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20 plate filter configuration?

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  • 20 plate filter configuration?

    Hi all,

    So we just purchased a GW Kent 20 plate filter. We will be filtering 7bbl batches as well as 15bbl batches. I know it is common to use multiple different micron sizes in the plate filter but what is a good filter orientation to start with? (example: 7- 10 micron filters, 7- 5 micron, 6- 1 micron)

    Thanks,
    Joe Moore
    White Dog Brewing Co.
    Thanks,
    Joe Moore
    White Dog Brewing Co
    Joe@whitedogbrewing.com

  • #2
    ???

    So...plate filters don't work like that.

    Take a good look at the filter (or a drawing). You'll see that the plates alternate between having a rubber gasket on the big holes on one side, and no gaskets on the other. Then they switch on the next plate. Gasket, no gasket, gasket, no gasket, etc.. If you look in those open holes, you'll see little cutout ports inside the hole. That is where beer flows in, and then out the patches with lots of little holes that are on either side. Then it flows down the channels across the face of the plate, spreading evenly through the coarse side of the pad. It comes out the smooth side of the pad, and essentially does the same thing in reverse, flowing filtered beer out the holes in the non-gasketed side. This is why you alternate coarse/smooth/coarse/smooth. Beer goes in the plate, out both sides, through the pads, into the plates on either side, then out the outlet.

    What this means is that you are dividing up the main beer stream and running the flow approximately evenly across all of the pads simultaneously, then recombining the stream on the other side of the plates. So if you use different pads, portions of the beer will get different filtration levels. Some might be crystal clear, some might be hazy, the combined beer will be somewhere in between.

    What you want is called a Double Filtration Plate. It's sandwiched in the middle, and basically recombines the stream and then re-splits it, so you can run half the plates coarse, half fine. Check it out: http://www.stpats.com/2012Letina/Fil...20Uputstvo.pdf

    But a 7-15 barrel batch of something that has been properly fined and reasonably rested won't need two filters, you should be fine with a single run of something 5-8 micron or 3-6, depending on what you want to achieve. We run our hoppy beers through Seitz HL6000s and stuff like the Kolsches through HL1600s.
    Russell Everett
    Co-Founder / Head Brewer
    Bainbridge Island Brewing
    Bainbridge Island, WA

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    • #3
      Thanks for the feedback! I think I have a better overall understanding of the process now. Thank you!
      Thanks,
      Joe Moore
      White Dog Brewing Co
      Joe@whitedogbrewing.com

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