The 'no Messin Method' Fermenter To Keg

[skippy]

JYE, just out of interest what is your procedure for filtering your brew...

You filter from fermentor to keg, using pump, do you have a tube going inside the keg, or liquid disconnect attached to fill the keg?

Do you loosen keg lid to allow air to escape as she fills, or use some sort of pressure release valve to allow air to escape but not enter?

 

[Jye]

The receiving keg is connected with a quick disconnect and I just remove the airlock from the fermenter. The whole setup is easy to sanitise too since I just recirculate through the filter for 10min, then purge with co2 and hook it up to the fermenter to filter.

 

[skippy]

Sounds easy pump or gravity, I believe the end product is a clear, well presented beer (after carbonation!)

JYE, I saw somewhere (could be this site - can't remember), that someone made some sort of valve that you could place on gas poppet to allow air to escape, do you just loosen the corny keg lid when filling ??

 

[Jye]

Just open the pressure relief valve.

 

[skippy]

Just got my keg setup and made one brew....all my additional gear is arriving soon. Still a little green but hey...

when you say open the pressure release valve do you mean you stand over the keg, lifting the valve until she is full...or do you unscrew the valve and come back later?


P.S I want a pump, but they are bloody expensive. Do you have to use a perlistatic pump?

What is the best value for money pump?


...and have you ever stuffed up the filter membrane using one????

 

[oldbugman]

pull ring and turn 90deg it then stays open

 

[skippy]

Too easy, cheers pal

:chug:

 

[Pumpy]

Just got my keg setup and made one brew....all my additional gear is arriving soon. Still a little green but hey...

when you say open the pressure release valve do you mean you stand over the keg, lifting the valve until she is full...or do you unscrew the valve and come back later?
P.S I want a pump, but they are bloody expensive. Do you have to use a perlistatic pump?

What is the best value for money pump?
...and have you ever stuffed up the filter membrane using one????

Skippy , Trust me , try the gravity "No Pump method" first .

realise how much money you have saved then send me 20%

Pumpy

 

[Kingy]

your about to cost me money pumpy, on a filter. The only reason i was hesitating was addding the perilstatic pump to go with it,i mean 285 is a lot of dolllars. Even for the wealthy earners.
cheers,kingy

edit: im far from wealthy

 

[dr K]

Very clever system!
I might have to buy some lids for my fermentors !
On the subject of oxidation, I understand that the pleated filter cartridge still allows a tiny bit of yeast through, if the beer is chilled right down (-0.5) and the receiving keg purged, and, most importantly the filter and lines are purged with CO2 the piddly bit of O2 that makes its way to the keg will either:
1) Does not matter, the beer will stay chilled and be drunk in less time than it takes to show.
2) The beer will be allowed to return to ferment temp or a tad warmer for a few days and the tiny bit of yeast will scavenge the tiny bit of oxygen

K

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Pumpy,

What micron filter are you doing that gravity thing with? I've got a 0.9 or 0.8 micron filter. Woudl gravity still do the trick or is that what you are using anyway?

I've got 4 batches to filter in the next week or two and I'd like to give your method a go.

Cheers mate

Thirsty

 

[Pumpy]

Pumpy,

What micron filter are you doing that gravity thing with? I've got a 0.9 or 0.8 micron filter. Woudl gravity still do the trick or is that what you are using anyway?

I've got 4 batches to filter in the next week or two and I'd like to give your method a go.

Cheers mate

Thirsty

Thirsty ,I use a '1 micron Absolute pleated cartridge filter' the purple topped one from the USA , it is expensive but the quality is really high every time I clean it the filter comes up as new .
My filter flows well ,So long as your filter is not a spun solid polyester , I dont have any experience down to 0.8 micron with gravity but you should give it a try , I found I could filter by gravity purely by 'Serendipity' .

Chill the fermenter overnight down to 5C or lower .

I say it takes 20 mins to filter 20 litres but may well be less, just bleed the filter of air' sit down and watch TV while its happening and wedge the fermenter for the final bit near the base of the fermenter.

with all the talk of Oxidisation I feel the turbulance to the beer ,would be less than handling the beer in any normal process .

