The Filter Stole My Flavour

[Pumpy]

Hi guys,

I have recently started to filter and keg my beer and i am very happy with my setup except that my 1 micron filter seems to strip a noticable amount of flavour and body from the beer. At first i thought i had diluted the beer somehow but have reproduced the results a few times now with careful methodology.

My question/s is.... Does anyone else experience this?

What i have read indicates the 1 micron is the ideal compromise between clarity and ability to retain the beers flavour. What does everyone else use?

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips for this virgin kegger.

Cheers.

BC

It would be wrong to say that filtering does not take something out of the beer ,as there is a brown yeasty looking substance on the filter when you have finished .

That yeasty looking substance has a flavour !

Is it a nice flavour ? or in small quantities dooes it add or compliment the flavour of the beer ?.

Well it has to be a matter of taste, if you are used to beers with a degeree of suspension you may miss it if it was removed by filtering .

One can enjoy beers designed with that suspension 'Wheat beers' for example.

For my part I love a bright ale it looks proffesional and gives me confidence when I offer a beer to someone.

What do your mates do if they are or are not a VB fan , what do they do, but hold it up to the light to look at the colour .

In my opinion filtering is in no way detramental to the flavour of the beer , if anything I feel it accentuates the positive flavour of the beer .

Pumpy

 

[jimmyjack]

Somebody correct me if I am wrong, I think I read an article somewhere that Russian River in the states filters their beers and then dry hops. I have never tried this myself but would be an interesting experiment for those who believe that filtering gets rid of Hop aromas.


Cheers,

JJ

 

[browndog]

Seems like you just want to be a supercillious prick wanting to stoke an argument. Particularly given that the product pdf you posted makes no mention of your particular arrangement not using perlite.

It's just great, the quality of post we have been getting of late.

Bongchitis, when I saw the title of your post I was quite surprised as this is exactly what happened to me on my last brew. I made an APA that I was certain would turn out hoppy and malty as I've made many similar, because I was in a hurry to bottle it, I decided to filter it, then when I tasted the resulting beer I thought exactly the same as you "what did that filter do to this beer" it was bland and lacking all the flavour that should have been there. As I've only done 125 odd AG brews, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about either, but you won't see me using a filter any time soon.

cheers

Browndog

 

[David Sinclair]

I did a Brown Porter that had a strong chocolate flavour ...until it went through the filter, I bottled some of the same batch so i'll be able to do a comparsion when the keg runs out.

I think i have over hopped an Irish Red, so i'm glad to hear that filtering will take out some hop aroma (double batch too).

I've got to say i like filtering because my kegs are always running dry and it accelerates the conditioning phase and tends to have a
'cleaner' taste.

 

[Boozy the clown]

QUOTE (buttersd70 @ Aug 28 2008, 06:52 PM)
to be honest, I couldn't give a **** who wrote it. (and yes I have heard of him.)

Seems like you just want to be a supercillious prick wanting to stoke an argument. Particularly given that the product pdf you posted makes no mention of your particular arrangement not using perlite.

I've made my views known. End of argument.

I find this offensive . Who nominated you as the supreme expert on every subject on this forum.

There is no need to use this attitude to other members.

Gee, that is a bit intense. Glad i'm not a "supercillious prick wanting to stoke an argument" and just a beer hack who likes K&K.

 

[Bongchitis]

Well this seems to be a point of conjecture doesn't it?

Firstly i would like to start by saying that i am a trained taster! I was not gloating about the quality of my palate, just throwing it into the equation to paint a more complete picture of my particular scenario. Whether it be beer, ice cream or toothpaste, my job is to pick and classify flavours. Butters the fact that the brews arent AG does not mean a thing in terms of flavour analysis and i think you are being inflamitory just for the sake of it. Perhaps your inability to pick differences as outlined above speaks more for the quality of your palate than mine! .... but thanks for your input.

I brew extract with specialty grains and hops and strive for flavour, thats why i started brewing in the first place. I'm starting to see enough testimony to convince me that filtering does in fact take out a little extra than just yeast so if i refine my methods further and take this into account then i should be getting a handle on it and achieving the beer i want.

It is a learning process after all, I just wanted to know if it was just me......and happy to find it is not.

Thanks everyone.

 

[JoeG]

I think what we can take from all the above posts is:

If you are interested in filtering your beer, maybe give it a go. If you like what it does for your beers, then keep filtering! If not, then perhaps you could not filter your beer anymore.

Personally I love it! I filter every beer I keg - its part of my regular routine now. Its wonderful for a fast turn around ale: filter under gravity into keg, force carb & drink. Too easy.

Give it a crack, and see if it works for you.

