Finings Or Filter

[Brewme]

I have read heaps of info here about clearing a brew.

1. Filtering
2. Finings
3. Cold conditioning

How effective is the finings, such as gelatine? How much of the suspended particles will it drop? Will it affect the taste of the beer?

How effective is cold conditioning? How long does it have to be in the fridge for? As the cost of electricity isn't cheap, is this form of clearing a beer viable?

Some folk (5000 + 7000 posts in this forum) swear by the filtering method. Does it take any flavour out of the beer?

I have only used a filter 2 times as the brews still looked a bit murky after fermentation. I usually leave the brew for another 2 days or more after FG stable. Sometimes 10, 12, 14 days total at a temp of 20 - 24 C.

Each time I used the filter, I noticed that the litre or so of slops in the filter canister resembled water from the Yarra river. The beer was as clear as any commercially bought beer. Even after shaking, rattling and rolling the keg to force carbonate the beer, not a skerrick amount of sediment was to be found from 1st glass to last.

Has anyone else here experienced similar results?

Cheers

 

[thesunsettree]

I have read heaps of info here about clearing a brew.

1. Filtering
2. Finings
3. Cold conditioning

How effective is the finings, such as gelatine? How much of the suspended particles will it drop? Will it affect the taste of the beer?

How effective is cold conditioning? How long does it have to be in the fridge for? As the cost of electricity isn't cheap, is this form of clearing a beer viable?

Some folk (5000 + 7000 posts in this forum) swear by the filtering method. Does it take any flavour out of the beer?

I have only used a filter 2 times as the brews still looked a bit murky after fermentation. I usually leave the brew for another 2 days or more after FG stable. Sometimes 10, 12, 14 days total at a temp of 20 - 24 C.

Each time I used the filter, I noticed that the litre or so of slops in the filter canister resembled water from the Yarra river. The beer was as clear as any commercially bought beer. Even after shaking, rattling and rolling the keg to force carbonate the beer, not a skerrick amount of sediment was to be found from 1st glass to last.

Has anyone else here experienced similar results?

Cheers

hi mate,

definate filterer here, swear by it. definately no loss in flavour unless u want ur yeast (which is a yummy part of the beer) to overpower ur other flavours.. i know plenty of guys get great beer with the other techniques but if u have filtered, as u say u have, u know how piss easy it is, i say stick with it.

cheers
matt

 

[Brewme]

hi mate,

definate filterer here, swear by it. definately no loss in flavour unless u want ur yeast (which is a yummy part of the beer) to overpower ur other flavours.. i know plenty of guys get great beer with the other techniques but if u have filtered, as u say u have, u know how piss easy it is, i say stick with it.

cheers
matt

Hi,

Thanks for the reassurance. Nice to know the filter was not just a gimmick. The beers I filtered were a HB shop own recipe extract in cans with the extra snot (hop pellets). Another one of his cans had something that resembled chook pellets. Even with boiling water they remained hard.

Using the filter, both brews came out crystal clear.

How do you clean your filter?

I have rinsed and shook and hosed then dried it. Still smelled awful. Tried soaking it in bicarb with little result. The best way I found to cleanse it was to

 

[thesunsettree]

Hi,

Thanks for the reassurance. Nice to know the filter was not just a gimmick. The beers I filtered were a HB shop own recipe extract in cans with the extra snot (hop pellets). Another one of his cans had something that resembled chook pellets. Even with boiling water they remained hard.

Using the filter, both brews came out crystal clear.

How do you clean your filter?

I have rinsed and shook and hosed then dried it. Still smelled awful. Tried soaking it in bicarb with little result. The best way I found to cleanse it was to

i rinse it under the tap thoroughly, if it was a heavy beer i will soak it (filter cartridge) in the canister over night. then in a pink cleaner and or sanitiser solution (in canister over night) then rinse and into keg fridge for storage. i always rinse befroe use cos it is stored near frig element and some water seems to freeze in filter and restricts flow. i put screw hose attachments (almost sure this is not what they're called) on the beer disconnects which i remove and flush with pink or sanatiser to clean and sterilise before re-assembling and putting in keg frig. have done this for 100 or so brews, not poisoned yet and no wasted brews because of it.

cheers
matt

 

[Brewme]

i rinse it under the tap thoroughly, if it was a heavy beer i will soak it (filter cartridge) in the canister over night. then in a pink cleaner and or sanitiser solution (in canister over night) then rinse and into keg fridge for storage. i always rinse befroe use cos it is stored near frig element and some water seems to freeze in filter and restricts flow. i put screw hose attachments (almost sure this is not what they're called) on the beer disconnects which i remove and flush with pink or sanatiser to clean and sterilise before re-assembling and putting in keg frig. have done this for 100 or so brews, not poisoned yet and no wasted brews because of it.

cheers
matt

Sorry for not finishing my last post. The 'puter has a spasm.

