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Plate in frame versus lenticular

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  • Plate in frame versus lenticular

    We are moving from a 7 bbl brew house all draught with no filter to a 30 bbl where we will bottle and can so I would at least like the option to filter. Can anyone help out with recommending the plate in frame type filters versus the lenticular ones like the Supradisc? I don't plan on filtering IPAs or Stouts, but probably blondes and lagers. Any advice would be much appreciated.

    Cheers,
    Eric
    Eric O'Connor

    Co-founder/Brewmaster
    Thorn Street Brewery
    North Park, San Diego, CA

  • #2
    DE is the way to go with this...

    IMO, plate and frame and lenticulars are too small for your use. They might be useful for polishing, but I'd use a 3 meter DE filter for effective, trouble-free filtrations.
    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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    • #3
      We are a 30bbl brewery who recently switched to P&F from a DE. I have to say, it is really nice. Much easier and safer to use, much easier to control beer clarity with different grades of sheets. Costs are a little higher on the media, but labor and PITA are cut by 1/3. Less loss generally now that we have it dialed. The filter itself was much less expensive than a new DE. Oh, and getting parts for our Italian DE filter was what caused us to get rid of it.

      HOWEVER, we only package on a very small scale, most beer is sold in house. Seems like I would want something better to increase shelf life if I was distributing on a large scale. No experience with a lenticular.

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      • #4
        Depends on how big you want to go in your BH. A 30 bbl brewhouse is capable of a substantial output if designed right. If you are planning on expanding and growing it into a production brewery a Lenny be used as a polisher after a depth filter in most cases. Lots of variables to consider here, I would start with yeast load in your green beer. look at the flock rate of your house yeast. Then look at how tight you want your filtration. All filters have limits. You can blind Plate & Frame, DE, Lenny all with enough load, all lead to product loss if you blind them. You may also want to look at a small centrifuge/separator to get started.
        Joel Halbleib
        Partner / Zymurgist
        Hive and Barrel Meadery
        6302 Old La Grange Rd
        Crestwood, KY
        www.hiveandbarrel.com

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        • #5
          Thanks for the feedback. I had read that DE was more hazardous and that's why I was hoping to avoid it. It is to be a 4 vessel brew house with space for the cellar to grow to produce 30,000 barrels annually if the demand is there. We plan on fining prior to filtration but it sounds like the lenticular type filters would only be used as a secondary filter. To clarify (no pun intended), we use 4 strains in our current brewery, an American, Belgian, and British Ale, as well as a European Lager. All have been selected for their fairly flocculent properties as we have no filter now.
          Eric O'Connor

          Co-founder/Brewmaster
          Thorn Street Brewery
          North Park, San Diego, CA

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          • #6
            I would highly recommend speaking to 3 different Centrifuge/Separator manufacturers. There is significant beer savings in using a Separator versus the others in my opinion.
            Joel Halbleib
            Partner / Zymurgist
            Hive and Barrel Meadery
            6302 Old La Grange Rd
            Crestwood, KY
            www.hiveandbarrel.com

            Comment


            • #7
              Big factor for us was the use of different micron pads for different beers. Much easier to do with a plate and frame. Tight pads for clear beers, very coarse pads to get dry hops and other chunkies out of hoppy beers while trying to strip as little aroma as possible. That said our 20 plate 40x40 pretty much tops out at a 20bbl run. Personally, if I had the filthy lucre, I'd shell out for a small centrifuge.
              Russell Everett
              Co-Founder / Head Brewer
              Bainbridge Island Brewing
              Bainbridge Island, WA

              Comment


              • #8
                Lenticular is easy

                We run a 50-bbl brewhouse in single batches and love our lenticular. We use a 4x16 Supradisc II with the 700 series media (pore size approx 4-7 microns), and it is great. Bright beer with very little body/aroma/flavor loss.

                If we crash for 48 hours there is no noticeable rise in pressure differential during filtration. No fining, flocculent yeast. I have no doubt it will be more than capable of 100-bbl filtrations when we start double batching.

                I love the compact size, ease of use, sanitary storage capability, and range of media. If you wanted sterile filtering, you could put two in line and never have a problem. A plate and frame never even entered my mind. Big moldy PITA if you ask me.

                I'd love a centrifuge, too, but the money is significant. Maybe next year....

                Cheers.
                Mike Elliott
                Head Brewer
                Philipsburg Brewing Co.
                Montana

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