Filtering

[Fourstar]

You should be filtering cold beer yes, the colder the better but it should be at least the coldest temp at which it is to be served at.

And the benifit of doing this when filtering from the fermenter is? (besides yeast flocculation in the fermenter) as im not concerned with loss of CO2 in soltution.

 

[Supra-Jim]

4*, i could be wrong, but i think the additional benefit of chilling the beer (at or below serving temp) prior to filtering is that you stand a better chance of removing the proteins responsible for chill haze. As these proteins dissapear back into solution at higher temps. This is also based on a 1 micron filter, i think anything up to 5 micron will still remove yeast, but 1 micron stands a better chance of capturing the chill haze proteins.

The main benefit of pre-chilling the beer being you're dropping as much yeast prior to filtering to make it easier on the filter.

Cheers SJ

 

[jayse]

One reason beer is generally filtered cold is as supra-jim mentioned, any material that can cause chill haze can come out of solution when cold, hense causing a haze in cold beer. When its out of solution it can be removed by filter or additives.
So in this instance you need the chill haze to form to beable to remove it.
I am sure doing it warm will work for yeast and other solids though.
Still I am sure most people would advise beer be cold for whatever processing you want to do to it.

 

[Pumpy]

Pumpy,
the grease on the bottom and top of the filter, is that to create a seal against the filter housing so beer can't just go around the filter?

(I don't filter, only interested in learning how it works for later if I ever get to kegging)

thanks
Bjorn

Bjorn , The keg grease does stop your lid dragging your filter around and risking a possible tear and it does improve the seal to stop beer going around the filter ,out of sight.

Rubber need lubrication as it has a 'high coefficient of friction' !!!! ( now I will be mis quoted on this )

Pumpy

 

[Pumpy]

Just a quick question.

Does anyone seem to have clogging issues with thier craftbrewer filter? I tried filtering my RyePA lastnight and ended up having to leave it to filter overnight via gravity to awake this morning still with 5 L in the bottom of the fermenter and nothing in the out hose of the filter connected to the keg.

I assumed it was just positive pressure in the keg stopping the flow so i removed the disconnect and still had no beer flowing from the filter housing. There was a decent amount of yeast in the housing, but id wouldnt think this would stem the flow completly and im just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or had similar issues? I did notice my last beer to filter was abit slower than usual but it didnt stop short.

Pumpy, i know you gravity feed yours, have you had any similar experiences? What about my cleaning method for the filter below?

I give the filter a decent rinse after use, plunge thru a nappisan solution in the housing and repeat with a fresh solution until they come up bright white, rinse again and then soak in nappisan overnight, rinse the next day, air dry and store. There doesn't appear to be any matter left over in the filter either. looks almost brand new (atleast to the eye).

Hmmmm... <_<

Fourstar yes I did occasionaly have a problem but since I

chill for a few days
run the first half pint
dont filter more than 20-23 per filter ( I have two filters )
grease the top and bottom of the filter

It seems to work for me

Most of my beeer these days are pale beers rarely do dark beer

Pumpy

 

[Fourstar]

One reason beer is generally filtered cold is as supra-jim mentioned, any material that can cause chill haze can come out of solution when cold, hense causing a haze in cold beer. When its out of solution it can be removed by filter or additives.
So in this instance you need the chill haze to form to beable to remove it.
I am sure doing it warm will work for yeast and other solids though.
Still I am sure most people would advise beer be cold for whatever processing you want to do to it.

Ive always believed this would be the case for haze forming protiens/tannins. As long as they are 'formed' you should be able to filter them out, or atleast some of them. Thanks for the explanation. :icon_cheers:

Fourstar yes I did occasionaly have a problem but since I
Chill for a few days
run the first half pint
dont filter more than 20-23 per filter ( I have two filters )
grease the top and bottom of the filter
It seems to work for me

Most of my beeer these days are pale beers rarely do dark beer

Pumpy

Thanks for the info pumpy.

I must admit i have been lazy over the past couple of batches. Prior to filtering i used to always crash chill for 24-48 hours. Now ive just been stuck in the rut of "meh, the filter will do it for me". Looks like that might have been a mistake.

I'll see how the Black IPA goes with a crash chill and filtered. Not that i will see much of the result, atleast it will be 'cloudless' :lol:

 

[Pumpy]

Ive always believed this would be the case for haze forming protiens/tannins. As long as they are 'formed' you should be able to filter them out, or atleast some of them. Thanks for the explanation. :icon_cheers:



Thanks for the info pumpy.

I must admit i have been lazy over the past couple of batches. Prior to filtering i used to always crash chill for 24-48 hours. Now ive just been stuck in the rut of "meh, the filter will do it for me". Looks like that might have been a mistake.

I'll see how the Black IPA goes with a crash chill and filtered. Not that i will see much of the result, atleast it will be 'cloudless' :lol:

Fourstar as Jayse says

When you chill the beer real cold ,protein molecules become larger and materialise as a Haze ,have the beer as cold as you can when filtering 0C and you will trap the bigger proteins .

Its a few little things that make the filtering work ,but they are all important ,like I say give the filter cartridge as much help as you can and you will get the results you desire .

pumpy

 

[Tony]

I honestly believe a bright clear beer... filtered or not..... will taste better.

I taste my beer before and after i filter it and i can notice a yeasty earthy taste in the beer prior to filtering. Its usually fairly clear by the time i filter it having been crash chilled and conditioned for a few days to a week. Once its been filtered it's maltier and hoppier, probably because there are less undesirobles in there to hog the flavour and aroma duties.

break and yeast dont taste good and they are usually what clouds the beer. Removing them with either finnings or filtering is a good thing. It has certanly improved my beers.