I put the fermenter on top of the fridge and let gravity push the brew through the filter into the keg just to save gas.

I use those John Guest fittings in the filter so I can easily remove the hoses

When done, I rinse the filter and housing and hoses with water.

About 10 litres of water in a clean fermenter on top of the fridge, I again use the filter. But this time I do it in reverse. Put the hose from the fermenter into the 'OUT' port and the other hose into the 'IN' port going to a bucket to collect the dirty water from the filter. Seems to blow all the gunk out of the filter cartridge. Worked ok last time and when dry there was no smell whatsoever.

Cheers

 

[thesunsettree]

Sorry for not finishing my last post. The 'puter has a spasm.

I put the fermenter on top of the fridge and let gravity push the brew through the filter into the keg just to save gas.

I use those John Guest fittings in the filter so I can easily remove the hoses

When done, I rinse the filter and housing and hoses with water.

About 10 litres of water in a clean fermenter on top of the fridge, I again use the filter. But this time I do it in reverse. Put the hose from the fermenter into the 'OUT' port and the other hose into the 'IN' port going to a bucket to collect the dirty water from the filter. Seems to blow all the gunk out of the filter cartridge. Worked ok last time and when dry there was no smell whatsoever.

Cheers

yeah one of the blokes at lhbs told me he does that, always been meaning to try but never have. makes perfect sense tho, i must give it a go one day. actually i have filtered a few big bodied ales lately so could really do with a backwash blow out. sounds like ur filter is more than clean, wouldnt stress about it, filter on with confidence

cheers
matt

 

[Thirsty Boy]

filtering is a no-brainer - do it properly and it always works, clear beer every time.

BUT - depending on your situation, filtering doesn't do anything much that time, temperature and cold wont also do.

If you are sure you wont be moving your kegs... then finings in the keg (gelatin) and a bit of time will see you beer either as or very nearly as bright as filtered beer

I filter all my beer - but if my set-up were different and I didn't need to move my kegs .. I probably would save it for difficult to clear beers like kolsch and crystal weizen etc.

Your filter will need a better clean than that -- look into all the little creases and crevises.... all clean?? Mine certainly isn't after just a backwash. You will also (once you think its clean) need to soak it in something like nappisan (or preferably pbw) or over time, you will get a biofilm build up and the pores of the filter will tighten up, slowing down your filtering and eventually rendering your filter unusable. The soak in pbw helps clear this out.

Look after it properly and it will last a long time. Otherwise they can go south quite quickly.

 

[kierent]

I bought a filter but found it did hardly anything to clear the beer. I have talked to the supplier to check I'm doing it properly and it seems I am. Since then I've put the primary in a fridge for a few days at 2degrees, then racked to a secondary with gelatine for another week and it's crystal clear. It's definately a longer process but doesn't really require any more effort. I guess the electricity costs a bit but often I can rack in the keg fridge which is on anyway.

Maybe I should look into the filter a bit more though if they work for other people. It's just a cartridge filter with a 1 micron cartridge I think.

 

[thesunsettree]

I bought a filter but found it did hardly anything to clear the beer. I have talked to the supplier to check I'm doing it properly and it seems I am. Since then I've put the primary in a fridge for a few days at 2degrees, then racked to a secondary with gelatine for another week and it's crystal clear. It's definately a longer process but doesn't really require any more effort. I guess the electricity costs a bit but often I can rack in the keg fridge which is on anyway.

Maybe I should look into the filter a bit more though if they work for other people. It's just a cartridge filter with a 1 micron cartridge I think.

Hi mate,
i definately would persevere, there must be something not right, cos filtering will give ur beer great clarity. If ur not getn this then something cant be right. Check that ur liquid flow is goig in the right direction, the filter is not damaged and/or faulty. Make sure it really is a 1 micron 'absolute', i bought a 1 micron that wasnt absolute (it was the other kind, average or something like that was the terminolagy), and didnt do shit when i used. I tossed it and spent the extra money on the better one, works a treat.

Cheers matt

 

[Siborg]

I have read heaps of info here about clearing a brew.

1. Filtering
2. Finings
3. Cold conditioning

How effective is the finings, such as gelatine? How much of the suspended particles will it drop? Will it affect the taste of the beer?

How effective is cold conditioning? How long does it have to be in the fridge for? As the cost of electricity isn't cheap, is this form of clearing a beer viable?

Some folk (5000 + 7000 posts in this forum) swear by the filtering method. Does it take any flavour out of the beer?

