Filtering then bottling... possible??

[GreenDragon]

So my beer filtration system was delivered today. I have a question before I use it. I typically brew 10 gallon batches, I then keg half (1 keg) and bottle the rest. If I filter my beer will there be enough yeasties left in the beer to eat the priming sugar and carb the bottles?

Sounds like a really simple question but for the life of me I couldn't find an answer any place. It seems like everyone who filters kegs which makes me think there is a reason behind that..

 

[Yooper]

It depends on the size of the filter. A coarse filter would, a medium filter would, but a sterile filtration would remove the yeast. I"m not sure of the exact sizes, since I don't filter but someone else could tell you what size filter, in microns, would still leave yeast but filter out other things.

Remember, you can only filter a clear beer as your pads would clog up if you had sediment in it!

 

[GreenDragon]

I got a 3 micron and an 1 micron filter.

 

[Teromous]

The reason you probably didn't find much information on it, is that most people who filter do so to reduce sediment in the beer and force carb it. If they bottle it, they normally use a beer gun or something similar. Carbonating it naturally will induce additional sediment to the beer, which is counterproductive if you're wanting to get the beer as clean as you can.

You can do it though. If you want to leave enough residual yeast behind, I would stick with a 5.0 micron filter. If you use a 1.0 or 0.5 you'll probably end up having to add yeast back in because a majority of it will be removed. According to Midwest (where I got my kit from) a 1.0 micron filter will remove 80-90% of present yeast, and a 0.5 micron filter will remove 100%.

Since you're using a new system I'll just give you some advice. Make sure that the large o-ring for the lid is attached before you screw it on. Don't over-tighten anything. Use very low pressure when transferring (and be patient). Put your cartridge housing over a bucket. Have lots of towels on standby.

 

[day_trippr]

^ Makes one wonder if the majority of folks that buy filters use them more than once...

Cheers!

 

[jtratcliff]

Couldn't you add back a neutral yeast strain (US-05?) after filtering for bottle carbing?

Or only filter the half of the batch that you keg?

 

[ClaudiusB]

^ Makes one wonder if the majority of folks that buy filters use them more than once...

Cheers!

I have been filtering since day one and belong to the minority.