Celite 545?

[Ill Hophead]

We're getting ready to use our Velo F3 horizontal DE filter for the first time. We bought it used and it came with two bags of Celite 545. I've been researching different grades of DE and found a chart that lists 545 as having a pore size of 17 microns which seems a lot larger than what most people are using for beer filtration. We want to do a fairly coarse filtration but this still seems too large. Has anyone used or heard of anyone using Celite 545? Is it worth trying or are we better off just buying something in the 5-7 micron range? I did a search and found no mention of 545 anywhere. Any help is appreciated.

cheers,
Billy

[gitchegumee]

Micron listing is nebulous. As most things filter related are without a deeper understanding of the subject. Just a vague approximation. Don't put too much stock in "...17 micron..." Two bags is just enough to play with. Use them to get your feet wet with DE filtration. Easier to use coarse filtration media than fine. It will get most beers bright if done right. Worst case scenario is that you use it for precoat--but for sure you should use it if it's clean. Once you know how it performs, you can go on to make a more educated purchase. BTW I like perlite better than DE, if for nothing else than health issues. Good luck!

[dereknobleluke]

ManCel Associates, Inc.

P.O. Box 667

Pittstown, NJ 08867

World Minerals Price

(1) Standard SuperCel $28.68/bag

(DE, calcinated) 50lb/bag

36 bags/pallet

Tel (908) 713-0050

Fax (908)713-0060

[Larry Horwitz]

Darcies

DE is more accurately measured in Darcies. it is a measure of permeability....the smaller the number the tighter the dirt. We use Celite 512 which is about 0.5. That's pretty tight and can give runs that I might compare to 3 micron sheet filtration...but dirt is very different. Lots of stuff can get by depending on the flow rate etc.

call your DE guy!