Cleaning A Beer Filter

[Uncle Fester]

Ok, before you flame me, I searched, I failed.

I have just bought a 1 micron beer filter. Worked well, but didnt clean well under the tap.

What is the best way to clean the puppy between beers?

Have rinsed it, but that was IMHO ineffective. I have added 3 teaspoons of dishwasher detergent to the bowl and have the filter in there soaking until I work out what the hell to do from here.

As always, any comments pre-emptively appreciated.


Fester.

 

[kelbygreen]

soak it in napisan over night. should make all the gunk separate. nothing sodium perc wont remove with a good soak

 

[unrealeous]

Blatantly stolen from CB's website:

Cleaning: After use, rinse the filter under a tap to remove loose yeast Then fill the filter housing with hot tap water & 1 teaspoon of unscented Napisan (Sodium Percarbonate). Leave the filter in this solution for 24 hours, remove & rinse - If the filter still shows signs of debris, repeat the process. Air dry & store away for future use. Before use its recommended to wash in a non-rinse sanitiser as part of your sanitation regime.

I also find filling the housing with water - then swishing the filter up and down in it tends to bring a lot of the yeast off it. A combination of this and above seems to do the trick.

 

[thesunsettree]

Ok, before you flame me, I searched, I failed.

I have just bought a 1 micron beer filter. Worked well, but didnt clean well under the tap.

What is the best way to clean the puppy between beers?

Have rinsed it, but that was IMHO ineffective. I have added 3 teaspoons of dishwasher detergent to the bowl and have the filter in there soaking until I work out what the hell to do from here.

As always, any comments pre-emptively appreciated.


Fester.

hi mate , i soak mine overnight in a sod perc solution. Starsan it the next day. Works for me.

Edit - as per unrealous above, exactly as i do

Cheers
matt

 

[BoilerBoy]

Nappysan,

Been using the same filter for 3 years and currently sitting in my brew cupboard gleaming white waiting for next time.

I often let it soak for a day or 2, takes a bit of rinsing though.

Cheers,
BB

 

[MattC]

fester, did you back flush the filter after using it?

Cheers

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Ok, before you flame me, I searched, I failed.

I have just bought a 1 micron beer filter. Worked well, but didnt clean well under the tap.

What is the best way to clean the puppy between beers?

Have rinsed it, but that was IMHO ineffective. I have added 3 teaspoons of dishwasher detergent to the bowl and have the filter in there soaking until I work out what the hell to do from here.

As always, any comments pre-emptively appreciated.


Fester.

Not a answer to the question h34r: but try a finnings agent. I used a filter a couple of times but them went to PVPP and then gelatine. The result was nice crystal clear beer.

BYB

 

[Uncle Fester]

Ok, before you flame me, I searched, I failed.

I have just bought a 1 micron beer filter. Worked well, but didnt clean well under the tap.

What is the best way to clean the puppy between beers?

Have rinsed it, but that was IMHO ineffective. I have added 3 teaspoons of dishwasher detergent to the bowl and have the filter in there soaking until I work out what the hell to do from here.

As always, any comments pre-emptively appreciated.


Fester.

Let me qualify that the detergent is dishwasher powder, not palmolive :blink:

 

[edddy57]

My filter is a real mongrel to get clean. not so much the filter itself but the debris gets under the plastic shell that protects the filter and takes some time to loosen. However with patience it eventually gets clean. My regime
- after use, back flush the filter with 4-5 litres or more of warm water ie. push water through the outlet
- couple of teaspoons of napisan into the housing with hot water, add filter and close up... shake
- leave for a few days

As I said, getting debris from under the plastic casing is difficult and I find I need to empty and add more napisan and hot water sometimes 3 -4 times over a period of 10 - 12 days before it gets really clean....... but eventually it comes out sparkling clean. no biggy really, unless you are wanting to filter beer every 4 -5 days

Personally I think my issue is the design of the filter. When this one has had its day I might look around for a different design.

 

[argon]

The way I clean my filter is to first open it up and give it a good hot water rinse in the laundry sink to remove most debris. Then attach the silicon tube bit ( gravity filter connection ) to the laundry tab and back flush hot water through it. The open up again, fill the housing with hot water and dunk up and down the filter pad over and over again until the water is reasonably clear. Then add PBW to the housing fill it up with more hot water, seal it up and wait 24 hrs. After that give it a quick rinse. Then starsan solution for 24 hrs. Then pour it out and store dry.

Sounds convoluted but reasonably simple. Espeically worth it when you're drinking diamond bright beer.

 

[hirns]

I rince the filter and then back flush but with the garden hose. I place the filter in the clear housing, hold the filter firmly so it seals at the base and I have a trigger style nozzle attachment that seals nicely in the top of the filter to give it a full house pressure bach wash. With the clear housing it is easy to see when it is rinsing clear. I then use the nappisan for an overnight soak; air dry and store. It gets a full rinse with water and then no rinse sanitiser before use.

Hirns

 

[A3k]

I always use to find it easy with my old filter cartridge, but then i got one with plastic over it as Eddy suggested before.
Now i basically have to do the same thing which is a fair pain.

The design does seem rather poor, but looks like it'll last a long time.

 

[Uncle Fester]

ok i have tried dishwasher powder, and napisan. is better, but there are still streaks through it.

tempted to try raw bleach as a last resort.

this is shitting me......


Fester.

 

[Ross]

ok i have tried dishwasher powder, and napisan. is better, but there are still streaks through it.

tempted to try raw bleach as a last resort.

this is shitting me......


Fester.

Use PBW, I guarentee it will have it like new.

cheers Ross

 

[djneli]

Use PBW, I guarentee it will have it like new.

cheers Ross

I can second that one - my first filter (that I only cleaned with Napisan) took on a lovely shade of poo brown after about 70 brews. My new one that gets the PBW treatment after each use looks brand new and so far has clocked up about 1000 litres.

 

[Fourstar]

I can second that one - my first filter (that I only cleaned with Napisan) took on a lovely shade of poo brown after about 70 brews.

Poo brown! Did the nappi treatment wash/laundry soak* actually have any sodium perc? i use the cheapest stuff from aldi (which is actually pretty low on sodium perc) and use hot tap water and 1/2 tsp in the housing and plunge it several times and it comes up as good as new then soaked overnight.

* i assume it was not actually nappisan but something cheaper, heck even the home brand stuff has a very high % of sodium perc which knocks it off pretty easily

 

[MarkBastard]

If you get the filter cartridge out, then stand it up in your sink and hold it, then turn on the hot tap and fill up the inside of the filter with the hot tap it'll fill up the centre column and then the water will go through the filter in the opposite direction to normal and get most of the crap off. Adjust the tap so that water in = water out if possible. That's the first thing I do anyway. Then soak as mentioned above.

I don't think there's really a need to backflush because the above is sort of like back flushing anyway. Do the same when rinsing.

 

[argon]

+1 to PBW... Still use napisan on other stuff, but the filter gets PBW treatment and comes up bright white like brand new.

 

[MarkBastard]

PBW is so good. I use it when Napisan fails.

 

[Moz]

I clean my filter thoroughly(or at least I thought I did) napisan, rinse, the works only to find 5-6 little dots of mold on it last weekend. Surly that can't be good?