I have only used a filter 2 times as the brews still looked a bit murky after fermentation. I usually leave the brew for another 2 days or more after FG stable. Sometimes 10, 12, 14 days total at a temp of 20 - 24 C.

Each time I used the filter, I noticed that the litre or so of slops in the filter canister resembled water from the Yarra river. The beer was as clear as any commercially bought beer. Even after shaking, rattling and rolling the keg to force carbonate the beer, not a skerrick amount of sediment was to be found from 1st glass to last.

Has anyone else here experienced similar results?

Cheers

I'll let you know about gelatine as I've just tried it for the first time. Cold crashing is VERY viable. I have a fridge that doesn't work and chucked 8-10 plastic bottles full of ice and got it down to -2 degrees C... had to take a few out as I wanted it around 0.

I'm actually using a combo of cold crashing and gelatine.. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Siborg]

just racked and bulk primed today... ended up with 18.75 litres of nice clear beer. Gelatine added after 48 or so hours at around 0 degrees, then racked and bulk primed after another 48 hours or so.

 

[ben_sa]

Which filters are you guys using? Ive seen the ones on ebay for $59 or so which look VERY similar (if not same) to the one at my LHBS which is $120!

Im seriously contemplating it purely because i rarely have ebnough time to CC my brews, I generally go straight from primrary (7-10 days) to the keg, Chill for 24 hours, Gas for 48, and Bam, we're away

 

[thesunsettree]

Which filters are you guys using? Ive seen the ones on ebay for $59 or so which look VERY similar (if not same) to the one at my LHBS which is $120!

Im seriously contemplating it purely because i rarely have ebnough time to CC my brews, I generally go straight from primrary (7-10 days) to the keg, Chill for 24 hours, Gas for 48, and Bam, we're away

got mine from lhbs wacol. was $90ni think, had it for several months and several brews with plenty to go. ross has ones that i'm sure are much the same for around 60ish from memory. i know where to get the next one

cheers
matt

 

[Brewme]

Which filters are you guys using? Ive seen the ones on ebay for $59 or so which look VERY similar (if not same) to the one at my LHBS which is $120!

Im seriously contemplating it purely because i rarely have ebnough time to CC my brews, I generally go straight from primrary (7-10 days) to the keg, Chill for 24 hours, Gas for 48, and Bam, we're away

Got mine from Beerbelly. See link.
http://beerbelly.com.au/filtering.html

Cheers

 

[Lobby Lobster]

Well I'll be! This filter business is a revelation.

Clear beer is what I am searching for, and I would prefer not to rack.

I don't keg though. Can I bottle from the filter?

Cheers

 

[thesunsettree]

Well I'll be! This filter business is a revelation.

Clear beer is what I am searching for, and I would prefer not to rack.

I don't keg though. Can I bottle from the filter?

Cheers

can't see why not, i havnt gravity filtered so i dont know how well that works but i believe there are set ups for it. i guess u'd rack to a secondary or cube, polyclar and get cold o'nite then rack from cube to filter to empty fermenter then bottle. or add polyclar to fermenter get cold o'nite, filter then bottle not sure if this is ok to do, some of the more knowledgable may be able to advise

cheers
matt

 

[Bribie G]

Well I'll be! This filter business is a revelation.

Clear beer is what I am searching for, and I would prefer not to rack.

I don't keg though. Can I bottle from the filter?

Cheers

How do you propose to fizz up the bottles, as there will be no yeast for secondary fermentation?

 

[thesunsettree]

How do you propose to fizz up the bottles, as there will be no yeast for secondary fermentation?

i have often wondered whether there is any/enough residual yeast left post filter to carb bottles, sounds like no <_<

 

[rendo]

Hi All,

Shameless Plug. I have a beer filter for sale. I have used it once, not my thing. Cold crashing and gelatine works for me. PLUS....I bottle, so filtering really doesnt suit me.

Filter cartridge not included, as it has been used...ewww. Excellent condition, as new really. Gravity fed or low pressure. Everything as pictured.....Bought 6 months ago for $98

Anyone want it ...$50?

Might put it up on she-bay if no one is interested....See pics

(located in north sydney....lane cove..I guess I could post this, but no idea how much it'd cost....guessing $10-$20)

PM Me.

Rendo

View attachment 36334View attachment 36333View attachment 36332​

 

[thesunsettree]

Well I'll be! This filter business is a revelation.

Clear beer is what I am searching for, and I would prefer not to rack.

I don't keg though. Can I bottle from the filter?

Cheers

ross has a response in the kits and extracts thread titled 'filtering before bottling'. i think u might it useful

cheers
matt