Plate filter vs. canister filter

I am looking into buying a filtration system. Does anyone have any input as to whether the plate style filter or the canister style filter is the way to go? They appear to function pretty much the same and cost pretty much the same.

With proper brewing technique filtration is not needed.

Really? You bothered to post just to imply that I must not be a very good brewer if I feel the need to filter. Yeah, if I had a conical, and could afford and had space for an extra fridge or chest freezer for cooler fermenting and cold crashing, I could probably produce crystal clear beer. Since that isn't an option for me, and since the only complaint I ever receive from people who try my beers is that they don't like the haziness, I am looking to invest in a filtration system. Since Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, Rebel Brewer, and most every LHBS I have been in all sell them, there must be a lot of brewers out there using improper brewing techniques and find filters to be helpful.

Filters have their place, although people with limited experience may not think so (zingback).

Seriously, when I looked into filtering, I decided on a canister system. Mostly because you can get the filter inserts just about anywhere.

AND you can make an adapter to turn it into a hop randal. Can't do that with a plate filter.

PS Commercial breweries often use filters to "polish" the beer. Guess they don't know what they are doing either.

Even Sierra Nevada filters..

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sierra+Nevada+puts+a+new+spin+on+its+business.-a020805144

I am lucky enough to be able to cold crash and avoid filtering, but not everyone can do this. My brewing friend uses a canister filter and the results are fantastic.

Satisfaction said:

Even Sierra Nevada filters

Click to expand...

Really?

Then they do a poor job at it. Almost every one of their Pale Ales, heck even their Celebration Ale bottles I was rjnsing last night had trub.

Of all the last 10 cases I've washed, they turn my PBW the greenest by far.

Doesnt affect the taste. Most people don't even notice the trub. But it's certainly there.

thadius856 said:

Really?

Then they do a poor job at it. Almost every one of their Pale Ales, heck even their Celebration Ale bottles I was rjnsing last night had trub.

Of all the last 10 cases I've washed, they turn my PBW the greenest by far.

Doesnt affect the taste. Most people don't even notice the trub. But it's certainly there.

Click to expand...

This is because they bottle condition their beers as well.

Filters are often used to REMOVE the yeast and and proteins and etc. One of the reasons that craft and homebrewing beers have taste. Yooper has a good run on this, search the site. Never said that you were a bad brewer never would say that without trying your beer. I have my beers come out clear if style calls for cloudy(heffe). Proper fermentation temps will help quite noticeably. If the beer doesn't clear on it's own and you could correct it by changing an aspect of your process, I have changed techniques that I have picked up on this site which is what I love about it. If your process is prefect I apologize. Supply houses are in business to sell items, they sell clear beer bottles too, but most brewers don't use them. IMHO. Good Luck

thadius856 said:

Really?

Then they do a poor job at it. Almost every one of their Pale Ales, heck even their Celebration Ale bottles I was rjnsing last night had trub.

Of all the last 10 cases I've washed, they turn my PBW the greenest by far.

Doesnt affect the taste. Most people don't even notice the trub. But it's certainly there.

Click to expand...

They filter, then add a measured amount of yeast back to bottle condition. Should pour the beer off the yeast.

Do you keg or bottle? If you bottle you will have to add yeast at bottling for bottle conditioning. If you keg, putting the keg in your fridge has the effect of cold crashing and you get pretty clear beer. (All the yeast that fell out comes out in the first few pours and the remainder comes out in the last glass. Switching to a 3-4 week primary (at room temps) has significantly reduced the amount if yeast in my kegs maybe longer process would help you too.

Drilling down even further, can anyone share either really good or really bad experiences with any of the canister options?

RazorCatchPrey said:

I am looking into buying a filtration system. Does anyone have any input as to whether the plate style filter or the canister style filter is the way to go? They appear to function pretty much the same and cost pretty much the same.

Click to expand...

The canister filter is a very flexible option. You can easily get a variety of filter media and use it for water or beer. Using it as a hop randall is also an option. Leakage seems to be a non-issue and they tend to last a good while.

As to why use one; I don't know. I just asked myself one day what it would be like if my clear pale ale was crystal clear, so I bought one. I like to watch the bubbles rise.

Canister filter is the way to go. If i primary my beer for 3-4 weeks it comes out crystal clear and everyone asks how did i get it so clear, but sometimes i dont have 3-4 weeks for a primary so i use a canister filter and it works really good. I ferment in sanke kegs and if i want to filter on the way to the keg i just put the spear back in and have a coupler on one side of my filter i just hook it up and let it flow, the slower the better. The filters are easy to find its very easy to put together and clean and very little loss.

I've filtered most of my lagers and altbiers. Plate filter. It works great. I can do a 10g batch with 1 set of disposable filters.

The filters are fairly expensive though.

I read so bad reviews on the canister filters so I did not go that way. I read that they clog too quickly.

One thing to note is that if you don't crash cool your beer, or at least wait for it to clear, it will clog the filters pretty quickly. In my experience, filtering is very difficult if the beer is visibly cloudy with a lot of suspended particles.

I have a little video here that shows it in action if you're interested.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/video/plate-filter-in-action-552.html

My kegged beers get very clear already since I have a freezer to keep them in, but they don't get "brilliant" without filtering.

I haven't used either.

A quick Google search says the plate replacement filters are slightly cheaper? I would probably get the canister though, simply because I could see the beer going through it and tell that there was no oxygen uptake.

The reason the second poster reacted that way is that the first post didn't include much information. Given that, the assumption was that you may be misinformed on the situations that benefit from a filter and that there may be other more practical ways to achieve what you want. It doesn't say you're a bad brewer but you may just not realize that a filter isn't a fix all. I can't even count how many times someone's reaction to cloudy bottled conditioned beers was to think that filtering was the answer. It often turns out that they primary for 5 days and bottle right away.

