Clear Beer

[Thirsty Boy]

You can dick about with all sorts of finings, lagering, dancing about a fire and praying to the beer gods.... OR.... You could buy a packet of Polyclar and a 1 micron filter.





Clarity matters to me - and even though I am fussy, I'm willing to call this good enough.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Looks like you have something growing in there to me B)

 

[Nick JD]

I have a 1 micron filter, but personally find filtering to be more of a dick around than chucking in some finings and polyclar and walking away.

The time it takes to setup, filter and clean the filter is vastly more than the time it takes to add finings and polyclar.

I filter when I need to get it from fermenter to keg in a hurry, otherwise I can't be bothered. A teaspoon of gelatine at 12C and 36 hours.

 

[petesbrew]

Nice pic there!
I'd be happy with that clarity. But the cloudiness in mine hides the dregs and loose hops that get through. B)

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

From when fermentation is complete what is your procedure?

I have recently bought a filter and have used it a few times. First couple of times has been great with a week at 0-1* and then a couple days with polyclar/gelatine in and then filter.

My last batch that I filtered was a Golden Ale. It was the first time I dry hopped a beer and I decided to do a little test. I didn't use gelatine but simply has it just above 0 for a week (after the dry hops had been in the fermenter for 4 days). I was about 85% through filtering and the flow stopped due to the filter being clogged. I had put it down to dry hopping and bits of hops being still in suspension and not using gelatine. The yeast was US-05.

 

[Acasta]

Oh wow, that looks awesome.

 

[dkaos]

For the guys that filter their beer, do you find that you get hangovers compared to unfiltered beer? I had a Coopers Pale Ale kit in the keg for about 5 months at which point it went pub bright.

You would swear polyclar and or a filter had been used. The kicker here is that it did ferment quite hot, 28+ in some cases. I think this could be the cause of bad hangovers when I have had too much of this beer. I wasn't sure if it was the result of creating higher alcohols or filtering the yeast.

Keen to hear your thoughts, as this will affect whether I ever get into filtering.

Cheers,

Clint

 

[Nick JD]

Keen to hear your thoughts, as this will affect whether I ever get into filtering.

IMO, filtering will not affect the beer's ability to give a hangover - bad fermentation temperature management will.

Somthing to consider with filtering is whether you are gravity, or pressure filtering. And what yeast you use - a bad floculator pretty much needs to have finings added, or secondary before filtering, or it'll clog the filter.

The real irony of filtering ... is you need pretty clear beer before you filter. It's pretty neat to go from primary to keg, clear and bright and carbed in a day ... but sanitizing the filter, filtering and then cleaning the filter (and kegs) kinda kill the joy of simply connecting a hose, opening the tap and filling the keg.

As always YMMV, but for me filtering is a pain in the ass.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I disagree Nick

I have filtered very cloudy beer by gravity without issue, and in fact that beer in the photo I accidentally clicked the disconnect onto a pressurized keg and completely stirred up the fermenter with the back flow of C02 - I'm currently filtering a second batch of Brown ale with no wash of filter cartridge in between.

All by gravity - although I will admit that I have the fermenter up on the fridge at the moment because things have indeed slowed down. Still - 40L of beer, the first 20 cloudy as could possibly be - all by gravity.

I will chill my fermenter for three or four days after fermentation is done - stir in some polyclar and filter a little while later.

Aus Rider - When you say clogged... how patient are you being? If you want it over and done with in 15 minutes then you need to go with filtering from keg to keg. I will have two batches done in an hour and a bit via gravity - its not fast, but it works. is it sstopped? or just slow?

The "clarity" of your wort is not the only thing that effects filter performance. Your mashing regime and techniques play a large role. Mine are designed knowing that I will probably filter. Mind you - the kolsch in the pictures is a brew from a G&G demo that had none of that crap done to it - it did take longer than usual though.

 

[ekul]

What does your beer look like ebfore it goes through the filter? I've considered getting a filter because i like the idea of crystal clear beer. When i used to bottle the bottle would get lots of time (sometimes) so they would always be clear, but now that i keg they are usually cloudy as they dn't get lots of time to condition. I have experimented withthrowing some gelatine in the keg but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Can you just add polyclar to the keg without filtering? I know you can add it to the fermenter, but i reuse my yeast cake and i want my yeast to be usable again.

nice work on the beer, looks great!

 

[pimpsqueak]

You can dick about with all sorts of finings, lagering, dancing about a fire and praying to the beer gods.... OR.... You could buy a packet of Polyclar and a 1 micron filter.

I see you can get 1 micron nominal and 1 micron absolute. Which one do you use, or does it not matter?

