Need some advice on allergies, filtering, and carbonation.

[mangiant]

Hello all,

I'm a beer lover, my dad always homebrewed and thanks to his snobbery I steered clear of the common swill and was spoiled with good stuff. Now I want to start brewing my own, as I'm getting too cheap to spend $18 on 6 cans of Red Racer IPA every few days

However, I've developed an allergy to something in unfiltered beer (homebrew, belgian style Unibroue, etc). I have no other allergies, and I'm not sure what it is in the beer that I'm allergic to.

My ideal plan is to filter, bottle, then carbonate. I have a 20lb CO2 bottle and regulator already.

I want to buy/make a couple "Carbonator Caps", use them to over-carbonate, then replace the carbonator cap with a regular cap. I know this will make it difficult to precisely regulate CO2 content in the beer, but I'm willing to live with that until I can figure out a better plan.

However, all these plans are moot unless I have a proper filtering setup. I was looking at the normal water filters available anywhere for around $50, but the finest filters they have are 1 micron. Is this small enough? Is there a better solution?

Looking for any criticism/advice/etc.

Thanks in advance!

Alex

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I hope it's not the yeast that you're allergic to! Don't overlook any other ingredients that the offending beers have in common. I have an intolerance to corn, and it's magnified when fermented.
Good luck with your endeavor! I have no idea about filtering, etc, but I'm sure somebody here can help.

 

[mangiant]

I'm not sure... I make bread and homemade dough without problem.

I've also tried many types of beer, only those brewed in-bottle give me a problem. Wine is fine too.

 

[E-Mursed]

There are other ways to avoid the majority of the yeast.

You can jump your beer from one keg to another - and bottle carbonated from the keg with a beer gun too.

Filtering works, but it can have mixed results.

 

[helibrewer]

If you go the filter route, you can buy them in bulk in just about any size on eBay much cheaper. I think .5 micron will get almost everything out of the beer. It's a slow process and you have to take steps to prevent oxidation. You also need to filter BEFORE carbonation which usually entails pushing the flat beer from one keg to another through the filter, then force carbonating.

 

[barneygumble]

The SWMBO and a couple of other people I know are sensitive to only certain beers too. We narrowed it down to certain types of hops. Usually its whole fresh hops of certain varieties found in European styles.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Maybe it's the live yeast.

 

[mangiant]

Just to follow up, here's what I decided to go with:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/20653//Kent_Shut-Off_QD_Set_-_Soda_Bottle_Cap
http://morebeer.com/view_product/5676//Plate_Filter
http://morebeer.com/view_product/5735//Beer_and_Wine_Filter_Pad_Sterile_-_Pack_of_Two_