Filtering went south!

[feffer]

Extract IPA 3 weeks in primary, then racked to keg. It was cloudy/hazy, so I decided to filter it using a round plate filter between 2 kegs. I had only "polish" level pads (the mid-level), so I used those. I filter white wine this way using about 3-5psi and it runs through smoothly in about 40 minutes or less. The beer was a different story. There was quite a bit of CO2 dissolved in the beer and showed up as foam in the lines. Also, the beer was filtering very slowly, if at all. I gradually increased the pressure to about 10psi. At this level, the plates were leaking a lot. I tried tightening the plates, but they still leaked and I had to relieve pressure, but then it wouldn't go through the pads. I eventually got about 3.5 gal through and just gave up on the rest. It was messy and exasperating, and as you might guess my verbal encouragement didn't work.

So I'm wondering how others handle this? If you are going to filter, what's the best way to do it? Or is there another way to handle the cloudy/hazy appearance?

 

[BobBailey]

Knox unflavored gelatin works well. About 1/2 tablespoon dissolved in 3/4 cup of water and then heated to 170 to 180 F. Let it cool for 15 minutes or so and add to keg and shake to mix. Give it 2 or 3 days and draw off a couple of pints. Should be clear after that. If it isn't let it sit another day or 2.

 

[Jsmtg32]

If you want to filter your beer. I have not tried it, but it has great reviews.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/beerbrite-beer-clarity-filtration.html

 

[dnslater]

Usually after refrigerated a week or two it will clear on its own.

 

[bja]

Usually after refrigerated a week or two it will clear on its own.

This^, or just close your eyes when you drink it. It tastes the same whether it's cloudy or clear.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I don't keg, I bottle. Always strain from kettle to fermenter, 4 weeks primary, no secondary, 4 weeks bottle conditioning 24-48 hours chilling, always clear with no finings. Just a tight little yeast cake at the bottom of each bottle. I have never filtered but I suspect beer has more dissolved co2 at atmospheric pressure than wine. If you poured the entire kettle contents into te fermenter, you probably have the hops debris that clogged the filters.

 

[Yooper]

Generally, you'd use coarse pads for beer, at least for the first pass. The fine filter is way too fine for the first pass. "Polish" is medium size pads, though and should work with a clear beer, but not a hazy one.

 

[kombat]

This^, or just close your eyes when you drink it. It tastes the same whether it's cloudy or clear.

Not true. Yeast has a flavour.

As a previous poster mentioned, the combination of cold and gelatin can work wonders. Note however that you mentioned this was an IPA, and gelatin can strip out precious hop aroma, so I modify my protocol a little bit for my IPAs by cold-crashing and clarifying them with gelatin before I rack to a smaller carboy and add any dry hops. At the end of the dry hop, I cold-crash again (but no gelatin this time) and rack to a keg. Note that the hops themselves will add a slight haze to the beer ("hop haze"), but that this is in style for IPAs and is indicative of a strong hop character (as opposed to the bready, yeasty character of beers clouded by residual yeast).

 

[bja]

Not true. Yeast has a flavour.

Who said it was yeast?

 

[Conman13]

A good hot break, cold break, and enough time conditioning have always resulted in a completely clear beer for me.

 

[feffer]

thx for all the input! I can't do the cold stabilize thing...to warm where I live and no refrigerator space available. This batch is now in the keg and I have a 1 oz dry hop bag of Cascade in. The result was pretty clear, but I think Yooper is right, this beer was too hazy for a medium filter...I should have gotten a course one before starting. Also, too late, I read MoreBeer's recommendation, "to make sure your beer is un-carbonated...as this may affect the filtering process." Probably there was too much carbonation remaining from fermentation. So at least 2 strikes against me here.

I'm a beginner, but I think I've learned my lesson here. I'll try to do other things to clarify my beer rather than filtering.

 

[dnslater]

Chill haze is caused by proteins, not yeast.