Pumpy

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Thnks Pumpy,

One of my fermentors is up on top of a fridge and was going ot be a pain inthe arse to lift down... now it will be coming down empty

Cheers mate

Thirsty

 

[Pumpy]

Fermenter outlet

outlet fitting 3/4 male 1/4 female BSP

Thirsty, just ensure that you use a good six or seven rounds of PTFE Tap around the fitting as metal to plastic is not always good .

Pumpy

 

[dr K]

Thirsty ,I use a '1 micron Absolute pleated cartridge filter' the purple topped one from the USA , it is expensive but the quality is really high every time I clean it the filter comes up as new .

This is the one that Craftbrewer sells, yes ?
I agree 100%..brilliant..I screwed around with filtering 5 years ago and figured it was not worth the effort in my set up..the Craftbrewer cartridge seems to be the perfect compromise, I love it !! As do quite a few other chaps round here...

K

 

[Pumpy]

This is the one that Craftbrewer sells, yes ?
I agree 100%..brilliant..I screwed around with filtering 5 years ago and figured it was not worth the effort in my set up..the Craftbrewer cartridge seems to be the perfect compromise, I love it !! As do quite a few other chaps round here...

K

Yes Dr K ,

I got mine in Sydney , I think in years time it will still look the same. It really does the job .

I like to have the abilty to get the beer into the kegs quickly where it is safer and last longer .

whilst there is a little investment in the equipment , and my first attempts at filtering I found messy and slow

I find the enclosed system is clean efficient .

The only thing I would like to explore now is the uses of Gelatine or Polyclar to give the beer a final finish .

pumpy

 

[Tony]

I must admit I have some design plans around this issue already. One this that has always concerned me is the air that gets sucked into the fermenter when your draining it. I know you normally have a blanket of C02 but in inrush of air into the top of the fermenter must disturb this.

With the last photo, dont you have to loosen the lid of the fermentor to get the flow of beer occuring through the filter and into keg...thus Oxygen contacting with the brew...how do you go about the process?

Jesus H Christ people.

do you put glad wrap over your beer glass and lift it between mouthfulls?

do you really think the flash micro's everyone raves about worry about this.

anyway...... not knocking people individually..... not at all.

I just cant get over the whole "dont let any air near your beer" thing. I have never worried about it and the beer wins awards. I even like to give the first few liters a bit of a splash in "air" when i rack to secondary. I find the small hit of "air" gives firmentation a bit of a kick and helps it finnish off.

I filter too. I agree that its a fantastic, cost effective way to greatly improve the beer. I have been racking into an empty keg and then using gas to push it through into another keg.

The whole process is a bit messy with lots of vessels to clean afterwards. I usually filter 50 liters and find if the beer has too much yeast in it it gets really slow at the end, requiring more pressure to push it through.

I recon the "Pumpy gravity filter method" would work well for me if i racked to secondary and let it settle for a bit then chilled it. I could have a special firmenter set up for it.

where did you get the fittings pumpy? mainly the ones thet fit to the lid.

another thing im interested to know is how many liters of gas are there in a 9kg Co2 bottle. I mean its what...... $30 for the gas. my last bottle lasted me 18 months and i dont drive miss dazy's brewery

how much does say 100 liters of Co2 cost to filter the beer?

cheers

 

[Pumpy]

I recon the "Pumpy gravity filter method" would work well for me if i racked to secondary and let it settle for a bit then chilled it. I could have a special firmenter set up for it.

where did you get the fittings pumpy? mainly the ones thet fit to the lid.

cheers

Tony,

I dont use the lid Bulkhead fittngs anymore cuz I dont use CO2 any more to push the beer through the filter only Gravity .

People who buy a pump would not be using CO2 to push the beer through the filter

but here is a friendly supplier for the bulkhead fitting :-

http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?page=s...t&Itemid=29

pumpy

 

[Tony]

good point pumpy

I looked at it thisarvo and i could set it up no worries in my garage.

will give it a go next time

cheers

 

[Jye]

I gave gravity filtering a try this arvo with the fermenter about 1m above the filter and the beer flew through, took about 7min to filter a already very clear pils. It went so well I hooked up an Ofest and filtered that through the same filter. It ended up take about 20min and the filter housing wouldnt drain empty so ended up pushing the last bit through with co2.

A couple of pic of the final product.