A question on filtering.

I just made a 5 gallon batch of Extra Special Bitter, and it came out really well, it was as good as any ‘Real Ale’ that I can get when I go back to England. For me it is fine but for my guests used to the filtered ‘Bud’, ‘Miller’, etc they say it’s cloudy. What is the sequence for filtering.

My brew was thus: I went from the siphonless fermenter into a priming tank to clear the beer then I kegged it with the diluted priming sugaralready in the keg. I gave the keg 5psi of CO2 and left it to carbonate.

My question is: If I add a filter does it go between the fermenter and the priming tank or the priming tank and the keg. In this system when would I add the diluted priming sugar.

Any answers will be appreciated.

Col-in-Texas

Filtering the beer would remove the yeast so you would no longer need to prime it (in fact it would be pointless and only sweeten the beer). You would need to start force carbonating your beer.

To answer your question, the filter would go between the priming tank and the keg.

Ditto the above. If you are force carbing (or can force carb) chill your secondary to serving temp, rack from your secondary to an empty sanitized keg, pass the beer through a filter (1micron actual to .5 micron actual) into another sanitized keg and begin force carbing.

If your priming tank is a bucket or other non-pressure vessel then no. The filter goes between two kegs because you have to use pressure. First, don't think you need to filter to get it clear. Your beer might be cloudy for a few reasons but lets start with the most likely. You are carbing with sugar. You can skip adding sugar for carbonation when you keg. Just put it on 10psi of CO2 in the kegger and leave it a week. In fact, letting the keg sit in the cold for long enough will clear your beer. You can also leave beer in the secondary to clear for as long as you like since you don't need it to have a lot of yeast for carbonation.

Filtering beer is a pain in the butt. You have to really make sure your filter housing is sanitized. I'd always wonder if something was living in the cartridge.

Thanks for the swift input, I have not brewed since the mid eighties and am a little rusty. Colin

In my opinion, tell your friends that cloudy beer tastes better. Or try using finings. I've never been a proponent of filtering unless you're selling to the public, who have come to expect crystal clear brew.

I don't think there's anything wrong with unfiltered beer (many companies sell an unfiltered selection). However, I have read that if you leave 10% or so unfiltered it should still be enough yeast to carbonate the beer. Can anyone confirm this? Also, is the filtering what gives store bought beers their "crisp" flavor?

crisp flavor? That's a lager with a ton of rice or corn adjucts.