I am even thinking of filtering beers i am going to bottle to clean them up and then introduce a bit of fresh yeast for carbonation.

cheers

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I honestly believe a bright clear beer... filtered or not..... will taste better.

It's true. And not just because I read it on the interwebs...

For ages I resisted clearing my beers. Now I try to use time and gravity but have no issue with filtering (apart from the hassle). I reckon if you want your beer to taste as good as you can get it, you will get it as clear as you can.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

a plus from me on the flavour front as well - to me, cloudy beer (from yeast) just doesn't taste as good as clear beer. I want my beer pretty, clean and malty.. and to my palate and eyes, yeast haze reduces all these things.

Its also about "finishing the job" properly - you knock up a bookshelf in your garage and it would hold your books off the floor just fine if you didn't... but you whack a coat of varnish on it anyway. My mildly hazy beer tastes just fine, but I am prouder of it and want to give it to my friends more, if its been finished off properly and shines all purdy like when you hold it up to the light.

 

[Tony]

My mildly hazy beer tastes just fine, but I am prouder of it and want to give it to my friends more, if its been finished off properly and shines all purdy like when you hold it up to the light.

Amen!

When i give people a beer....... the first thing most do... knowing its home brew, is hold it up to the light and look at it. Even regular drinkers from my taps like my brother or dad. They check it out..... then smell it, then take the plunge and taste it.

The satifaction of the comment...... WOW! Its clear....... and knowing its gunna taste as good as it looks is worth the effort taken.

cheers

Edit....... i filter all beers... even stouts. Im not after clarity in a stout, its the cleaner flavours of the clear beer.

 

[bradsbrew]

I honestly believe a bright clear beer... filtered or not..... will taste better.

I taste my beer before and after i filter it and i can notice a yeasty earthy taste in the beer prior to filtering. Its usually fairly clear by the time i filter it having been crash chilled and conditioned for a few days to a week. Once its been filtered it's maltier and hoppier, probably because there are less undesirobles in there to hog the flavour and aroma duties.

break and yeast dont taste good and they are usually what clouds the beer. Removing them with either finnings or filtering is a good thing. It has certanly improved my beers.

I am even thinking of filtering beers i am going to bottle to clean them up and then introduce a bit of fresh yeast for carbonation.

cheers

Tony it would be interesting to see the results of two bottles from the same batch one filtered and one unfiltered to see if the result is a highly noticeable one.

Cheers

 

[Cocko]

I have filtered 5 kegs now and I agree with ALL of Tony's posts 100%!!

If you filter 1 micron, would there not be enough yeast left to bottle condition?

 

[Tony]

Tony it would be interesting to see the results of two bottles from the same batch one filtered and one unfiltered to see if the result is a highly noticeable one.

Cheers

I have!

The pic i posted earlier is of a Classic American Pilsner. I bottled about 10 bottles cold and ran the rest into a keg and filtered it.

The beers in the bottle were great....... almost took out the Bitter and Twisted comp a year or 2 ago. It was however a tad cloudy and not as clean compared to the filtered beer. The hops were brighter in the filtered beer and i recon if i had of filtered to bottle and introduces some fresh yeast...... it would have done better.

cheers

 

[komodo]

If you filter 1 micron, would there not be enough yeast left to bottle condition?

I was under the assumption that there is but it takes longer to condition?

 

[bradsbrew]

I have!

The pic i posted earlier is of a Classic American Pilsner. I bottled about 10 bottles cold and ran the rest into a keg and filtered it.

The beers in the bottle were great....... almost took out the Bitter and Twisted comp a year or 2 ago. It was however a tad cloudy and not as clean compared to the filtered beer. The hops were brighter in the filtered beer and i recon if i had of filtered to bottle and introduces some fresh yeast...... it would have done better.

cheers

Well now you've got my attention on the filter and introduce bottle condition yeast. I may just have to try filtering so i can judge for my own tastes.
On another note if you add the fresh yeast do you still add a priming sugar??


Cheers

 

[Kingy]

chill very cold for a few days,filter and force carb and drink clear beer on the same day lol thats why i filter its no real hassle either im still racking to a keg it just passes through a filteron the way. Presentation is the key!!

 

[kenworthy]

Well now you've got my attention on the filter and introduce bottle condition yeast. I may just have to try filtering so i can judge for my own tastes.
On another note if you add the fresh yeast do you still add a priming sugar??


Cheers

Yeah still need priming sugar ,Ive filtered and ended up with no carbonation and had to re yeast each bottle so I reckon its best to filter and reyeast saves mucking around later

 

[hughman666]

a good beer is definitely a good looking beer

having said that, i have 3 taps and 5 kegs so at any point in time 2 kegs are chilling away, clearing up before serving. if theyre a kolsch or pale ale, they will also have been in secondary for an extra 7 days.

dark ales and weizens/wits dont get racked though, just extra time in the keg...

so i dont filter but still end up with a clear beer - but it does take an extra 1-4 weeks...

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I've bottle-primed filtered beer without adding yeast and it works fine (for me). Perhaps my 1micron filter didn't work well enough...

I am just about to finish a keg of Coopers kit beer (the pressures of life... *sigh*) fermented with the kit yeast and it has been in a cold fridge for about a month. I don't have a pic, but I assure you that it is as bright as a beer can get. I did not filter it (well, why would you; it's a *kit* beer). Best kit beer I've ever had. Not good enough to sway me from proper beer, but...