 

[Nick JD]

I will chill my fermenter for three or four days after fermentation is done - stir in some polyclar and filter a little while later.

It's these four days that I find I get the same clarity as a 1 mic filter by adding gelatine - then I don't need to filter.

But I have gravity filtered a US05 APA on the day it hit FG - and been drinking it crystal clear ale that evening. That's where I find filters are cool.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

What does your beer look like ebfore it goes through the filter? I've considered getting a filter because i like the idea of crystal clear beer. When i used to bottle the bottle would get lots of time (sometimes) so they would always be clear, but now that i keg they are usually cloudy as they dn't get lots of time to condition. I have experimented withthrowing some gelatine in the keg but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Can you just add polyclar to the keg without filtering? I know you can add it to the fermenter, but i reuse my yeast cake and i want my yeast to be usable again.

nice work on the beer, looks great!

If you want to keg very clear beer, gelatine then a couple of days later Polyclar, then let that sit for 3 - 5 days.

I have reused yeast after this process many times to no ill effects. But unless i am pitching slurry within a couple of days after
i wash the yeast down and then will re culture in a starter or 2, using Mr malty for estimations of cells and pitching rates.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I dont really take any notice of what my beer looks like before I filter it - It going through the filter regardless in the vast majority of circumstances.

I too possess a packet of gelatine and fridge for cold conditioning - and i have never seen, ever, a beer from either myself or from any other brewer commercial or home, which was as clear without filtering as beers which are filtered. I have seen a lot of beers that brewers have shown me to demonstrate why they think that filtering is a waste of time when they can make such clear beer with just gelatine and cold conditioning... and I always smile and tell them yes, indeed your beer is very clear... and its always a little bit hazy.

And indeed I know at least a dozen pro brewers who would look at the beer I filter through a 1 micron filter and make nice sounds in my direction - and all the while be making sideways comments about lack of clarity... and they would be right. The beer I made a picture of is really amazingly clear.... for homebrew. But when you compare it to beer that is actually clear... not so much.

Same with beer treated with gelatine - its clear, sometimes its very clear - buts its never, ever as clear as filtered beer, and you are having yourself on big time if you think its as clear as commercial beer.

Whether that level of sharpness matters to you or not is a completely different matter. But I will happily make a bet - a large sum of money bet - that if you test the beers for clarity, filtered beers are clearer... and if you cant, I can - see the difference.

PS - 1 micron absolute. nominal filters are a waste of time.

 

[argon]

I see you can get 1 micron nominal and 1 micron absolute. Which one do you use, or does it not matter?

Pretty sure TB uses a 1 micron absolute... (a good one not an ebay cheapie leaky one) same as mine. I filtered a Northern Brown Ale the other night after a few days at 1C and 48hrs of polyclar and it's come out diamond bright with beautiful ruby highlights.

My process consists of around 14days in primary (FG dependent), then crash chill and hold at 1C for 5days, polyclar, then filter minimum of 24hrs later... always diamond bright. Every time I've entered a beer in a comp always get full marks for clarity/appearance.

Cleaning and sanitising the filter used to be a chore, but now i just clean immediately in hot napisan and let soak overnight, let it dry then sanitise for next time. Just before filtering give it a dunk in the sanitiser purged form the awaiting keg and i'm right to go. Maybe 20mins worth of effort.

I do love being able to keg a beer and drink on the same day if i need to... but most times i'll wait a few days for carbing anyway. I've never used gelatine and not keen on ever giving it a go.

 

[Nick JD]

... and if you cant, I can - see the difference.

How do you test clarity, Thirsty? Either my filter (1 mic abs) is broken or my gelatine/poly is magic - because I can get the same brightness with both.

 

[argon]

How do you test clarity, Thirsty? Either my filter (1 mic abs) is broken or my gelatine/poly is magic - because I can get the same brightness with both.

high-sensitivity turbidity monitoring system

 

[Nick JD]

Thirsty has one of them at home?! I thought he used the "See the Tree" test.

Back when I used to be a geek, we'd use a Laser Turbidimeter, but that wasn't for beer. Way too accurate for beer that's gone through a 1 mic filter.

Regardless, I think we'll find that there are a few people on this site who can get their beer as clear as 1 mic filtered beer, without a filter.

 

[Brewer_010]

these filtered beers look nice and all but, filtering adds yet another step to the brewing process which already takes hours.... a question I'd ask is does filtereing strip any flavour from the beer? If all that stuff vaguely hanging around in my beers (which are just ever-so-slightly hazy) has flavour then what happens to the beer when its gone?
cheers

 

[pimpsqueak]

Well, it's certainly something to try when I get around to kegging. But for now I will settle for kinda clearish beer in bottles.