DIY Bucket Filters

Don't know if these qualify as DIY since you don't have to build anything but I figured I would share with all of the DIY cheapskates like myself out there.

They have varying sizes and they stack. Amazon has them too but they are a little more pricey if you are buying more than like 3 I think US plastics has the price beat.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=24071&catid=685

EDIT: So for an update if your not reading this thread, the 100 micron is so fine that I will not be using it its just too good of a filter. I will be using the 600 400 and 200 and would recommend the same for everyone else.

Pretty sweet idea! Anyone currently use one? Do they clog straining hoppy beers?

I bought all 4, ill keep everyone posted on how they work.

neat find, hope they work well! Alot of surface area to help aerate as u pitch it too

Yea im hoping it will eliminate the need for my hop bag and any other additional filtering or screens. They stack so should work swell.

poptarts said:

I bought all 4, ill keep everyone posted on how they work.

Click to expand...

I look forward to hearing your results. My wife enoys hoppy beers but they can be a pain to strain.

I use a 5 gallons paint strainer bag from the local hardware store. $3/ea I think (2 per bag).

What size (microns) do you need?

Okay so brewed with these today for anyone who is curious. They work really really well. I will no be using hop bags or spiders or kettle screen in the future. The 100 micron is too fine, it clogged in about 10 seconds but stacking 600 - 400 - 200 worked amazingly well. They are not the best quality but with some care they should last a while.

Stacked in the bucket, they fit the 6.5 brew buckets great.

Side shot

single in bucket

poptarts said:

They are not the best quality but with some care they should last a while.

Click to expand...

Do you think you could give an estimate of how many uses you could expect to get out of these?

20 easy, they don't feel like they are going to fall apart. The plastic they they are made out of is just thin, but its flexible so I don't see them cracking or anything. just don't crush them and they will last a while. They feel like they are made out of the same plastic milk jugs or 1 gallon water jugs are made out of actually, similar maybe slightly thicker on the thickness level.

I've been using mine for about a year now (10+ batches) and no signs of wearing out yet. I use only the 600 micron and find that I still have to stop a time or two to clear it out while pouring from brew pot to fermenter. But it gets out the trub quite well, and when you siphon out of the primary there's just a nice clean yeast cake left! I would definitely recommend these to anyone (though in my experience the 600 alone works just fine so I wouldn't bother with stacking multiple screens, which would presumably gunk up more frequently).

From the run yesterday the all caught close to equal amounts of trub. I would have to disagree and say buy the top 3. But that's good to know they have lasted that long for you.

poptarts said:

From the run yesterday the all caught close to equal amounts of trub. I would have to disagree and say buy the top 3. But that's good to know they have lasted that long for you.

Click to expand...

I don't question that the finer nested filters still pick plenty of smaller stuff up. But how many times do you have to stop pouring to empty the filters? If still only once or twice then using multiple filters sounds good. I assumed you'd have to do more emptying though with finer filters in the mix which wouldn't be worth it to me given how well the 600 alone seems to work. Of course it's all personal preference but I didn't notice a difference in the fermenter sediment the time I used a 400 nested under my 600 (I found that gummed up intolerably quickly so I only used it once or twice and now just use the 600).

I tend to make hoppier beers and use a wort chiller, both of which would add to the amount of trub I'm filtering out. I'm also manually pouring from my brew kettle (no spigot) which makes stopping the pour more of a nuisance.

and what size micron would you recommend?

Well I have only one batch to go off of here. It was a 5 gallon all grain with 3 oz of pellet hops and some jalapenos in the boil, along with a bit of Irish mos. Originally we started to run the cooled wort into the bucket with all 4 filters stacked. so 600 400 200 100. In about 10 seconds the 100 was clogged, the others were completely fine. We paused, removed to 100 and continued to drain kettle onto the 600 400 and 200. We were able to drain the rest of the kettle including all of the trub without stopping to clean the filters.

I wonder how clean you'll be able to keep those filters over time... Since you're using them post cooling, they have to be thoroughly sanitized (and I don't think you should use them at boiling temp because of the plastic). Any particles left from batch to batch might harbor bacteria or mold, making sanitizers less effective.

