Beer Filters

Just wondering if any one has had significant experience with beer filters such as this and what your thought were.

I keg and rarely bottle so yeast for carbonating isn't a problem. I add irish moss, crash cool and sometimes add geletin, but am still getting a significant amount of yeast build-up in my kegs. If I don't pour a beer for a day or two, the first couple pints will be extremely cloudy, which doesn't make sense to me.

Since x-mas is coming, I thought I might add a filter to my equipment and see how it works. Just looking for thought and experiences with those types of filters. Also, I might start making wine, so I thought it might be useful for that as well.

I actually have 3 of those filters that I got when I retired my old RO. They're pretty cool and if you get the really small (~.5micron) media, the beer will be nice an clear. But I pretty much only used it once, since it was an absolute PITA. The media can get pricey after a while too, and I'm just too damned lazy. Now I just do what has been done for centuries, just wait. I do a nice long secondary and then rack to the kegs. My beers come out nice and crystal clear. Sure there's always a little sediment at the bottom of the keg, but it usually only comes out in the first pint or so, and that's all.

Yeah, I usually primary for about 10 days, secondary for about 2 weeks, then crash cool/condition for about 1 week at 34 and my beer is usually crystal clear. But, like I said, for some reason when I leave it sit in the keg in the fridge, the first couple of pints I pull are FULL of yeast, too much to even drink.

Just a shot in the dark, I don't keg, but did you remove the bottom .5 inch of your intake pipe?(or some such thing) That just doesn't sound right. I like a little yeast in my bottles, hell it is good for you! But too much to drink sounds like the bottom inch of my primary!

cheezydemon said:

Just a shot in the dark, I don't keg, but did you remove the bottom .5 inch of your intake pipe?(or some such thing) That just doesn't sound right. I like a little yeast in my bottles, hell it is good for you! But too much to drink sounds like the bottom inch of my primary!

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I shouldn't have too ... my beers are finished and there shouldn't be much yeast in there, and what's in there, shouldn't be active. I just don't understand why I'll get a 1 to 1.5 pints of yeasty beer every so often. I'm estimating that I'm losing about 5-6 pints per five gal.

Maybe I need to lower the temp on my beer fridge.

srm775 said:

But, like I said, for some reason when I leave it sit in the keg in the fridge, the first couple of pints I pull are FULL of yeast, too much to even drink.

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That is strange. I haven't trimmed my dip tubes, and after the first few pulls on a freshly tapped kegged, my beer pours crystal clear right up until the last, heartbreaking sputtery pull. Unless the keg is disturbed for any reason...pulled out to change Co2 tanks, or even if I tilt it a bit to rearrange the lines. All it takes is the slightest disturbance, and the fine layer on the bottom gets swirled around, and I have to let it settle for a day or so.

What kind of yeast do you normally use, and how thick is the layer of sediment in your emptied kegs? When you use gelatin, when do you add it and what is the procedure?

Perhaps it is from bumping the keg.

When I use geletin, I add it after a 2-3 days of cold crashing and continue to cold crash for up to 2 weeks.

I have a filter like that & if a keg is being a pain, I'll run it through. One trick I've learned that reduces beer loss:



But, don't flip the filter until it is full of beer.

David 42's idea works great, I've been filtering with the midwest filter and I am always suprised what it catches. started ould using the 5 micron and then going to the 1 micron but last kegging day I couldn't make it to midwest so i went to menards (like a home depot ) and paid under $3.00 for 2- 5 micron filters and they worked great. I don't think the high buck filters are worth it unless your entering a contest.

What i have found helps is irish moss... when I don't use it after a few days of not pulling a pint i get some junk in the glass, but when i use irish moss it mostly falls out of suspension in primary and the rest in secondary. After adding irish moss to all my beers they are all crystal clear coming out of a keg, after the first few pints, even after sitting for about a week. I know this dosn't have much to do with the thread, just thought i'd share my experience! :rockin: