16HL New Micro - What Filtration Equipment should we purchase?

[JBW77]

We are starting a 16HL MicroBrewery in Scotland.
All our brewing vessels, fermenters and a bottler/carbonator have been purchased and will be with us shortly.

Niether my partner or myself have ever worked in a brewery where the beer has been filtered so we are unsure as to the filtration set up we need for our new microbrewery.

The beer will need to be filtered between the Fermenting tank and the Bright beer tank then again with a polishing filter between the Bright Beer Tank and our bottler/carbonator.

We would be most obliged if you could help us with the following queries.

1) what type of filter should we use between the fermenter and BBT?
we are considering using 2 cartidge filters or a 20x20 plate filter - we are unsure which would be best or what micron rating they should be.

we are also open to suggestions if anyone has any better ideas on the filtration set up we should install!

2) What type of polishing filter we should use between the BBT and the bottler/carbonator.
we are considering using a 10" cartidge filter with a 0.45micron rating.

3) Where is the best (and most cost effective) place (either in America or Europe) to source our filtration equipment from.
The brewery is being financed personally so we are on a pretty tight budget!

thanks for your help, it is most appreciated.

regards

Martin and James

[frodemo]

Hello Martin and James,
For the size of your system I'd suggest a 2-2,5 sqm DE filter with horisontal screens. A filter with that size can easily do two batches of your size. With a 10" cartridge of 3 micron between the DE filter and pressure tank and a 10"-30" .45 cartridge (size depends on bottling speed) when filling you should be fine.
Go for a Della Toffola filter with a rest filtration element. They can be found in fair/good condition at around €2000-€3000
At our brewery we upgraded from a 2,5 sqm to a 5 sqm with "self cleaning" about two years ago. Della Toffola is a very nice company with nice prices and the spare parts service is swift and professional.
These filters can be prepared for filtration with water, then emptied slowly, purging with CO2. After the fermentation tank is empty, the rest filter element assures final filtration and the total beer loss is minimal.
Many users don't use the rest filtration, but we have found that with a few tricks it can be done quite easily.
I have operated plate and frame filters with and without sheets as well. Very nice filters. But I still think the above mentioned would suit you better.
If you want to ask anything, just drop me a mail or a PM.
Best wishes for a happy new year,
Peter Frodemo
Gamla Slottskällans Bryggeri
Uppsala, Sweden

http://www.slottskallan.se

[dick murton]

It might cost you a few bob, but try Dave Smith. He is on the committee of the great northern section of the IBD. Go to the IBD website. www.ibd.org.uk and look fo rthe great northern section in the links. He is an independent consultant, who has help set up loads of breweries, and should be able to help.

Della Toffolla were advertising in the UK in the last year or two. I think it was with Beck & Beet, (or something like that), based near Doncaster who sell (or is it now "sold") small brewery kit.

Alternatively, try getting some info out of Sunderland University brewing school, or contacts from SIBA.

Cheers

Dick

[JBW77]

thanks for the help guys.

We have decided we are best to get a plate and frame filter and a cartdige filter.

What size of plate and frame filter do we need - would a 20x20x20 be sufficient. We are unsure whether a 20x20 would be big enough or if we need a 40x40 plate filter.
We will be putting 1600L through it at a time.
The two options we have at the moment are

1) A mori 20x20x20 Shhet filter with pump - it is on the 6th page of the pdf. at

http://www.tcw-web.com/Products/Filters/Filters.pdf

2) A Spadoni Kappa 3 40x40x20 without pump.

Has anyone used a sheet filter with diminishing size of filter sheets? or does the micron rating of all the sheets need to be constant?
The beer will be going from the fermenter to the Plate filter.

For the polishing filter between the BBT and our bottling equipment we intend to use a 10" housing with a 0.45um cartidge
this is the one we intend to purchase

http://www.stpats.com/filters.htm#Cartridge

if anyone has any suggestions of other manufactorers equipment or has used any of the equipment listed above we would love to hear from you!

thanks

Martin and James

[JBW77]

would a 20x20 plate filterbe sufficient or do we need to go for a 40x40?

has anyone ever used a plate filter with the divider plate and different sheet sizes? does this work ok?

what micron rating should the last filter be before our polishing filter (0.45um)

thanks

[Larry Horwitz]

go with the DE and you'll save yourself a ton of $$$. If you use a plate filter you will need at least 30 sheets in a 40 x 40 or you will be back flushing your sheets like crazy (which is bad for your beer). Filter sheets are at least a euro each and it is unwise to reuse them. That works out to like 30E per filtration...you can do the same amount with a DE filter for less than half that amount.