Hop spiders don't have this issue because they are used during the boil.

looks nice

Kind of stinks that even after hitting three filters the 100 clogs up. That means there is still a lot of junk getting through. How will these things hold up to near boiling temps? Would be pointless for me if they can't handle heat at all.

atreid said:

I wonder how clean you'll be able to keep those filters over time... Since you're using them post cooling, they have to be thoroughly sanitized (and I don't think you should use them at boiling temp because of the plastic). Any particles left from batch to batch might harbor bacteria or mold, making sanitizers less effective.

Hop spiders don't have this issue because they are used during the boil.

Click to expand...

They seem to clean up fine, no worse than a strainer or funnel with filter inserts I would say.

Found this stainless bucket filter. It's 400 or 177 micron. It's 60 bucks shipped however, but durability and heat will never be an issue.

Agree that these filters clean up just fine. Give them a good wash to get the trub off when you're done using them (they are not so delicate that they disintigrate when you hit them with a sponge), and then spray them down with sanitizer before you filter and you are good to go.

I wouldn't use these (or other plastic equipment not specifically rated for high heat, e.g. a plastic fermenting bucket) with boiling or near-boiling wort. Do you pour boiling wort straight into your fermenting bucket? I do a full boil and chill in the kettle to pitching temps and then pour into the fermenting bucket with the filter set on top. I guess if your process involves pouring boiling wort into a fermenting bucket with ice water in it to chill, you could instead just add the ice water to the kettle before you dump into the fermenter? Whatever your process it might be beneficial to chill the wort before you filter to get the "cold break" out of solution so as much of that as possible will be filtered out.

As to the 100 micron filter you could definitely use it if you're willing to stop your pour numerous times to clean out the filter. Keep in mind that 100 microns is very fine, so it's not like huge chunks are making it into your wort. As you'll see here poptarts is getting results he's happy with using three nested filters (600/400/200) and I've been happy using just the 600 to minimize the amount of times I have to stop my pour to clean out the filter. Yes, some trub still goes into the fermenter (obviously more for me than for poptarts), but either way it's way less than letting the trub settle and doing a careful pour.

Based on poptarts' experience I'd advise anyone interested in using the filters to go ahead and order the 600, 400 and 200. They're cheap and you can always use fewer (as I do) if you find they're getting gunked up more than you care to deal with. I can say that using even just the 600 totally changed the character of the sediment left in my fermenter after racking off to a much more pure looking (and significantly smaller) yeast cake. That plus less sediment in the bottles keeps me doing it the way I'm doing it. Having said that, lots of veteran brewers at HBT who make much better beer than me don't filter at all, and rely on whirlpooling, a careful pour into the fermenter, careful racking, and sometimes cold crashing, to clear up their beers. So it really is just a matter of preference and weighing the inconvenience of potentially having to stop and clean out a filter mid-pour with the convenience of having less sediment in your fermenter, and hopefully losing less beer when you rack off as a result.

Hope others who try these out will post back here, I'd be interested to hear if others are having success with not having to clean out nested filters multiple times!

Also, for reference here's an older thread where various post-boil filtering options are discussed (and where I first learned about these US Plastics filters):
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/strainers-5-gallon-buckets-128094/

poptarts said:

Okay so brewed with these today for anyone who is curious. They work really really well. I will no be using hop bags or spiders or kettle screen in the future. The 100 micron is too fine, it clogged in about 10 seconds but stacking 600 - 400 - 200 worked amazingly well. They are not the best quality but with some care they should last a while.

Click to expand...

What is the clearance between them when they are stacked up? Looks like it would be a great addition to my brew kit.

As far as the 100Micron clogging so quickly, I can see that being of some concern. I would probably forego the 100 and use the same method I do for post-dry hop filtering (nylon stockings are wonderful for catching small particles of hops).

Mouse

CA_Mouse said:

What is the clearance between them when they are stacked up? Looks like it would be a great addition to my brew kit.

Mouse

Click to expand...

This is 4 of them stacked in my bucket, they sit maybe .25 inches off each other.

fosaisu said:

Hope others who try these out will post back here, I'd be interested to hear if others are having success with not having to clean out nested filters multiple times!

Click to expand...

