Cheap Gravity Filters

[bignath]

Hi brewers,

just wondering if anyone has tried the cheap gravity filter kits that are on ebay at the moment, and if so, are they any good. I only have two keg setup at the moment so don't really want to have one empty to filter into, therefore i would like a gravity setup to filter straight from secondary or primary into keg.

Never used a link in a post before so not sure if this will work. If not, copy and paste into address bar.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HOME-BREW-GRAVITY-B...=item5195fa0c44

Are there any potential pitfalls with using something like this as a gravity filter?

Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated as i know sweet bugger all about filtering at this stage, but am keen to get my beers nice and bright in my kegs.

cheers

Nath

 

[hirns]

I have the Clarance keg to keg model and I'm happy with it. I'm not sure how you'd go with a 1 micron filter with gravity alone. I would think that it would clog pretty quickly. Just checked the site and it's 1 micron nominal so a different filter to the 1 micron absolute that goes with the keg to keg model. It is a very solid housing and has the bleed valve that is needed. It is also easy enough to upgrade to a keg to keg model later if you so wish.

Chee B) rs

Hirns

 

[shmick]

Hi brewers,

just wondering if anyone has tried the cheap gravity filter kits that are on ebay at the moment, and if so, are they any good. I only have two keg setup at the moment so don't really want to have one empty to filter into, therefore i would like a gravity setup to filter straight from secondary or primary into keg.

Never used a link in a post before so not sure if this will work. If not, copy and paste into address bar.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HOME-BREW-GRAVITY-B...=item5195fa0c44

Are there any potential pitfalls with using something like this as a gravity filter?

Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated as i know sweet bugger all about filtering at this stage, but am keen to get my beers nice and bright in my kegs.

cheers

Nath

I got the keg to keg version a fair while ago (only a few $ more) and have been thinking about trying it by gravity but only to save cleaning another keg afterwards.
Would only be a case of kluging up an adaptor.

Others on here have tried it and the only down side is it takes longer - up to an hour or so. I'd fine with polyclar or something first to reduce the load to a minimum and chill as cold as possible first.
(BTW, have you tried polyclar by itself? Works nearly as good as filtering if you can wait 2 wks)

1 micron absolute is a very fine filter for what we do and I expect 1 micron nominal isn't far behind. Just for perspective, some people (like USA podcaster Mike 'Tasty' McDole) recommend not going below 7-10 microns to prevent stripping flavours but plenty of others have no problem.

Guys from Clarence Water Filters are great to deal with and have plenty of other cheap cartridges available if you want to experiment down the track.

 

[bignath]

Thanks for the responses guys. I don't mind if it takes a while to filter. Just as long as it does filter and give me significantly clearer beer than i am getting for certain recipes.

What i am trying to avoid is having to have an empty keg sitting there for the purpose of filtering. Hence why i am interested in using gravity to filter, even if it does take longer (which i expect it to). I figure if i can get it to filter succcessfully using gravity, i can go straight from primary, secondary, cold cube etc.. straight into a keg, and have two full kegs. I only own two kegs so this is important to me.

cheers for the help.

Nath

 

[clintmo]

i bought this one, ive only tried it once since buying it, i had a reasonably clear beer to start with (just fkn chill haze). It filtered through in no time, like 2-3 mins. I think it got rid of some of the remaining yeast and was certainly a little clearer, i filtered at 0*C but it did not get rid of the chill haze. Hope this helps!

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Fair chance if it filtered that fast, and only made it "a little clear" that you are getting some bypass of the filter. Mostly gravity filtering, even with very clear pre-filter beer is going to take at least ten or fifteen minutes... And the beer should be crystal clear, not just a bit clearer.

One of the reasons I stopped using the Clarence filters... Every second brew, and no matter what sort of remedial action I took... I ended up having to filter it again because the filter would not seal properly... 3 filters in the bin trying. 1 of the "more expensive" filters from a site sponsor and it's perfect every time.

I know other people have success with the Clarence filters... But I was unable to make one work with any consistency, and they kept tearing when I tried to clean them.

Chill haze is nearly impossible to filter out... You can perhaps improve it a little, but you,d really want an even finer filter than 1 micron abs to do a proper job. Probably get it done with a 0.3, but you'd certainly want a pre-filter for that and I doubt (but not sure) that even with a pre filter you could do it with gravity.