Filtering

[Inclinejj]

I have had sediment in my carboy. So the bottles have sediment at the bottom. I though of pouring the beer through a filter before bottling. Would this be the idea time to filter. I just personally like a clear beer without sediment.

 

[Jag75]

No , don't do that . You will oxidize your beer . Just leave in your fermenter for 3 to 4 weeks then bottle. The extra time allows more of the sediment to drop giving you less in your bottles.

 

[hotbeer]

Any filter fine enough to trap the sediment you probably are talking about is likely going to plug up and just cause you grief.

Letting your beer stay in the fermenter longer will clean it up quite a bit. I have clean beer in the bottle without even cold crashing or doing anything other than just wait a week or two longer past FG in the fermenter at fermentation temps.

I do always have sediment though. It's mostly yeast unless maybe you bottled some really cloudy beer, AFAIK, you'll always have some no matter how clean you get the beer if you are going to naturally carb.

Some yeasts paste themselves to the bottom of the bottle better than others. I try not to let the bottle glug air as I do a continuous pour into a glass. Stopping when it gets down to the dregs that are cloudy.

How well yeast that flocculate and drop to the bottom of the bottle when naturally carbonating and conditioning is something I use as one of pluses for deciding on what yeast to use if I have a choice for the style and recipe.

 

[balrog]

What @hotbeer said. If you bottle condition, you will have yeast multiply, eat the priming sugar, create the carbonation you want, then floc out, making sediment in the bottle. Even kegging, then bottle from keg, if sitting a long time, will have some sediment in the bottle. Only way to eliminate bottle sediment is to centrifuge or high level filter of finished, carbonated beer, before putting in the bottle. It will not carbonate in the bottle as the fine filtration removes the yeast.

 

[Inclinejj]

Thanks. I would boil my wort, cool it, Then put it in the fermenter. Using the valve and a plastic tube and let it fill. When it got down the near the bottom I made sure I wasn't sucking up sediment from the bottom. On Bottling day I would use a strainer you would use to take ravioli out of boiling water with A hop bag over it and pour the beer through the filter.

I used to just pick up my boil kettle and pour it in the fermenter? Am I still oxidizing my beer?

 

[GoodTruble]

Yes. But oxidizing just prior to adding yeast is not as big of a concern (if at all; it's a subject of debate).

But once fermentation is underway, you want to limit oxygen exposure as much as you can and keep the beer surrounded by CO2 through bottling.

There are not a lot of feasible options on the homebrew level that allow you to filter you beer post-fermentation without introducing significant oxygen exposure. -There are a few specific pieces of equipment, but none that I know of that homebrewers endorse in large numbers. -Just pouring the beer through a strainer or filter will definitely increase oxygen exposure and not be worth it.

If yeast at the bottom of bottles really bothers you, you could keg, force carb, and then use a counterpressure bottle filler (this at least allows you to skip bottle-fermentation-carbing, which will always result in yeast at the bottom of the bottle).

 

[Inclinejj]

Thanks. I don’t have any more room to keg until my space is ready. Probably by mid Summer. I’m a garage brewer for now.

 

[smurfjuicebrew]

Relax, beer is forgiving ...

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I have never used a filter in the process of bottling homebrew. I do have an inline filter that I use when kegging to help ensure hop material does not clog up the transfer. I would see some potential for using such a filter when bottling. When kegging, I am able to fully purge the line using CO2 from my tank. If used when bottling, you would have to make sure you fully fill the filter with beer to push out any air.

There are Bouncer branded ones on Amazon. I got a lesser priced one from VacMotion who also used to sell on Amazon. (I am pretty sure Bouncer and VacMotion filters are made by the exact same company.) The VacMotion site lists the filters with a ton if different options as far a connectors, materials, filter size, etc.
https://vacmotion.com/Products/Main_Inlinestrainers.aspx
I would be curious if anybody has used one of these filters while bottling.

 

[lightningbug]

I’ve tried filtering a couple times. The cleanup afterwards is so tedious that it never felt worth it. Also it doesnt get rid of chill haze.

 

[McMullan]

With good brewing practices, including good choice of yeast, there’s no reason to filter beer at any stage, generally. Commercial brewers filter beer to speed up grain-to-packaged beer purely for business reasons that actually compromise the flavour of their product, because they’re greedy f*ckers, basically. As a home brewer, following good practices, you can speed up grain-to-glass, if you wish, by using a secondary vessel to promote bright beer. Only package bright beer, unless you like soup. It depends on you being able to transfer beer from one vessel to another vessel without your pants falling down.

 

[Inclinejj]

A brewer buddy gave me a good idea. He said to put a sanitized hop bag over the drain hose. Hold the drain hose down by the hop bag.

 

[hotbeer]

Probably better practice with some water first in your fermenter. I don't see how you are going to hold the end of the tube down unless you have it on the end of a racking cane.

And then, if it's hanging loosely, you are still going to stir up the yeast and they are much smaller than the mesh/weave of the hop bag.

Sediment in the bottom of your bottles is a normal and expected thing if you are naturally carbonating your beer. Otherwise you'll be needing to look at pressure bottling equipment and possibly pasteurization.

 

[newtwobrew]

I have never used a filter in the process of bottling homebrew. I do have an inline filter that I use when kegging to help ensure hop material does not clog up the transfer. I would see some potential for using such a filter when bottling. When kegging, I am able to fully purge the line using CO2 from my tank. If used when bottling, you would have to make sure you fully fill the filter with beer to push out any air.

There are Bouncer branded ones on Amazon. I got a lesser priced one from VacMotion who also used to sell on Amazon. (I am pretty sure Bouncer and VacMotion filters are made by the exact same company.) The VacMotion site lists the filters with a ton if different options as far a connectors, materials, filter size, etc.
https://vacmotion.com/Products/Main_Inlinestrainers.aspx
I would be curious if anybody has used one of these filters while bottling.

Have you found that you lose flavor when filtering? That is my understanding at least and why most of the small scale craft breweries don't filter.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Have you found that you lose flavor when filtering? That is my understanding at least and why most of the small scale craft breweries don't filter.

The filter that I use is more of a "screen" that really will just keep hop particles from clogging my keg posts. I think you would have to go very fine to get to the point where you might risk losing flavors.

I am not sure how common using a filter is with craft breweries. The use of a centrifuge to remove hops, yeast and particles seems to be getting more common. Commercial breweries have much more equipment and processes in place to ensure they get "clean" beer into packaging. On the homebrew scale, using some type of a screen on the end of a racking cane or a coarse inline filter seems like fine practices...assuming care is taken to avoid oxidation and infection.