Coarse filtering an unfiltered beer

[_BO_]

I must first apology if my English is not very clear.

We own a 4 bbl microbrewery and we produce unfiltered beer, as we like the flavor profile we get, even though we own a 20x20 plate filter.

We usually cold crash for 2-3 days and crop yeast before bottling and we usually get nice results. However, there are some bottles that get some fine sediment, specially with our stout, which I suppose happens because the yeast (S-04) is extremely flocculent and some material gets stuck at the cone's wall and is later dragged with the beer.

I wish to apply some kind of coarse filter at bottling to catch this material, but I'm not sure which solution would be best. I feel the plate filter we own is too expensive because the filter mediums need to be replaced each time and our batches are relatively small, so I'm more inclined to get a cartridge filter. But what size would be best, maybe 20"? Also, would a cartridge of 5 microns be ideal for this purpose?

We could additionally also use the filter to clear a bit more our lager, which is a little hazy, so for that purpose maybe 1 micron should do the job?

I would appreciate any help as we just started business and are still learning a lot about this small things that at first seem kind of irrelevant.

[dick murton]

It sounds as though you should be using an upstand to minimise the risk of yeast sliding off into the beer as it runs off to the bottling kit. This is trial and error though.

With SO4, you can use finings with great effect, added once you have allowed the bulk of the yeast to settle, and removed it, to minimise the yeast left in suspension. The sediment you are getting is simply because without finings, there will be a fair bit of yeast left in suspension after only a couple of days, even though this is a flocculent yeast, and it continues to settle once it is in bottle, but because of the small settling distance, it quickly becaomes apparent.

The problem with fining before bottling is that you may need to fine the beer, remove the settled yeast, and then repitch with a little fresh yeast (and sugar or fresh wort) if you are going to bottle condition, as the finings will remove so much yeast that it will probably not leave enough in suspension to create CO2 from the residual sugars.

My experience of SO4 is that it ferments out almost fully, leaving little residual fermentable sugar.

Have a look at Murphy and Sons website for details on how to optimise finings. If isinglass finings on its own doesn't give you the results you want, consider using kettle finings and auxiliary finings as well.

Keep trawling through this site as there have been other comments about using upstands, SO4 yeast usage, finings use and optimisation.

Good luck with sorting this out. I am sure there will be plenty more comments

[_BO_]

Thank you for your help. We bottle with a counter pressure system so carbonation is not really an issue. I understand that finings could help with the problem, however I'd prefer to find a solution without the need to use them. My main problem is simply to find the correct filter, i.e., to get a setup big enough where the filter medium won't get clogged before the end of the 500 L. I've seen plate filters rating 5 micron which I think maybe would be ok, however, in long term, as far as I've reserched, it will be always more expensive than one or two simple coarse cartridge filters that would filter most of the material. I need help though figuring out what size would work best.

[TL Services]

I have to agree with Dick Murton, that fining would be the way to go from both cost and quality: Once you have established an effective finings regime, you should be able to achieve good, consistently bright beer.

You would need to re-pitch after filtration exactly as you would after fining and settling; in either case this would give you a better control over the amount of yeast added in and, thus, the level of bottle condition.

If you already get good results overall, then straight isinglass would probably be enough to just take things that step further.

[_BO_]

Re-pitching won't be necessary as we bottle with a CO2 counter-pressure system. My main question was whether a cartidge filter or a plate filter would be best to only filter the major solubles. I will look into finnings though.

[Junkyard]

Would it be possible to keg the beer and then bottle from kegs after all the sediment has settled in the kegs?


I looked into filtering a while back for similar reasons you are experiencing. It seems about 5 micron would do the trick if you did decide to filter, and I agree with you on the cartridge filter. It might help to troll through YouTube there are tons of homebrewer videos of filtering. They usually do things on the thrifty.

[Baldrick]

TL Services and Dick Murton are right.
The easiest, least expensive and probably the most effective means of removing that fine yeast sediment is to use isinglass.
Otherwise you are just wasting beer through losses in filtration. Each 20x20 pad holds about 350 ml of beer plus what you spill.
A cartridge filter is nice but there's the initial expense of purchasing it and amortizing the cost over all the batches you make.
Plus 5 micron will still let some yeast through.

Besides you are selling UNFILTERED beer. Sediment and cloudiness is to be expected.