Hard Seltzer Filtration

[John M]

Greetings,

I am dipping the toes into hard seltzer production, and was just curious as to what other brewers are using to filter the seltzers. Currently I am looking a lenticular setups, but are there other ways to achieve clarity and flavor removal for the base without such a high price tag? I will be producing anywhere from 20bbl to max 60bbl batches initially. Any info on manufactures or process advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks John

[drbenj1]

I have had good success with charcoal plate filters. I use 35 of the 40x40 charcoal filters. I filter it through at 1bbl per 10 minutes and end up with a crystal clear flavorless (other than ethanol) base that I can flavor with whatever I want. The prefiltered seltzer is very cloudy and tastes like bad white wine.

[Gatorbrew]

If speed is important, lenticular is the way to go for production scale (60bbl) batches. It polishes the seltzer leaving a crystal clear product and removes any fermentation character. I’ve gone from fermenter to glass in 5 days. Gelatin and Biofine will work on smaller batches but I’ve not found it to be effective over 10bbls if you are brewing at-gravity batches. A higher gravity base that is diluted to FG produces less turbidity, particulate and yeast as well so the less you create, the less you need to remove.


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[drbenj1]

Gatorbrew, what yeast are you using to be able to ferment that fast? Are you using a special nutrient? My fermentations are always painfully slow even with nutrient.

[Gatorbrew]

Distiller’s yeast, 20 grams of yeast nutrient per barrel, CaCl to 50ppm, 10ppm MgSO4, 1ppm Zinc should give you 24 hr results.


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[TNFlyrodder]

Do you do a primary filtration to remove the yeast before using plate and frame with carbon sheets to remove color and flavors?

[drbenj1]

No I just use 35 carbon filters...I've done it before it 2 stages doing a coarse filtration first and then carbon filtration, but it made no appreciable difference. I still get sparkling clear seltzer with no flavor using just the carbon filters and it saves time and money.