Filtering Results Inside. Share Your Experiences.

[Fourstar]

Well i recently invested in a filter for my beer from craftbrewer (thanks Ross)! I have been happy with my natural clarification process via gelatine but i have been wanting to stoe my Lagers 'clean' whilst they age out at my folks place as the biggest issue is rousing them as i transport the beer back home. So a filter was the ideal solution.

I decided i would test the filter on an already quite 'clean' looking beer. The photo of the before shot isnt a good reperesentation of what wass visible to the eye, but its a good way of comparing an already quite clean beer to a filtered one. As you can see, there is some very very light yeast haze and dry hopping in this before photo (1 plug of EKG in the keg via a giant teaball). This beer was also made with Wyeast ESB 1968 which is a very good flocculator anyway so most of you know the natural results of this yeast. To the eye, the beer looks 'clear' but not 'bright' so i had decded to give it a go as a trial run (expecing very little change). See below, the results speak for themselves.

Before:


After:


As for the flavour/aroma. Its just as good as the beer prior to the filter. The upside, the hops stand up more and the flavour is somewhat much more balanced. I'd point this to a reduction of protiens/polyphenols (unsure how much the filter removes) and yeast being filtered out of the beer. I understand i am stripping some IBU from the beer as the yeast holds onto resins from the hops but the result i got from this was supurb.

Anyone else want to share their results? Positive and/or negative?


Cliffnote: No, im not interested in hearing about the positives and negatives of why you should buy a filter. Its been covered in other threads and these have been locked as a result. Just to make it clear, i am happy with my beers that are naturally filtered. The filter is planned to be used where it is convenient. E.g. Transportation, Lagers, krystallweizen for SWMBO, gifts etc etc. So just share your experiences with filtering.

Cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Just to make it clear

har har har.

 

[hefevice]

Also bought a filter from Ross last weekend. Made my first attempt at filtering on Sunday on a Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale that I had just kegged after 2 weeks in the fermenter (including 1 day of crash cooling). Before filtering the beer was quite yeasty (in both flavour an appearance). I made life difficult for myself by carbonating the beer before filtering (couldn't wait to taste it carbonated), and had to use the counterpressure method - which ended up working quite well other than a bit of a leak in the outflow side of the filter.

This is the first time I have used US-05; previously I have used floculant English ale strains (WLP002, Wyeast 1098) which drop out almost completely without finings and don't really need filtering. By comparison, the US-05 sticks around much longer and benefits from filtering if you want to lower the grain to brain time.

Didn't seem to make much difference to the flavour and aroma other than removing the yeasty bite, and giving a sharper more defined bitterness to the finish. This is somewhat counter intuitive, but I suspect the bitterness was muddled a little by the yeast before filtering. The difference in appearance was stunning.

Aside from clarity, I think the biggest benefit of filtering is to shorten the conditioning time. In my experience (which is only a sample size of 1 so far), it has not detrimental effect on flavour or aroma.

 

[Steve]

I was going to buy a second hand filter from Sammy (here in ACT). I did a side by side. One Gelatine, one filtered. After 5 days the gelatine was crystal, the other had a long way to catch up so I didnt buy the filter.
Cheers
Seve

 

[Bribie G]

Does filtering remove any chill haze? That's my main concern, I can get UK styles almost crystal clear for kegging using a long cold crash with gelatine and Polyclar. I'm only interested in filtering for my Aus Lagers and fake lagers but no point in getting a crystal clear beer that clouds up again on cooling. I find that Polyclar gives good results but not 100% perfect, maybe it's the way I'm using it, should get a stir plate maybe.

 

[Mantis]

Been thinking of getting a filter myself as most of my pale ales are cloudy. I am usually drinking them 8-10 days after brew day so they dont get much chance to clear.

Does anyone just gravity filter into the keg straight from the fermenter, and if so does this work ok??

 

[matti]

No but polyclar should.
I don't filter yet but have tried several filtered versions and unfiltered versions of same batches with same yeast in the past.
The difference wasn't that great in taste. IMO.
It it the convenience of having a clear Beer much quicker then with clearing agents alone, that filter out weighs racking and moving the beer at least twice before carbonation.

One day I'll filter all my beer.

 

[Fourstar]

Does filtering remove any chill haze?

I have read a few things Bribie that theorise that filtering can remove chill haze (atleast some of it). The theory is when you have a beer currently cold enough to exhibit chill haze, the tannins and proteins are 'colaulated/bonded' so when you filter these tannins and proteins they stay behind, (atleast some of them). Anyone technical enough to shed some more light on this?

