Filtering

General brewing information, questions and discussion. Topics that do not seem to fit elsewhere.

Moderators: slothrob, 2row

Post Reply
sshadley
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:46 pm

Filtering

Post by sshadley »

Hi All,

Does anyone filter their beer before bottling? If so, what techniques do you use and does this filtering affect the priming in the bottles? Last, how does the filtering alter the final result of the beer?

Thank you for your help!
brewer13210
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:06 pm
Location: La Fayette, NY, USA
Contact:

Post by brewer13210 »

I've never filtered a homebrew, but I used to work in a microbrewery and filtering has a variety of effects on the finished beer depending on how tight the medium is.

First, if you filter out the yeast before carbonating the beer, you can add all the priming sugar you want, but it will always be dead flat; the beer needs to be carbonated first, in which case you'll probably need to use a counter-pressure filler to bottle. If it's going in to a keg, then you can filter and force carbonate afterwards.

Depending on how tight the filter is, you will usually remove most of the yeast, and some of the sugars (body), and a little of the coloring. Depending on how good the filter is, you can also end up introducing oxygen in to the beer, which isn't desirable.

For most home brewers, racking the beer in to a secondary carboy after the primary fermentation is done and letting everything settle is usually enough to get decent clarity.

I'm a BJCP judge and have seen plenty of beers that had brilliant clarity without ever having touched a filter. Brewing with yeasts that have medium to high flocculation rates is also a big help.

Todd
sshadley
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:46 pm

Post by sshadley »

Thank you for your help. I'm still new to this and its nice to see what everyone else does with their brews. Thanks again!!!
User avatar
hansolo
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:25 am
Location: MI

Filtering isn't needed

Post by hansolo »

Some alternatives that my friend and I have used is irish moss with 15 minutes to go in the boil. It is amazing how much that takes out. Also, gelatin added in the fermenting bucket or carboy during the second fermenting also helps without removing any "floaters". The most important thing we found out is with ales, most of the debris is in the bottom and when transferring into the bottling bucket, we leave about an inch in the bottom where most of it settled. I know we aren't pros but it is something we are learning along the way too. lol Good luck, it is a blast homebrewing
WWW.CAFEPRESS.COM/EHINNOVATIONS
T-shirts and more for homebrewers and people with a sense of humor
londonaftermid21
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:05 pm

flitering beer

Post by londonaftermid21 »

the secondary is where the money is at, if you chose not to secondary ferment you can use a nylon hops bag, put it on the end of the tube from the racking cane, to your bottling bucket, excellent if you have dry hopped, or the yeast has shifted a bit during the bottling phase, just make sure you have the bag sterilized before you use it, ive tried a few time and ive had sucess everytime so far,


good luck, mike
User avatar
hansolo
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:25 am
Location: MI

Post by hansolo »

WOW! I never thought to use a hop bag. Is that coarse enough to let the yeast through?
WWW.CAFEPRESS.COM/EHINNOVATIONS
T-shirts and more for homebrewers and people with a sense of humor
akueck
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 43
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 12:06 am
Location: Oakland, CA

Post by akueck »

hansolo wrote:WOW! I never thought to use a hop bag. Is that coarse enough to let the yeast through?
Yup. Yeast won't get filtered out until something like 0.5 micron mesh size. They're tiny! Even optically brilliant beer has a lot of yeast in suspesion that you can't see.
meanstreak1980
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: Canton, MI

Post by meanstreak1980 »

How does the gelatin effect the finished product?
Bei Singen und Sagen, Nach Muehen und Plagen, Thut jeder sich laben, An Gottes herrlichen Gaben!
Translated
With singing and story-telling, after hard work and worry, let everyone refresh themselves with God's splendid gifts!
JMReeves
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:39 am
Location: Stanton, California

Post by JMReeves »

meanstreak1980 wrote:How does the gelatin effect the finished product?
I use gelatin in all of my kegged beers. Typically after the first pint, or so, is drawn off you will see a much clearer beer. It is best to make sure your beer is cold prior to using gelatin. It does not affect the flavor in anyway I can tell.
Think Better, Feel Better, BE BETTER
User avatar
hansolo
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:25 am
Location: MI

Post by hansolo »

My friend and I were thinking of using gelatin. I heard it clears your beer up a little more. This is important, because when your friends are used to the big brew beers, it is easier to get them to try a homebrew when there isn't specks floating around in it, not that any of our batchs had them yet, lol. It is hard enough to tell them to pour it in a glass and leave some in the bottom of the bottle because there might be a little yeast in there. They give you a weird look. Anywho, we are looking into the gelatin procedure in the future! lol
WWW.CAFEPRESS.COM/EHINNOVATIONS
T-shirts and more for homebrewers and people with a sense of humor
mathewhadley
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:45 pm

defn of filtering

Post by mathewhadley »

Internet filters are programs that block access to resources considered inappropriate for a particular audience. Most often, filters are used to prevent children from accessing sexually-explicit websites. However, filters can also be used by businesses needing to restrict staff access to entertainment sites, such as sports, movies, chatrooms, etc.

--------------------------
Mathew Hadley

drivenwide
mmayer
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2009 3:53 pm
Location: Cleveland, OH

Post by mmayer »

I gave filtering a shot about 10 years ago, and came to the conclusion that it was really an unnecessary expense, and for the most part did not add any value to the beers. Most of my beers come out very clear anyway, but there is nothing wrong with cloudy beer.
Post Reply