I recently started filtering my beers. I like being able to serve bright, sediment free beer, especially to those that I'm trying to convert to craft and homebrewed beer. While I don't filter everything, I do filter beers that I plan to transport and serve elsewhere. I plan to do some experiments in the future to explore the changes in flavor, body, and the head retention that filtering imparts on my beers.
I am using the plate filter setup from morebeer.com:
This photo shows all of the components of the filter. As you can see, there are two ends of the filter body separated by a center ring. The green beer is forced from the center of the unit through the filter pads on each side of the housing. The clear beer then travels from each half of the housing to a "Y" adapter to a single hose, and into the receiving keg.
The first step in the filtering process is to assemble the thoroughly cleaned apparatus. One filter plate is placed on each side of the housing, with the smooth side facing outward.
Next, put the two sides of the housing together over the center ring, making sure the o-rings on either side are properly seated. Tighten down the nuts evenly and securely in order to minimize leakage. Only hand-tighten them.
At this point, I fill my receiving keg half full with Star-San and roll it around in the keg to sanitize it. I then connect the keg to my CO2 at ~5 psi and push about a gallon of sanitizer through the filter and into a bucket. This sanitizes the filter housing and lines. Honestly, I'm not sure if the filter plates can really be sanitized effectively, but this is what I'm doing. I unhook the beer line from the keg of sanitizer and leave the filter unit packed with sanitizer for a few minutes. I then empty the keg of sanitizer and purge it with CO2.
I then push CO2 from the keg through the filter housing to flush the remaining sanitizer and any oxygen from the system.
I connect my keg of uncarbonated green beer to ~5 psi of CO2, and connect the liquid tubing from the filter unit to this keg. I discard the residual sanitizer and first pint or so of beer that come through the filter before I connect the tubing to the beer out post on the CO2-purged receiving keg.
I open the relief valve on the receiving keg and let the beer flow. With 5 psi of CO2 pressure on the source keg, it takes about 20 minutes to filter 5 gallons of beer. Once the source keg is empty and I start to see CO2 bubbling from the beer out line on the filter housing, I remove the beer lines from both kegs. At this point there might be half a cup of beer left in the filter housing. I purge the headspace of the receiving keg with CO2 again and force carbonate the beer as usual.
I am using the plate filter setup from morebeer.com:
This photo shows all of the components of the filter. As you can see, there are two ends of the filter body separated by a center ring. The green beer is forced from the center of the unit through the filter pads on each side of the housing. The clear beer then travels from each half of the housing to a "Y" adapter to a single hose, and into the receiving keg.
The first step in the filtering process is to assemble the thoroughly cleaned apparatus. One filter plate is placed on each side of the housing, with the smooth side facing outward.
Next, put the two sides of the housing together over the center ring, making sure the o-rings on either side are properly seated. Tighten down the nuts evenly and securely in order to minimize leakage. Only hand-tighten them.
At this point, I fill my receiving keg half full with Star-San and roll it around in the keg to sanitize it. I then connect the keg to my CO2 at ~5 psi and push about a gallon of sanitizer through the filter and into a bucket. This sanitizes the filter housing and lines. Honestly, I'm not sure if the filter plates can really be sanitized effectively, but this is what I'm doing. I unhook the beer line from the keg of sanitizer and leave the filter unit packed with sanitizer for a few minutes. I then empty the keg of sanitizer and purge it with CO2.
I then push CO2 from the keg through the filter housing to flush the remaining sanitizer and any oxygen from the system.
I connect my keg of uncarbonated green beer to ~5 psi of CO2, and connect the liquid tubing from the filter unit to this keg. I discard the residual sanitizer and first pint or so of beer that come through the filter before I connect the tubing to the beer out post on the CO2-purged receiving keg.
I open the relief valve on the receiving keg and let the beer flow. With 5 psi of CO2 pressure on the source keg, it takes about 20 minutes to filter 5 gallons of beer. Once the source keg is empty and I start to see CO2 bubbling from the beer out line on the filter housing, I remove the beer lines from both kegs. At this point there might be half a cup of beer left in the filter housing. I purge the headspace of the receiving keg with CO2 again and force carbonate the beer as usual.