1 micron filter cartridge turned pink.

[scottc1178]

Hey guys,

so I'm new to filtering, and hope this isn't too much of a dumb arse question / thread, but I haven't turned up much info on google or here.

I bought a 1 micron filter the other day (cheap one on ebay) and after rinsing and sanitising it, proceeded to use it to keg 2 brews.

all seemed to be well... nice clear beer etc although I suspect herein lies my downfall:

I lazily rinsed it and left it for a few days before napisaning it, and in this time some largish flourescent pink blotches had appeared on the cartridge, so I left it in the napisan for a few days in the hope they would disappear... no such luck. And when I opened it up to risnse out the napisan it had a pretty terrible smell, kinda like bad seafood.
I've since soaked and rinsed a number of times, and the smell has pretty much disappeared, so I've sprayed it with sanitiser and put it away.... but unsure of whether it is still usable.


does anyone know what the deal is with the fluro pink discoloration on the cartridge?
and if so, is this cartridge still any good?

cheers

 

[treefiddy]

I've removed persistent stains from my cartridge with acidified bleach (look up recipe and safety precautions before use).
Either that, or the offending material is now just bleached white...

 

[Charst]

Could be this. But being the algae is a halophile (salt loving) maybe not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Lake_(Western_Australia)

 

[dougsbrew]

how much napisan are you using?
u say smell has pretty much gone away, after a few washes. thats not clean. should be no smell.
im thinking you need to up your napisan.

 

[AndrewQLD]

And I'm thinking you need to throw that filter out, hell of a lot of places in a filter for bacteria to lurk and no real guarantee that your sanitation regime will get into all the nooks and crannies.

Put this down to a lesson learnt, get a new filter and clean it properly straight after use, sanitize and put it in the freezer in a sealed bag.

 

[dicko]

Post the ebay site that sent you this filter.
It will stop others buying crap from o/seas if it is bad.

It depends how well you treated the cartridge but in my observations a cartridge should clean up quite easily with napisan and then with starsan or similar.

Cheers

 

[scottc1178]

And I'm thinking you need to throw that filter out, hell of a lot of places in a filter for bacteria to lurk and no real guarantee that your sanitation regime will get into all the nooks and crannies. Put this down to a lesson learnt, get a new filter and clean it properly straight after use, sanitize and put it in the freezer in a sealed bag.

Yeah... Figured as much... But was hoping otherwise!
Cheers

 

[Bizier]

I would worry about the frozen liquid expanding the pores of the filter. I would store under an acid provided the cartridge can handle it. This is also one of the few legitimate uses for sulphite products like sodium metabisulphite, though it requires a dickload of rinsing.

 

[AndrewQLD]

A good acid based sanitizer would probably be better than Sod. Met., no need to rinse, and I probably should have said to allow to dry before going in the freezer.

 

[scottc1178]

cheers for the advice guys.

has anyone seen the fluro pink thing happen to a cartridge before?

I'm wondering about the quality of the cartridge, and what might have gone into my beer as a result.

 

[Bizier]

I've seen the phenomenon you speak of plenty of times. I don't know what it is exactly, I've always seen it with mould so assumed it was a mould species.

 

[kymba]

just being pissed here, but what if you store it in an ethanol solution?

What percentage would be needed after a filtration, backflush and sodium perc. soak to ward off any baddies?

 

[stakka82]

70 or 80 percent would do it no sweat.

 

[stakka82]

Ok so I actually looked it up...

A mixture of 70% ethanol or isopropanol diluted in water is effective against a wide spectrum of bacteria, though higher concentrations are often needed to disinfect wet surfaces.[10] Additionally, high-concentration mixtures (such as 80% ethanol + 5% isopropanol) are required to effectively inactivate lipid-enveloped viruses (such as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C).[10][11][12] Alcohol is, at best, only partly effective against most non-enveloped viruses (such as hepatitis A), and is not effective against fungal and bacterial spores.

Maybe not 'no sweat' but likely to be effective most of the time.

 

[kymba]

recon that strong would do anything bad to either the plastic core or silicon end seal thingys?

edits: fark hope i don't get aids from a dirty filter