Filtration the last in the filter bell.

[oppigards]

Hello,

In the end of filtration there is about 60 liter beer left in the filter bell (2sqm horisontal DE filter). Till now I have dropped this beer to drain. I do no like it. So I thought of circulating this beer through the filter till all have been filtered, and after that push it backwards out of the bell with co2 through a cartridge filter. I use this cartridge 5 micron filter as a trapfilter. Is 5 micron fine enough to get the beer bright, compared with the DE filtration?

[BeersmithMT]

Oppigards,

I am certainly no expert on filtration (as our brewery does not filter), however, I have run a DE filter several times. I think all of the DE filters I have looked at have a separate valve for pushing out the contents of the bell after filtration. On a horizontal leaf DE filter the last of beer can be be pushed out with CO2 by closing the main valve exiting the bell and opening a secondary valve exiting underneath the bottom screen.

If your DE filter is not so equipped, I would think that even the 5 micron filter would sufficiently brighten up the beer remaining in the bell so as not to significantly affect the clarity of the entire volume. I'm not sure if that helps or not, but I'm sure someone else will have a meaningful post.

[rudge75]

I'm having a hard time describing it (it's been a while since I DE filtered) but, you should be able to hook up a CO2 line to the top of the bell with an imput pressure slightly higher than the reading on your DE filter bell. This way the beds stay intact and you can push the last 60 liters of beer into your bright tank without too much fiddling.

You'd need to work the valves on the DE filter so the only path would be out of the bell, through the piping and into your bright tank. It would all come back to me better if I was standing in front of your filter.

Dave

[lhall]

Unless your filter DOES have a seperate valve to push out the bell beer through only the bottom screen, then you won't be able to push out the bell with CO2. The CO2 would go out the bell through the top screen as soon as it was above the beer surface - I know, because this happens to us when we forget to close off the rest of the screens.

[rudge75]

Linus: Bing! <--- Sound of the light going off in my head. I told you it's been awhile since I did DE filtrations.

Dave

[pbutlert]

Emptying filter

The filter I run now has what I have always called a "scavenger" option, where you can isolate the bottom screen after a few mins. of filtration, thus leaving yourself an unused, coated screen for pushing out the remainder of the bell. If your filter does not have this, using your 5 micron trap filter should be fine, as long as it has enough capacity. Or, if you have corny kegs or other air-tight, sanitizable vessels, you can also drain the remaining cloudy beer into it, put in your cooler, and filter it with your next batch. Good Luck!

[oppigards]

No I have no separate valve for the last filter screen. I will try either to use the 5 micron trap filter or as someone suggested, push it back to an unfiltered tank.

Thanks for your inputs!

[dick murton]

I suggest you push it back and filter this with the next batch of beer. If you push it through the trap filter, it probably will not be as bright as the KG filtered beer, and you will then need to back flush the trap filter. These are normally backflushed at 1.5 times the forward flow rate, and sometimes even faster. And then you will need to clean it with caustic to get rid of the protein - otherwise it will build up over a few runs and block the filter.

Cheers

[MattyNB]

Another possibility is to chase the beer out with water. You'd have to do some quick tastings to see when it's more watery than beer-y. Of course, you still lose a little bit of beer as it gets too diluted.

If you're worried about O2 pickup, boil the water to deaerate it and keep a tank of chilled boiled water for just this purpose. Or buy a deaerated water plant.

[Todd]

Pushing it back is the option here unless you have a DAW plant like MattyNB. We do it all the time. We are carefull with pressures as to not rough up the beer and micro checks to assure the highest quality.

Cheers

Todd