Filtering homebrew

[david_42]

Reading Orfy's thread on clarity reminded me I needed to filter the 3CPA. It was fine up until the third dry hopping, then it got floaties. So, I dug out the rig. It is a standard house filter with liquid connectors on both the in & out. I use a 2 micron cart.

What I'll do is clean a keg and put a gallon of no-rinse sanitizer in it. I then run the sanitizer through the filter into a second keg using about 5 psi of CO2. Then I move the connections, so the homebrew is going in and the previously sanitized keg receives.

So, why is the filter upside down?

If you have the filter in the normal position, you leave ale behind AND CO2 just blows through the filter when done. By inverting the filter, all of the ale goes into the new keg and I know the process is done when this happens:

 

[EdWort]

Good info! Thanks for the pictorial!

 

[jdoiv]

That's pretty slick! Do you notice any loss in body or mouthfeel at 2 microns? I've toyed with the idea of filtering, but think I might try gelatin first.

 

[Mike & John]

Do you throw the filter away or back flush/store it packed?

 

[david_42]

No loss of body or mouthfeel. I doubt there would be any even with a 0.5 micron polishing filter.

I flush the filter out and dry it. Then put it back in the can. If I can't get the membrane completely clean (pure white), I toss it. I don't filter very often and this is only the second filter. There are ceramic canisters, but $80 buys many, many disposables.