Can I use a carbon filter on my beer?

[Kene64]

I have some 0.5 micron carbon filters I'd like to use to filter my beer to gain some additional clarity to my home brews.
To help with refining resources let me provide a little background on my process.
I have a 15 gallon brew system (brewing 5 to 15 gallon batches at a time). I use HERMS to step mash using pumps to transfer my brews.
Fermentation takes place in either a 14 gallon or half barrel SS conical fermenter. My half barrel fermenter is connected to a glycol chiller permitting me to lager or cold crash in the fermenter.
I cold crash my beer for about 7 to 10 days after fermentation is completed.
After a trube dump I use co2 to push from the fermenter through a 1 micron filter into a keg where I force carbonate.
I have a two stage filter and plan to put a 0.5 micron filter in line after the 1 micron filter for any brews needing to be very clear.
Does anyone know if there is any issue or down side to pushing my beer through the 0.5 micron carbon filter?
Apologies if this has been addressed in another strinG that I was unable to locate.

 

[The_Bishop]

I'd assume the carbon filter would strip out flavors.

Have you tried gelatin fining for clarity, instead?

 

[Kene64]

I've not used gelatin. My thought was to put the 0.5 micron filter in line and be good to go without needing to use gelatin or other similar products.
Is it the carbon filter or that its 0.5 that may strip the flavor out?

 

[The_Bishop]

A little of both, actually. More the carbon, though. Honestly, give gelatin fining a shot before filtration; it's been called 'powdered time' for a good reason.

 

[Kene64]

Thanks I'll look into the gelatin option. Since I've not used this product before, do you recommend anything in particular or are they all pretty much created equal?

 

[The_Bishop]

Just use Knox unflavored gelatin. Use 1/2 packet per 5-6 gallons and a whole packet for a 1/2 barrel batch. Cold crash the beer down below 40f, the closer to 32 the better. Put the gelatin in 1/3-1/2 cup of water, and microwave in bursts to the 155 degree F range. Stir to dissolve. Pour directly into the fermenter and continue to cold crash. 24 hours after adding gelatin, the beer will be clear, 2-3 days will make it brilliantly clear.

 

[nollie11]

Interesting. I think I will try this with my APA next week. One question though, if I've already used Irish moss in the last 5-15min of my boil, is it ok using gelatin during cold crashing? If it's ok flavor-wise, is it overkill to use gelatin if you've already used Irish moss? I would think the moss + straight up cold crashing would do a great job in clarifying the beer. BTW, the OP seems to have a nice setup

 

[The_Bishop]

They're doing two separate things. Irish moss helps in the coagulation of cold-break proteins. Gelatin binds yeast and chill haze and drops them out of suspension faster.

 

[nollie11]

Very cool. Thank you.

 

[cwringer]

To the OP.
I see no reason to use a 0.5 micron filter - carbon or otherwise. I have used a 1 micron spun poly filter in my setup for the past 10 years and have successfully polished a variety of styles. Your process seems fine (and is very similar to mine), so what is happening that you don't have polished beer after Irish moss, cold crash, and 1 micron filtering?

 

[Kene64]

I've been using a 1.0 micron filter but still ending up with cloudy beer. I was thinking that by dropping to 0.5 micron I would be able to get the clarity I'm looking for.
I did have some issues with my glycol system. It wasn't getting my fermenter below 46 degrees. I,ve corrected it and my Oktoberfest is currently cold crashing at 34 degrees. I'm going to skip using a 0.5 micron filter on this batch and see if I get the clarity I desire.
I recenlty upgraded my system and this is the first batch that hit dead on all the target temps and gravity. If this one is still cloudy I'll try and split the next brew into two kegs, one filtered at 0.5 and the other at 1.0 to do a side by side comparison.
Thanks to all who've taken the time to chime in with suggestions/recommendations.

 

[C-Rider]

Funny you are n ot getting clear beer w/7-10 days of cold crashing. Works for me all the time.