Lessons Learned

[Bobb25]

As I sit here watching the snow flurries, pondering the brewing season past while preparing for my snowbird flight to south Florida, I realized that I was disappointed at my first attempts at filtering beer. I ferment the beer in a plastic conical which will not fit into my cooler for crashing. I drain some from the bottom of the conical before transferring it to a keg. Once into a keg I transfer it to another keg through the filter. I then gelatin the beer and cold crash it. The resulting beer takes three weeks or so to get what I call "commercially clear" . I realize none of this has anything to do with the taste, but I think that appearances are important. My question is:
Would it make a noticeable difference if once the beer is into the first keg, I cold crash it for several days, gelatin fine it, then pour several pints of the settlings from the bottom. Then if I filter it, the filters would have less work to do ? It would add several days to the process as I couldn't start the carbonation until after filtering, but a nice clear beer to start with would be nice.

 

[friarsmith]

Your idea would probably work, but at first glance it seems like you're making this way harder than it needs to be. Trying to help...sounds like a process issue that could be solved before considering the use of a filter.

A couple of questions:

Are you recirculating ample wort before filling your kettle? Most homebrewing texts recommend recirculating 2-3 quarts until the "wort is clear," but I have found this is nowhere near enough. If my mash has 4 gallons of strike water, I'm never happy with the wort clarity until nearly the full amount (minus absorption) has been recirculated. It makes a huge difference in final clarity, in my experience, especially with pale lagers.

Are you using whirlfloc or Irish Moss and giving the wort ample time to develop a cold break and settle to the bottom of the kettle? This break material can give you cloudy headaches later on. How are you chilling the wort?

When are you typically racking from conical to keg? Sounds like adding a few days would be helpful. While gelatin works best when the wort is cold (and you cant chill the conical in your setup), it still is pretty effective at warmer temps, so you might consider adding gelatin 4-5 days before racking from fermenter to keg.

I typically rack modest-gravity ales to the keg around Day 18-20 and lagers around Day 21-25 and add the dissolved gelatin to the keg before purging and racking. Most beers, even keg hopped beers, are crystal clear (like read news print through a pint glass) within 2-3 weeks w/o filtering.

 

[JohnSand]

I don't do anything to clear my wort or beer, and it's clear. The only times it's not are the first couple of pours from the keg and the last one.
I'm not criticizing anyone's methods or ideas. I don't know why the beers clears so well, but if it doesn't I suspect infection. I'm sorry I didn't photograph the pint yesterday, today I tapped a new keg and it's hazy.

 

[day_trippr]

My typical ale schedule includes a 2-day cold-crash and then at least 2.5 weeks of "set and forget" cold carbonation/conditioning.
Aside from the hefes and neipas, by the time they hit the keezer they're clear after the first few ounces.
I've never used filters or clarifying agents aside from IM in the kettle...

Cheers!

 

[Bobb25]

Thanks for the replies. I typically manually vorlauf with a pitcher until there is no grain or particulate in the runoff. I have a vigorous boil on a gas burner with copious hot break and I add whirl floc to the boil. So after cooling to near ground water temp. ( 70 -ish ) with an Exchillerator, I hook up the pump and whirlpool for 20 to 25 min. I then slowly pump the wort into the conical. After 12 hrs or so I will dump the ball at the bottom of the conical to get rid of settlings, before I pitch the yeast.
After fermentation stops, I let it set for a few days. My conical requires me to drain the beer from the bottom, so I capture the first two quarts into mason jars. Then the beer goes into the keg. After it cools in the kegerator, I add the gelatin. It will take a typical ale, like a california steam ale, a good three to four weeks in the Kegerator to clear up. I had hoped that the filter would speed that process, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference.