Cartridge filter for removing color from seltzer

[Aardwolf]

We have started producing some seltzer and we are able to get very clean, reasonably quick fermentations and we are also getting to to drop bright in the tank eventually using biofine. My only issue at this point is needing to remove a moderate amount of residual color that seems to be left behind by the dextrose. Interestingly we did one batch with cane sugar and it had almost no color, but I'd prefer to use dextrose for convenience.

I'm wondering if anyone is using something like a 30" cartridge filer with an activated carbon cartridge for this sort of thing? I know a lentiular filter would be preferred but we are producing 15BBL batches of this product maybe every other month so I can't really justify spending that kind of money for this amount of product. I could stomach spending a few hundred dollars on a cartridge filter though and even if the flow rate had to be very low we are talking about low volumes and occasional use so I can live with that.

Is this viable, are there better options I'm missing? Like I said, I'm not willing to spend $5k+ on a lenticular filter for this and even the cost of those filter elements would be problematic for a single 15BBL use every two months. I'm just looking for a sanity check before I buy a cartridge filter just to try it.

[scottlaboratories]

Dear Aardwolf,

Your thinking is correct and totally sane. Luckily these days you can find quality food and beverage grade carbon cartridges so at least you have options. For your batches, the carbon cartridges would suffice and these have become increasingly popular for exactly the reasons you stipulate. To extend the lifespan of any carbon embedded media, you would definitely want to filter a bright product through it so that you don’t overwhelm and prematurely coat the carbon with suspended solids. So, as your batch sizes grow, you would pre-filter if the product isn’t bright already although it sounds like your batches are pretty bright and carbon filter ready and that you just need that last little bit of adjustment. For bigger batches, if you can pre-filter to a bright polish, the efficiency on the carbon media is really great and once you calculate your gallons throughput and $$ spent on media, it becomes really economical done that way. One thing to keep in mind is that carbon filters aren’t considered filters in the classic sense of the word, but rather a contained carbon treatment. We definitely recommend making sure that whatever carbon filter you use, that it is food and beverage grade. Since your product contains alcohol, it is a powerful solvent even in low concentrations, so you don’t want to extract unwanted chemicals from filters meant for other industries.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! Our team of technical experts are currently working on a hard seltzer filtration guide which we'll be happy to share once it's ready. You can check out other fermentation and filtration products for hard seltzer, as well as educational resources, here: Hard Seltzer | Scott Laboratories

Cheers!
Scott Labs

[Aardwolf]

Dear Aardwolf,

Your thinking is correct and totally sane. Luckily these days you can find quality food and beverage grade carbon cartridges so at least you have options. For your batches, the carbon cartridges would suffice and these have become increasingly popular for exactly the reasons you stipulate. To extend the lifespan of any carbon embedded media, you would definitely want to filter a bright product through it so that you don’t overwhelm and prematurely coat the carbon with suspended solids. So, as your batch sizes grow, you would pre-filter if the product isn’t bright already although it sounds like your batches are pretty bright and carbon filter ready and that you just need that last little bit of adjustment. For bigger batches, if you can pre-filter to a bright polish, the efficiency on the carbon media is really great and once you calculate your gallons throughput and $$ spent on media, it becomes really economical done that way. One thing to keep in mind is that carbon filters aren’t considered filters in the classic sense of the word, but rather a contained carbon treatment. We definitely recommend making sure that whatever carbon filter you use, that it is food and beverage grade. Since your product contains alcohol, it is a powerful solvent even in low concentrations, so you don’t want to extract unwanted chemicals from filters meant for other industries.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! Our team of technical experts are currently working on a hard seltzer filtration guide which we'll be happy to share once it's ready. You can check out other fermentation and filtration products for hard seltzer, as well as educational resources, here: Hard Seltzer | Scott Laboratories

Cheers!
Scott Labs

Thanks for the reply. Looking at your website I see you carry a 30" code 7 style activated carbon cartridge, which is exactly what I was thinking about using. Do you have any recommendations on the flow rate that would be appropriate for that sort of filter element assuming we are just trying to remove a bit of unwanted color from an otherwise relatively bright and neutral seltzer? Obviously we'd put a sight glass inline and throttle the flow to get the appearance we are looking for, but I'm wondering ballpark what sort of flow rate we'd be looking at. Are we talking about 2 hours to run 15BBL or 10 hours?

I'm also wondering if it makes more sense to run through the carbon once on the way to the bright tank as you would with traditional filtering, or since it is a "contained carbon treatment" rather than an absolute filter if it would be better to hook it up to recirculate after transferring to the bright tank so that we could run it until we achieved the desired color reduction.

[scottlaboratories]

Hi Aardwolf, recommended flow rate at ambient temperature is 1.5-3 gallons per minute (gpm) per 30" cartridge. The Carbon cartridges will adjust unwanted flavors and colors, you don’t want to overwhelm the cartridges with suspended solids so it’s best to pre-filter the product before using ScottCart carbon. I do recommend using the carbon as the final pass to package or going from bright tank to bright tank. If you go to our ScottCart Carbon product page here ScottCart Carbon 5um 30" C7 Cartridge | Scott Laboratories and scroll down to the bottom, click on the Documents tab and the technical data sheet has additional information. Hope this is helpful!

[MikeS]

Thanks for having this conversation on the forum! This is the kind on stuff I used to come to Probrewer for, but it seems it has become more of a help wanted site these days...

Even though I do not need this info now, i probably will at some point and it is so great to have it in an archived, searchable place. I learned half of what I know by listening it to conversations on PB "back in the day" (10-15 years ago.) Good to see some actual information being passed along!!

Cheers- Mike in Boston