 

[gibbocore]

Can i take this trhead slightly off topic, i'm brewing a duvel clone and am currently rousing the stubborn prick to get the last few points of gravity points out of it, and let me say, i'm darn proud of this brew, it tastes exceptional from the hydro samples and while i filter all my other ales (APAs etc) i'm hessitant to filter this one and was wondering how the Wyeast duvel yeast flocs, i was thinking of just chilling, racking into a keg with polyclar, and leaving for a couple of weeks in the fridge, then trasfering into another keg, i've got a decent supply of kegs now and can afford to wait a couple of weeks. my Main concern is losing too much of the special 'belgian' flavour. Thoughts?

 

[browndog]

Can i take this trhead slightly off topic, i'm brewing a duvel clone and am currently rousing the stubborn prick to get the last few points of gravity points out of it, and let me say, i'm darn proud of this brew, it tastes exceptional from the hydro samples and while i filter all my other ales (APAs etc) i'm hessitant to filter this one and was wondering how the Wyeast duvel yeast flocs, i was thinking of just chilling, racking into a keg with polyclar, and leaving for a couple of weeks in the fridge, then trasfering into another keg, i've got a decent supply of kegs now and can afford to wait a couple of weeks. my Main concern is losing too much of the special 'belgian' flavour. Thoughts?

I made a Duvel clone yonks ago, I used Wyeast Belgian Golden Ale Yeast. From memory it ended up with quite good clarity, so I'd hav eto say yes, you will get good floc.

I think the bottom line is " If you can afford to wait a week or two, there is no need at all to use a filter"

cheers

Browndog

 

[jimmyjack]

an i take this trhead slightly off topic, i'm brewing a duvel clone and am currently rousing the stubborn prick to get the last few points of gravity points out of it, and let me say, i'm darn proud of this brew, it tastes exceptional from the hydro samples and while i filter all my other ales (APAs etc) i'm hessitant to filter this one and was wondering how the Wyeast duvel yeast flocs, i was thinking of just chilling, racking into a keg with polyclar, and leaving for a couple of weeks in the fridge, then trasfering into another keg, i've got a decent supply of kegs now and can afford to wait a couple of weeks. my Main concern is losing too much of the special 'belgian' flavour. Thoughts?

I filtered a duvel clone recently and it is beautiful. The only thing I will say is that I believe it affected the head a little


Cheers,

Jj

 

[Adamt]

I've sat on the sidelines and read this with interest... but I think I might contribute something, or rather, pose a question.

From a molecular point of view, what else apart from yeast will a 1 micron filter remove? It sure as hell won't remove any alpha acids or any dextrins. What about melanoidins?

 

[warrenlw63]

LOL! How many microns are ******** filters? :lol:

Warren -

 

[gibbocore]

I made a Duvel clone yonks ago, I used Wyeast Belgian Golden Ale Yeast. From memory it ended up with quite good clarity, so I'd hav eto say yes, you will get good floc.

I think the bottom line is " If you can afford to wait a week or two, there is no need at all to use a filter"

cheers

Browndog

cheers, will wait it out untill i need it i think!

 

[bconnery]

LOL! How many microns are ******** filters? :lol:

Warren -

I don't know but you'd sure need to clean them regularly...

 

[warrenlw63]

I don't know but you'd sure need to clean them regularly...

Sodium Precarbonate bulk buy anybody?

Warren -

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Sodium Precarbonate bulk buy anybody?

Warren -

I reckon that in that particular instance, you would be better off with actual Napisan...

 

[floppinab]

Just to add another picture into this one. Kegging vs bottling is also going to have a signficant impact on final flavour, one I was amazed by when I first started kegging. Again with the usual depends on the type of brew etc. etc. As I suspect the majority with filters are filtering to kegs but not to bottles so keep that in mind when considering the filter vs nofilter. When I do get my filter out I tend to filter into bottles as well as the keg if my batch size is > 1 kegs worth.

 

[big_alk]

Just to add another picture into this one. Kegging vs bottling is also going to have a signficant impact on final flavour, one I was amazed by when I first started kegging. Again with the usual depends on the type of brew etc. etc. As I suspect the majority with filters are filtering to kegs but not to bottles so keep that in mind when considering the filter vs nofilter. When I do get my filter out I tend to filter into bottles as well as the keg if my batch size is > 1 kegs worth.

quick question, how are you carbonating your beer for bottling?
are you carbonating before and then filtering?

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I filter into bottles and naturally carbonate. Enough yeast get through to do the job, although it does take longer.

 

[big_alk]

I filter into bottles and naturally carbonate. Enough yeast get through to do the job, although it does take longer.

that's a bit surprising. I use a 5um aperture and my beers are bright. Most yeast is >2um, so depending on what size your filter is, I wouldn't expect much to come through (if any).
Like I said before, commercial breweries will filter their beers at 1um or less for sterile filtration prior to packaging. This improves the shelf life and stability of the beer but can result in changes to the flavour and moutfeel. The "apparent" bitterness also changes when yeast is removed.
My tap beers only have to last a few weeks and are always stored in the cool room, so stability isn't usually an issue.
I bottle condition my bttled beers at the moment, but looking at how to filter and package a lager so it is bright and also stable enough to ship.