Hey Mantis, Ive seen that Pumpy filters via gravity and thats going to be my procedure from now on. Simply crash chill your beer (if you can) slip on the line and away you go. Just make sure you have enough height so gravity can take its due course.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

Oh JonnyAnchovy, never knew I was GryphonBrewing

 

[browndog]

Bribie,
If you are having issues with chill haze then from my experience, filtering won't help unless you get the beer as cold as possible then hit it with some polyclar prior to filtering. Generally I don't filter but filtering is very handy when you intend on transporting kegs. I brewed a batch of IPA for the club night at the AABC and filtered it so that when it arrives in Canberra after a 1500km trip it won't look like the Yarra.

cheers

Browndog

 

[NickB]

I've noticed that any beers I've filtered (I don't Polyclar - didn't notice a significant difference when I tried it once), come out crystal clear through the filter. However, mine do pick up a slight haze that takes anywhere from 2 days to 2 week to disappear. Not sure what type of haze, but it's there. Filtered beer drunk straight away (well , within 12 hours) is crystal clear. The next day, haze. Have talked to a couple of other QLD brewers who have the same problem.

Obviously the filters we use on a homebrew level are nowhere close to a double or triple filter setup of a micro or mega brewery!

Cheers

 

[Thirsty Boy]

you can filter out chill haze - if the beer is actually cold enough for the haze to be present and stays that way through the whole process. I think you might need a finer than 1micron filter to do the trick though. You would want to be starting with 0 or -1 beer and maybe even keeping the filter and lines in the fridge for a while to cool them down.

You will notice even the slightest chill haze in a filtered beer.. because its so bright otherwise. So a very light haze that you would not even have realised was there in an unfiltered beer... will stick out.

I filter and polyclar every beer I make through a 1 micron absolute filter - usually straight from the primary fermenter. Beer is crash chilled in the fermenter for 2-3 days and rehydrated polyclar at 0.5-0.6g per liter is added by stirring it gently into the top layer of the fermenter. After an hour or so for the fermenter to settle down and the polyclar to work... I filter.

This gives me - and should give anyone I suspect. Diamond bright beer from the first to the last glass from a keg no matter how its moved about.

I also believe that beers which are hazy from yeast (not so much from chill haze) don't taste as good as bright beers do. They yeast dulls down the malt, muddies the palate and makes the beer less crisp. I'm not saying you need to filter to get really bright beer... but I do think bright beer is better and filtering makes it happen fast and permanently.

 

[Kai]

I also believe that beers which are hazy from yeast (not so much from chill haze) don't taste as good as bright beers do. They yeast dulls down the malt, muddies the palate and makes the beer less crisp. I'm not saying you need to filter to get really bright beer... but I do think bright beer is better and filtering makes it happen fast and permanently.

Funny you should say that as I think the complete opposite; if you filter a beer brilliant then you're ripping out a lot of flavour from the malt and the hops.

Granted, too much yeast does muddy up the palate and some yeasts are worse than others at this. However I would take a well settled or very roughly filtered beer over something well bright anyday... mostly personal preference though, but (filtered) diamond bright to me signifies something polished to the edge of its life to the detriment of flavour.

 

[~MikE]

I've been thinking about getting into filtering

thought this was funny

Cartridge: The 1 micron absolute pleated cartridge will give you a bright beer while still alowing some yeast through for those wishing to naturally carbonate their beers...

so why exactly does a 1 micron "absolute" filter allow cells that are 5-10 microns in diameter to pass through?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

so why exactly does a 1 micron "absolute" filter allow cells that are 5-10 microns in diameter to pass through?

Because just budded very fresh and young yeast cells are both smaller (about 1-2 microns) and squishy so that they can be squeezed through a gap that is smaller than their "relaxed" width.

I have tried naturally carbonating a beer filtered through a 1 micron absolute .. it works. Of course those immature yeast cells mature - and then there is visible yeast in the bottle. But it is the absolute minimum yeast you can have and still carbonate naturally.

Kai - I reckon you are also right. Over filtration does suck some flavour out of a beer. But I think there is a sweet spot at about 1 micron filter width where you have rendered the beer visibly bright - but have minimal effect on flavour and aroma. I personally wouldn't filter lower than perhaps 0.5 micron for this reason and don't see any need for lower than one micron abs anyway.

I also think that its a matter of consistency of method - Sure, if I don't filter a beer it might have a little more malt or a little more hop to it... but that's a recipe issue. If I know that my beer is going to be filtered (and all of mine are) then I simply design the recipe to be a little more malty or a little more hoppy than I would if it was not going to be filtered. The unfiltered the beer would then not be what I wanted because it was overly hoppy or over malty - filtered it ends up where I want it. Both as hoppy or malty as I desire AND diamond bright.

TB