediment in the bottle.

Yup, unless you keg you need that yeast to carb your beer. Kegging isn't that expensive. If you put the pieces together on your own and keep an eye on places like craigslist it can be done for a couple hundred dollars

mdowns63 said:

Oh and you could pour the beers into cups and leave the sediment in the bottom of the bottle. This has worked for me in keeping most of the sediment in the bottle.

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+1 for using a glass. I have a couple of friends who drink homebrew without one but they are actively seeking the yeasty flavor. If you don't like to taste yeast, use a glass.

You can use finings (isinglass, gelatin, polyclar, etc.) to clear or let the batch sit longer (3-4 weeks) before racking for bottling. Both methods will mean longer carbonation times since there is less yeast. But that also means less residue in the bottles.

You can also use highly flocculate yeasts or yeasts that form tight cakes.

However, removing all of the yeast would mean no carbonation. It is also rather difficult and requires 0.5 micron filters that are expensive and a pain to work with.

Wow, thanks for all your responses.

I thought that might be the case, and I agree with mdowns, if they don't like it, they can buy their own.

I think down the road I'll give kegging a try, and for now I'll stick to pouring into a glass.

Besides, does anything beat an ice-cold brew in a frosty mug?

Depends on who you ask. Some people would say that most beers aren't meant to be consumed ice-cold. Most ales are good around 45-55 degrees. But yes, brewing your own beer is an awesome hobby, and you could always encourage your friends to do it themselves, they'll get a better understanding of why that sediment is there by observing the process.

GatorBait said:

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a good filtration system or knows some good tips for clearing up your brew.

Thanks!

-Bobby E.

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My liver. The beer always comes out a crystal yellow after it has had a single pass through it.

LOL, "my liver." I have to chime in here with a +1 to not filtering. I have ran into the same problem before with people wanting to drink from the bottle. I try to explain that they won't get to smell the beer and appreciate the late hops or whatever I was trying for the beer, but to no avail. They are trained to drink from the bottle and that is what they like.

Saying this, I haven't worried about it in a while since going to kegging. I even naturally carbonate my kegs and could bottle from them with zero sediment after blowing the foam off a couple of the first pints of cloudy beer. I personally don't have a problem drinking someone else's beer with sediment in the bottom, because it is going in a glass so I can appreciate it (or condemn in some cases). I was hung up on thinking about filtration for the longest time before kegging, but after a few kegs I changed my mind. I would keep doing what you have been doing and tell them to bring their own or learn how to drink a crafted beer out of a frickin glass like you are supposed to.

GatorBait said:

Besides, does anything beat an ice-cold brew in a frosty mug?

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Yes...beer should be served at a temp that meets its style...and as neat as it looks, frosty mugs are only good for Bud, Miller, Coors...any beer that has no flavor or aroma.

Teh colder the beer, the less aroma and the less the malty and hoppy flavors burst onto the palette and nose.

since bud is generic beer with no real bitterness from hops or flavor from malt or hops, its not 'hindered' by drinking at 32F in a frozen mug.


Ask most Guinness drinkers, and they'll tell you its no good unless its served at like 50+ degrees.

I like Guinness at room temperature. They keep a sixer out in the cabinet at the bar I frequent and now have quit freezing all of their glasses. They still have the mugs frozen which is good for BMC and the girls that drink the boulevard wheat with the lemon in it. They fought me on it until I reasoned with them about how the glasses weren't frozen when it got to the customer anyways, and if they liked cold beer it would be easier to just turn the kegerator down instead of all those PITA frozen glasses for the same temperature served beer. Now they have more space for imports

Haven't any of you herd of carbonation tablets? You can completely filter out your beer, once it's done fermenting of course, bottle it, then add the carbonation tablets before you cap. There cheap, from what I can gather, and will add all the fizzy goodness you will need.

I'm pretty sure the carbonation tabs are just sugar balls that still need yeast to carbonate with. Unless there is a new product that I haven't heard of yet.

Carb tabs are just sugar tablets, formed in an appropriate amount for a bottle of beer. You still need yeast to provide CO2 if using them. Even if your beer is clear going into the bottle, there will be enough yeast left in it to prime the bottles.

emetcalf said:

I'm pretty sure the carbonation tabs are just sugar balls that still need yeast to carbonate with. Unless there is a new product that I haven't heard of yet.

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this. the only way around sediment is to force carb. you can do it with a keg and a bottle filler. or one of those carbonating caps (don't know how much they cost).

Filtering? Drinking the sedimnet? i ALWAYS drink my brew from the bottle and ALAWAYS have the sediment left behind. Are you guys pounding them or what?

BrewinBigD said:

Filtering? Drinking the sedimnet? i ALWAYS drink my brew from the bottle and ALAWAYS have the sediment left behind. Are you guys pounding them or what?

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Just the act of pouring them stirs up some of the sediment from the bottom. Even when you pour into a bottle, you want to do it in one pour, so that the bottle empties but the bottom layer of yeast isn't disturbed at all. Each time you lift and pour, you stir up some of the yeast.

Some of my favorite commercial beers are bottle conditioned, and of course are poured the same way.

whosaid said:

Haven't any of you herd of carbonation tablets? You can completely filter out your beer, once it's done fermenting of course, bottle it, then add the carbonation tablets before you cap. There cheap, from what I can gather, and will add all the fizzy goodness you will need.

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It's a good thing you showed up and resurrected this thread. Why, there must be a few hundred thousand homebrewers out there who will now bottle with no sediment.

Tongue in cheek of course... you have no idea what you're talking about but welcome to the forum. You'll probably learn something.

I was talking about putting CO2 tablets into your brew after filtering and bottling. They are a bit hard to come by, from what I can gather, but they do exist! Mostly they are sold for the "Re-carbonisation" of soda's and such. But you can use them to simple carbonate your beer! But,I guess I know nothing so please disregard my comment and believe whatever makes you happy.

And don't get me wrong I bottle condition all my brews. Thinking about trying the filtration method for a wheat beer but we'll see....

My suggestion here:

Filter before you add your yeast prior to fermentation. I have started running my wort through a strainer and it greatly reduces trub. Additionally, use irish moss. It will help clear your beer and doesn't modify flavor. This should help get a nice yeast layer at the bottom that doesn't follow your beer into the glass. Doing this, I am able to poor the entire*** beer into a glass and not get any sediment.

whosaid said:

I was talking about putting CO2 tablets into your brew after filtering and bottling. They are a bit hard to come by, from what I can gather, but they do exist! Mostly they are sold for the "Re-carbonisation" of soda's and such. But you can use them to simple carbonate your beer! But,I guess I know nothing so please disregard my comment and believe whatever makes you happy.

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its not that you "know nothing", just that brewers already use a product called carb tabs (carbonation tabs, carb pills, drops, w/e). and they don't work like that. maybe a little clarification is in order before suggesting this to a new brewer. however i have not seen what you're talking about, any chance you have the name of the company that makes them? or a website or something? sounds pretty cool. since its for soda i guess you would have to figure out the dosage for beer, since its not carbed as much. anyway, i wasn't trying to be rude with my earlier post. just pointing it out so the OP didn't try to carb with the coopers drops and no yeast. welcome to the forum!

Sounds like he's advocating dropping an Alka-Seltzer into the beer and recapping.

lol. thats kinda what i was picturing.

I couldn't agree more, I will make sure to specify next time. As for the website I have looked a bit but as I said there a bit hard to come by. I'll put a bit more effort into it and post a site when I find one. And no hard feelings man, cheers.