First, do you have a kegging system? Both filter types require pushing the beer from one keg to another. As passedpawn said, it's really important to have pretty clear beer already.

beaksnbeer said:

Filters are often used to REMOVE the yeast and and proteins and etc. One of the reasons that craft and homebrewing beers have taste. Yooper has a good run on this, search the site. Never said that you were a bad brewer never would say that without trying your beer. I have my beers come out clear if style calls for cloudy(heffe). Proper fermentation temps will help quite noticeably. If the beer doesn't clear on it's own and you could correct it by changing an aspect of your process, I have changed techniques that I have picked up on this site which is what I love about it. If your process is prefect I apologize. Supply houses are in business to sell items, they sell clear beer bottles too, but most brewers don't use them. IMHO. Good Luck

Click to expand...

Beaks, I am sorry I jumped on you. I think I was in a bad mood that day. Hope you will accept my apology.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I am going to go with the canister for the flexibility. Also hoping to get an extra fridge in a few months when my folks move, so I will be able to control fermentation temps and cold crash much easier.

I have found that doing secondary in the corny keg has produced much more clarity. My big problem is trying to please friends who have drank macro brews for years and don't know that real beer isn't crystal clear.

Unfiltered just temp controlled fermenting. Accepted took no offense just trying ro save time and money. I have time to let my beer cold condition for a month ; )

Bringing up an old topic. I've been asked to provide beer for my nephew's wedding in July. I already have the beer fermenting, and was planning on kegging it. I was considering getting a filter (unsure what kind to get) so that the yeast doesn't get stirred up when I move the kegs. I already know how to get clear beer without filtering, but anytime I move the keg I get TONS of sediment.

So, that being said:

1. Does it matter if I get a canister vs plate filter?
2. Do I have another option that doesn't involve buying a filter for just this event?

AgentHubcap said:

Bringing up an old topic. I've been asked to provide beer for my nephew's wedding in July. I already have the beer fermenting, and was planning on kegging it. I was considering getting a filter (unsure what kind to get) so that the yeast doesn't get stirred up when I move the kegs. I already know how to get clear beer without filtering, but anytime I move the keg I get TONS of sediment.

So, that being said:

1. Does it matter if I get a canister vs plate filter?
2. Do I have another option that doesn't involve buying a filter for just this event?

Click to expand...

Cold cold cold as you can be for as long as you can. Pull a half pint or so, till it runs clear, then transfer from the crashing keg to a serving keg nice and slow. about 2 or 3 psi kinda slow. 10 minutes to transfer 5 gallons kinda slow. Do your best to leave a pint or two in the crashing keg to avoid picking up that last bit of sludge.


Basically, leave all the sediment in the crashing keg.

So, jump the liquid out to the other keg's liquid out?

How do I know when to stop?

You will see the condensation on the outside of the receiving keg, you will also need to vent the keg as the pressure equalizes.

Yep. Condensation or a scale.

AgentHubcap said:

So, jump the liquid out to the other keg's liquid out?

How do I know when to stop?

Click to expand...

It's gonna be tough. Even with the good ideas above.

If you can get a piece of clear tubing and a couple of barbed connectors, put it in the beer line as close as you can get to the keg. When you are close, watch the clear part like a hawk. Near the end of the keg, the trub/yeast down there will collapse and get sucked into the tubing. You'll see it, and you can pull the disconnect off the receiving kegs post before the crap hits it. I haven't done this, but at low PSI it should work fine.

Yes, beer out post to beer in post.

BTW... The best way to transfer beer from one keg to another:

1. connect the exact same CO2 regulator output to both kegs.
2. Put the full keg on a table, the empty one on the floor.
3. Now, you're probably thinking "pawn, if both kegs are at the same pressure, beer won't flow". True.
4. But if you pull the pressure release on the lower keg for a moment, the beer WILL start to flow from high to low. Once it flows, close the pressure release. The beer will continue to flow, slowly, not due to the CO2 pressure but because it's a simple siphon.
5. Why do this? Full keg is empty, it won't "blow out" into the new keg. Also, you can walk away and when it's done, it will stop by itself (since it is the siphon, and not CO2 pressure, that is pushing the beer.

Generic response to the thread...

I have been using the plate filter (same that passeddawn uses) for about half a year, and love it. I usually use the coarse filter pads with it, which I pre-soak in StarSan. I push StarSan through the filter from keg A to keg B, followed by the beer. It only takes 20 minutes or so of work, it doesn't leak, it isn't messy, and produces a beautiful beer with minimal yeast residue and no stripped flavors (other than the yeast bite).

I previously used Gelatin, Isinglass, Biofine Clear and Clarity Ferm. I still use Whirlfloc or Supermoss in the kettle.

I was thinking of using one of those inline plastic ball valves to be able to stop the flow quicker

If the beer is already carbonated it is best to transfer to a fresh keg under pressure, this keeps the foaming down. I use about 20psi to transfer.

Here is my procedure for transferring from keg to keg.

Use a cobra tab to remove the first bit of yeast.
Hook up the transfer line to both kegs making sure the receiving keg is sealed well.
Pressurize the full keg with 20psi and let it run to the empty keg until the pressure equalizes and the transfer stops.
Unscrew the pressure relief slightly until you hear air coming out, do not open it full.

I weigh the full keg and then put the empty keg on the scale to fill it. By watching the weight you know when it is close to full so you can get ready to disconnect the line before yeast gets into it.