Filter question

[davou]

Does anyone here use a filter on a fermenter without a spigot? I was wondering if the siphoning action of transfer +gravity would be enough to force beer through a standard 30 micron filter.

I have gas and kegs, but I was hoping more to not have to spend gas pushing beer from keg to keg to get this done.

Any experience is appreciated!

 

[passedpawn]

No experience with doing that. But I've filtered beer and it takes a bunch of pressure, and even then it's rough going.

So, I'd say no way you'll get any effective filtering done with gravity.

I can't imagine why you're worried about the gas. Pocket change worth of gas I think.

 

[davou]

I dunno, this dude seemed to be able to filter using just gravity, but he was using a spigot on a bucket in line above his keg.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOclJsjZnyY[/ame]

I may just try it and see. I know gas is cheap, but I've had bad luck with it not lasting me as long as it should. I gotta check for leaks and whatnot.

 

[passedpawn]

I dunno, this dude seemed to be able to filter using just gravity, but he was using a spigot on a bucket in line above his keg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOclJsjZnyY

I may just try it and see. I know gas is cheap, but I've had bad luck with it not lasting me as long as it should. I gotta check for leaks and whatnot.

Yea, you can probably do it with a 30 micron filter. Not sure why you're filtering, but that won't stop yeast, which are about 5 microns across. I really doubt the beer will get a lot clearer with that filter.

If you're looking to save money, throwing it away on things that are unlikely to work is probably bad economy. But maybe I'm wrong. If you go forward with it, please post your results.

 

[davou]

yeah, I expect you're right; Filtering at 30 is not gonna give me what I'm looking for (a keg that does not need to spit out a little bit of beer after it's moved in order to be clear) and I think you're right about it not passing a smaller filter without gas.

I may have to suck it up and just use the gas to push; was just hoping that someone else would have an idea or experience with gravity driven filtration.

 

[WI_Wino]

I don't have experience filtering beer but I do have a filter system for back country canoeing. We raise a five gallon water bag about 15 feet in the air. There is a hose coming from the spigot off the bag down to 2 10 inch whole house water filters (sitting on the ground). The first one is a 10 micron spun filter, the second is a 1 micron carbon block filter. We do a gallon of filtered water in about 8 minutes.

Anything less than the 15 of head pressure and there isn't enough force to push the liquid through.

I would use co2 for your application if I was you.