Ill keep this thread updated, I plan on brewing a zombie dust clone in the future with something like 8oz of citra so that should be a good test.

poptarts said:

Ill keep this thread updated, I plan on brewing a zombie dust clone in the future with something like 8oz of citra so that should be a good test.

Click to expand...

Nice, I'm planning to brew that one myself in the next week or two!

Are these fitting the 6.5 gallon buckets or just a 5 gal? Looks like a great solution!

The pics are with my 6.5 I think they fit any bucket really as long as the opening is standard size.

poptarts said:

The pics are with my 6.5 I think they fit any bucket really as long as the opening is standard size.

Click to expand...

Thanks, looks like I might be ordering some.

You can get the 3 shipped on amazon for $24.84 here Not sure if thats cheaper or not from US plastics

I believe the picture of the 4 stacked filters start with the largest filter on the top and the smallest on the bottom, right? Something like
75 micron
200 micron
400 micron
600 micron
Is this correct or I am confused again? Thanks.

Just ordered the 200, 400 and 600 for $19.64 including shipping.. For me just to see how well they work is worth the $20. Because I do not whirlpool (unless you count stirring the pot very fast!) I have been looking for a way to get the finer particles out.

Yellowirenut, I too do not whirlpool, since the only way I have of cooling is a sink of cold water. I have so much trouble not breaking the siphon, so I have all my brewing bucket with spigots, and try to cold crash as much trub out as I can. Please do keep us posted about the filters as I would really dig a simple way to filter out as much trub as possible from the brew kettle going into the fermenter.

EDIT: I have answered my own question; stack the buckets with the larger number screen on top, and smaller at the bottom.
600
400
200
etc.

Just reviving this thread.

Tomorrow I will be doing my first brew using the bucket strainers.
Pics and review to follow.

tommyonegun said:

Found this stainless bucket filter. It's 400 or 177 micron. It's 60 bucks shipped however, but durability and heat will never be an issue.

Click to expand...

http://utahbiodieselsupply.com/filtersstainlessbucket.php

For anyone intersted here is the link to the stainless steel filter. Looks like they have 400, 177 and 74 micron filters for $62 each which includes shipping. These are obviously not stacking.

Brew is done..
as for the bucket filters they worked great and as expected.
I do not whirlpool just a fast stir to get the big chunks to the center. I also use a tan mini ebay pump to move the wort out of the kettle to the bucket.
The 600 is way to small, clogged within 30 seconds. Tossed it aside and did not use it for the rest of the transfer
The 400 fared much better not clogging till near the end when you get all the
finer floating stuff.
The 200 grabbed all the bigger chunks that you would expect.
I think the wort looked much cleaner than what i am used to seeing after it was in the fermenter.
Next time I am only going to use the 400 and 200. maybe after i get a brew stand and not such an awkward set up I can then whirlpool. I can see the 600 not clogging so quickly then.

Yellowirenut said:

Brew is done..
as for the bucket filters they worked great and as expected.
I do not whirlpool just a fast stir to get the big chunks to the center. I also use a tan mini ebay pump to move the wort out of the kettle to the bucket.
The 600 is way to small, clogged within 30 seconds. Tossed it aside and did not use it for the rest of the transfer
The 400 fared much better not clogging till near the end when you get all the
finer floating stuff.
The 200 grabbed all the bigger chunks that you would expect.
I think the wort looked much cleaner than what i am used to seeing after it was in the fermenter.
Next time I am only going to use the 400 and 200. maybe after i get a brew stand and not such an awkward set up I can then whirlpool. I can see the 600 not clogging so quickly then.

Click to expand...

You realize that the 600 has the largest holes right. As the number goes down the holes get smaller.

Still using these, I generally don't use the 200 though unless the beer has very few hops since it tends to block up pretty fast. They hold up really well though even after several brews of me using them and folding them up into a bucket to sanitize them. They seem pretty tough and I still recommend them.

I've been looking for an easy and convenient way to filter out trub from the wort and this looks like a fantastic find (thank you, poptarts). Just ordered some this morning from U.S. Plastics and am very much looking forward to using it!

This seems like an expensive and very involved way to remove your hop trub. Wouldn't muslin bags be both easier, and cheaper, and take up less space? I've tried all sorts of things, but putting the hops in a bag is the best, if you ask me.