Filtering

[MESmith]

Is there any reason to filter the cooled wort before pitching to remove any trub or break? Would this be a bad idea?

 

[Zymurgrafi]

What kind of filtering did you have in mind?

Leaving some or most of the hops/trub/cold/hot break behind is a good idea. However, completely removing all of it is actually depriving your yeast of some nutrients.

 

[NWernBrewer]

I use a strainer with a shallow bed of whole leaf hops to filter the the beer out of the brew pot - this method will probably change when I get up to 10gal, but for 5 if works fine. They hops in the pot will also create a bed that filters the worst of the break materials and all of the hops. If you use pellets, pour slowly and decant off the pile of messy mush left behind. Then you can pour through from pail to pail to aerate the wort. All my beers have been tasty and this is a pretty easy fix.

Note - Most beers I make have a strong hop character - so if you are going for a style that does not need additional hop aroma - skip the bed and use the boil hops as a bed, alone. Either t does not remove all the trub - but then again having some in the pail is a good thing and it will all settle in the end if you are patient anyway. Cheers.

 

[MESmith]

Since I now have a pump, after chilling the wort I could transfer from the boil pot to the fermenter through a sterilized 20 micron filter ( home water filter).

 

[JVD_X]

I was actually thinking about doing the same thing.

Although this is controversial, it is my personal and humble opinion that following Greg Noonan's advise on page 136 of "Brewing Lager Beer" (1986 publication) to rack the wort off the cold break before beginning fermentation will result in the clearest and least astringent of beer.

I have been toying with the idea of racking the chilled wort into my conical in the freezer at 32 degrees F, dumping the settlement, and then raising to 50 degrees for pitching but if I can instead filter using a 20 micron house filter as you suggest, then that just speeds things up.

Also - I am using a therminator, so a filter might help keep trub out of that...

 

[MESmith]

I have rigged my HLT to also serve as a wort chiller using my march pump. While planning for future lager style beers it occurred to me that the HLT could be filled with ice water to get the temp down to fermentation temps. Why not over shoot and cold filter the wort? (my old copper tube wort chiller is inside my HLT now)

 

[Kaiser]

Completely removing the cold break from the wort through filtering is not practiced anymore in commercial brewing. Studies have been made that showed benefit to leaving at least some (~30%) of the cold break in the wort. This gives the yeast some more nutrients. Newer studies go even further and suggest that the importance of wort clarity after chilling has been overstated.

If you want to try it, go for it, but I suspect that the benefits will not justify the effort of cleaning and sanitizing a filter for that purpose. There is also a lot of break material in the wort, that can likely end up clogging your filter. Sedimentation in one carboy or bucket and then racking before pitching might be a more practical option if your have counterflow chiller and are worries about the amount of cold break in the fermenter.

Kai

 

[MESmith]

I guess I could also partial filter and keep some of the break for the yeasts sake. I was also thinking about building a wort aerator/filter combo that could also be used as a pre bottling/kegging filter and carbonator.

 

[JVD_X]

Well - and the question really is... is a 20 micron filter larger than the cold break proteins or will it actually filter it? Frankly, I would be very happy just having something to keep the trub out of my fermenter so I don't have to rack.

I do the whirlpool thing using my drill and my wine degasser in the kettle (being careful about aeration) but that only works for the hot break. I think I will try a recirculating whirlpool chiller as seen on this board but use my therminator in conjunction.

We can probably find a "larger" filter than the 20 micron version that will fit, something finer than a traditional hop back and reusable. Perhaps a 30x30 screen or a sponge.

 

[rod]

this is what i do - i get crystal clear wort in my fermenter.

 

[newbrewmadison]

I am working on a honey wheat ale, I strained it before putting it in the primary fermentor and again before bottling. I still have some sediment in the bottles, but not enough to worry about, anyway, that's a very simple solution. Just a question, my next batch is a belgian triple. Being that it is a very dark and rich beer I was wondering if straining as I had done with the wheat would take away from the richness of the beer. Does anyone have any experience with this, and what are some other simple solutions?

 

[Bombo80]

Rod has a great idea. I never even though about putting my IC in a grain bag. I usually just dump the cooled wort through a grain bag to catch all the loose, large debris.

As far as filtering after fermentation, I picked up a VineBrite filter, some time ago. If I am kegging my beer, I would run it through this filter and into the keg. Then keg as usual. Very little sediment in my keg, even without cutting feed tube.

I am looking into a better filtering system, when I keg my beer. I am looking at building my own version of the beer clarity filtering system that Midwest has, for $50. But, this would only be used for the beer that I would keg. Since I would be force carbonating it anyway. There is no need to have anything left in suspension, in the beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

Ugh,
I guess I'm getting jaded but I think there are about two "can I filter my beer" threads every week. If you have just a little patience you don't need to filter. It's another great opportunity to contaminate and at the very least its an additional hassle and expense that isn't required.

 

[JVD_X]

Ugh,
I guess I'm getting jaded but I think there are about two "can I filter my beer" threads every week. If you have just a little patience you don't need to filter. It's another great opportunity to contaminate and at the very least its an additional hassle and expense that isn't required.

One poster suggested the tried and true method of using a bed of hops (as is also suggested in noonan's book) but I believe that this does not necessary filter cold break - does it? Other methods, such as whirlpooling, stainless scouring pads, picking up the wort from the side of the kettle are all moving towards a unified theory of wort filtering, of which "no filtering" is one option.

My personal motivation is to keep my therminator clear of debris, in fact the therminator instructions do suggest using a filter in front of the inlet. The original posters question was about the use of a 20 micron whole house filter, which I also have, and have also contemplated the use of but I can't speak for his motivation.

 

[conpewter]

I agree Bobby. Generally I do "Filter" when going from my boil kettle to the fermenter.... by using a hop bag and a stainless steel scrubby over the pickup tube. This doesn't stop all the hot break, and I get all the cold break in my fermenter (Compare to Chyco© brand CFC). I don't need any filtering after that, I just use time, and maybe a cold crash on lighter beers.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yup, honest mistake. The OP is really asking about a true "issue" of filtering hops/break post boil but it lead into a dual use of filtering post fermentation which obviously has become a pet peeve of mine. I guess I'd use the term "strain" but it's nit picky.

I still don't think an external filtering mechanism is the way to go as much as some kind of whirlpool and side pickup thing is given the incredible surface area required. Also, unless you're using a plate chiller, there's no reason to obsess about this separation