Clear Beer

[Hoeders]

I was drinking my mates beer the other day, who did it at a place Brew By-U, where he takes his bottles down and then goes back later and there filled.
Anyways i was comparing this beer to mine and was wondering how they would have gone about getting there beer so clear, it had no sediment or anything in the bottle. Just wondeirng how they went about carbonating there beer, and still bottle it without kegging it.
Any help would be appriciated.

Cheers

 

[Bugglz]

They put it through a filter and then force carbonate it just like you would when kegging.

 

[Hoeders]

They put it through a filter and then force carbonate it just like you would when kegging.

so could you filter your beer at home then force carbonate it, then bottle it, and get the same results that do?

 

[Zwickel]

so could you filter your beer at home then force carbonate it, then bottle it, and get the same results that do?

if youre going to filter your beer under CO2 pressure, you dont need force carbonating.

 

[TidalPete]

if youre going to filter your beer under CO2 pressure, you dont need force carbonating.

Egg-zactly. :icon_cheers:

TP

 

[Hoeders]

Egg-zactly. :icon_cheers:

TP

is there a link to somewhere on this site on how to filter under CO2 filtering. Filtering is new to me and am starting to look into.
Cheers

 

[Zwickel]

is there a link to somewhere on this site on how to filter under CO2 filtering. Filtering is new to me and am starting to look into.
Cheers

its quite easy Hoeders, all what you need is a keg full with beer, an empty keg, a pump and a filter.

Preload the empty keg with the same CO2 pressure the full one is at.
Connect the two CO2-inlet ports, so that the pressure in both kegs is in balance.
Connect the beer outlet port to a pump, from there to the filter and then to the empty keg.
Switch on the pump and wait until the beer has transferred.
Thats all.

If youd like, I could post a few pics of my equipment.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Hoeders]

its quite easy Hoeders, all what you need is a keg full with beer, an empty keg, a pump and a filter.

Preload the empty keg with the same CO2 pressure the full one is at.
Connect the two CO2-inlet ports, so that the pressure in both kegs is in balance.
Connect the beer outlet port to a pump, from there to the filter and then to the empty keg.
Switch on the pump and wait until the beer has transferred.
Thats all.

If youd like, I could post a few pics of my equipment.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

Thanks mate, some pics would be great.

Also would your be able to bottle the beer once it carbonated or does it have to stay in the keg?

 

[Smashin]

if youre going to filter your beer under CO2 pressure, you dont need force carbonating.

Z,

are you saying you naturally carbonate you beer in a keg then filter under pressure?? for reference, I force carbonate then filter under pressure.

 

[Zwickel]

Thanks mate, some pics would be great.

Also would your be able to bottle the beer once it carbonated or does it have to stay in the keg?

okey-dokey, Ill post some pics when Im back home today, right now Im sitting at my work, its eleven oclock AM over here

Im bottling my beer any time I like, by using an automated counter pressure bottle filler.

Z,

are you saying you naturally carbonate you beer in a keg then filter under pressure?? for reference, I force carbonate then filter under pressure.

Smashin, all my beers are naturally carbonated and I hold the beer all the time under pressure until Im drinking it. So far I never use force carbonating, unless a keg would be leaking.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Smashin]

Smashin, all my beers are naturally carbonated and I hold the beer all the time under pressure until Im drinking it. So far I never use force carbonating, unless a keg would be leaking.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

Cool dude, I read that naturally carbonated beer tends to have a smaller, finer, softer, lower perceived acidity bubble for the same CO volumes compared to forced carbonation. Something I've been interested in. Have you found any difference in the texture of the carbonation pre and post filtration on your naturally carbonated beers.

 

[Zwickel]

.... I read that naturally carbonated beer tends to have a smaller, finer, softer, lower perceived acidity bubble for the same CO volumes compared to forced carbonation.

as I said, I rarely do force carbonation, so far I dont have any experience with force carbonated beers.
From theory I can imagine, that naturally carbonated beer has a more homogeneous spreading than force carbonated beers, because it takes some certain time for the gas to diffuse all over the beer, could take several days to weeks.

Something I've been interested in. Have you found any difference in the texture of the carbonation pre and post filtration on your naturally carbonated beers.

No, nothing happens to the beer. I have to point out, that its very important not to have any air in your transferring equipment, you have to flush the tubes, pump and filter(housing) elaboratively with CO2 prior filtering.
For the reason to save CO2, Im going to fill the tubes, pump and filter with water first and then drive the water out by CO2. That prevents the CO2 to mixup with air.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Zwickel]

here are the promised photos:

the filter with pump:


and here the result:


for bigger batches and very cloudy beers, Im using a filter cascade like that:


Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[canon1ball]

Zwickel,
The results are quite impressive. What type of filters do you use?
Prost

 

[Zwickel]

Zwickel,
The results are quite impressive. What type of filters do you use?
Prost

Im using a 0.2 micron Pall filter

Prost :icon_cheers:

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Zwickel goes nuts with the 0.2 micron filter - and I can see you might need a pump for that... but you can do the same trick without a pump. I use a 1.0 micron filter and have done this a couple of times. Beer is still crystal clear.

Same set up as zwickel - empty keg pressurized to the same as full keg, connect via gas posts - connect liquid posts with filter in between. Now -- full keg up onto table, empty keg on floor, pull the pressure relief valve on the bottom keg to get it started and then it will all flow downhill through the filter. If/when the flow slows down.. letting off a little more pressure from the bottom keg gets it going again. You lose a bit of pressure... but it just needs to be topped up at the end of the process and you're sweet again.

Or you can forgo gravity and push the whole thing through with a little overpressure from your C02 cylinder.

My preference is to filter uncarbonated beer and carbonate via C02 top pressure later on.. but with a little care and a diligent attitude towards tracking down leaks.. filtering under pressure is very doable.

 

[technocat]

I agree TB filter first then carbonate otherwise you will end up with a shitload of foaming. I use a .5 micron filter and at 90 bucks each they aren't cheap. I don't know how Zwickel gets beer through .2 that's real fine. I find that the clearer the beer is before filtering the less troubles with cleaning out fine filters and back flushing. I don't use a pump but use around 5-8lb CO2 in the delivery keg to push the beer through the filter. The nice thing about filtering you always end up with a clear bright enticing beer.

 

[technocat]

so could you filter your beer at home then force carbonate it, then bottle it, and get the same results that do?

I believe by doing this you can lose up to 15% carbonation. You would really need to use counter pressure bottle filling equipment to satisfy this end. I have seen a topic on this site about this somewhere.


:icon_cheers:

 

[Zwickel]

I agree TB filter first then carbonate otherwise you will end up with a shitload of foaming.

that cant happen as long as the receiving keg is at the same pressure as the dispensing keg. Thats a balanced system, same as filling a bottle with a counter pressure filler. Theres no foam at all.

Ive made many attempts with different pore size filters, Im using 5, 2, 1, 0.5 and 0.2 filters, depht filters, pleated absolute filters and so on.
For batches more than 50l Im using the filter cascade with 3 different pore sizes in a row, first the 5, then 1 and finally 0.2 filter.

In my case, you wont get the beer through the filter by gravity only, never.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[brettprevans]

should I thrown the cat amoungst the pidgeons and raise the debate of filtering under pressure breaking beer cells etc. it is a friday afternoon afterall