To filter or not?

[ForRealBeer]

I've been told that 1 um filtering is "the competitor's edge" with brews that I am going to put into contests. My brews are clear enough coming out of the keg, but my friends are telling me that I will go up against polished brews in comp, and that the ever-so-slight chill haze will look profoundly cloudy next to them.

Normally, I don't bother with gelatin, but did put some into a California Common last night, using a method I found on the NB web site.

* In a Sanicleaned Mason jar, I added 12 oz. of tap cool water...around 70-odd degrees.

* Put in 3 teaspoons of gelatin in the jar and let it sit for 20 minutes. Swirled it up a few times during the 20 minute wait to dissolve the gelatin. After a few minutes some would precipitate out, but always went into solution when swirled.

* After 20 minutes, I put it into the microwave for 75 seconds. The glass was warm but not hot to the touch. This made the solution clear with no precipitation.

* Covered and cooled and then dropped into the fermenter which was around 50 dF. I will keg after 48 hours of crash cooling.

We'll see how that goes, but next up are two Kolsch brews (one using Munich, the other Vienna) and both need to be crystal clear. Hopefully the gelatin will do the trick.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Thanks LamarGuy for posting the reusable filters... I've been using cheap ($1.50) disposable poly-spun filters, and my problem with them isn't the cost but it is that they seem to clog up easily. It looks to me like the pleated ones should be far less prone to clogging. I filter with a 5 micron right out of the primary fermentation keg after dumping as much yeast as I can using a picnic tap. I do another pass with a 1 micron for a Helles or other light beer. In addition to being ready quicker, I don't have to worry about stirring up sediment if I decide to grab the keg and take it to a party.

 

[WortMonger]

Yep, I'm even thinking about filtering now. I just run through beer so fast and have no time for gravity to work its magic. I know my beer is done with the yeast cleaning things up, now I can just clean the yeast up for a professional looking product. I was referenced to another filter site by sudbuster here. So there are plenty to look at, and even 100% autoclave-able ones.

 

[curlyfat]

Why is filtering so controversial? I've filtered a few beers for "shine" over the years, and thanks to figuring out some "tummy trouble", will be filtering most of my beer going forward.

People say it "strips flavor", but I have not ever experienced such a thing.

Besides, wouldn't it be nice to hand someone your brew and not worry about them getting "yeast farts"? There's nothing wrong with filtering. There's nothing wrong with letting it sit for an extra week or two either. Whatever works for you.

I do use gelatin before filtering, just to keep it as clear as possible before it hits the filter.

/drunkenramble

EDIT: It would be interesting to test some filtered and some unfiltered beer over a period of time to see how it affects aging...

 

[ScubaSteve]

Yeah, I definitely agree with the GI upset symptoms of homebrew....I think it's the unusually high yeast count. In fact, half of my bad hangovers from homebrew are because my guts are uneasy for the whole next day

I've used gelatin, and it worked fine....but I gotta admit I've been reluctant to filter because of the PITA factor and cleanup. That being said, it may still be worth avoiding the "tummy trouble"...

 

[Saccharomyces]

I've used gelatin, and it worked fine....but I gotta admit I've been reluctant to filter because of the PITA factor and cleanup. That being said, it may still be worth avoiding the "tummy trouble"...

This was my first motivator for trying it, and I liked the results so much I now filter pretty much everything except pale ales (somehow Sierra Nevada got it right, an APA just seems to taste better to me unfiltered).