Ss Unitank - filtering during kegging

[abrewer12345]

today us our first brew day on our new Ss rig and we’ll be fermenting in our unitank for the first time as well. ive been watching videos and seeing a lot of folks using filters to transfer to keg. how necessary is this? i saw one video of a dark beer that was murky brown unfiltered and black filtered so now im nervous! we have a sanke keg set up so we’d have to set the fittings up accordingly as well. thanks in advance friends- cheers!

 

[Jtvann]

today us our first brew day on our new Ss rig and we’ll be fermenting in our unitank for the first time as well. ive been watching videos and seeing a lot of folks using filters to transfer to keg. how necessary is this? i saw one video of a dark beer that was murky brown unfiltered and black filtered so now im nervous! we have a sanke keg set up so we’d have to set the fittings up accordingly as well. thanks in advance friends- cheers!

This all depends on how well you cold crash, how long you let things settle, and how good you are at dumping trub. If you rush things or skip steps, you're going to have chunky beer that clogs your system. The unitank is absolutely no different than any other system in that regard.


I brew 12 gallon batches now and have a neipa with 12 oz of dry hops. I kegged and bottled directly from the unitank without any filtration. I used to use one of these and it worked great, but its just extra work without much benefit.

https://www.brewershardware.com/1_5-Tri-Clover-Compatible-Strainer-with-3-OD-Body.html

 

[bcorreia]

Totally agree with Jtvann. I filtered about 5 - 8 batches several years ago. The gain was minimal compared to the risk of O2 exposure so I stopped. I found wort PH and other factors in my brewing process greatly helped clarity. I also now use Biofine Clear. Beer comes out clear. I have over 20 filter sitting on shelf as I typically buy in bulk to keep costs down.

I am only a few batches into using a SS-uni so I am doing some reading when I found this post.

 

[philm63]

I've done some pretty heavy dry-hop schedules in my 7-Gallon SSB unitank and so long as you crash it well (I go to 36-37 F for at least a few days) and ensure your racking arm is not buried in the cone (I keep mine at 90 degrees and have even turned it slightly upward before - like on my last NEIPA) you should be able to draw clean beer during transfer.

I also blow the first bit out into a bucket to clear the O2 from my transfer hose and to get the gunk out of the racking arm right before hooking it to the keg for transfer. Even if you do get a hop particle or two during the transfer and it happens to slow the transfer way down (has happened to me a couple of times), just unhook the keg connection and reestablish it and it should get flowing again.