Filtering a Fruit Beer

[Ryush806]

I've got a strawberry blonde going for SWMBO and I have a quick question about filtering. Do I need to do my best to clear the beer before filtering or can I go ahead and filter without clearing it. There's a lot of trub and yeast and strawberry puree gunk in the carboy. This is my first time using a filter and I'm concerned about the first set of pads blinding over with all the gunk. I'd rather go ahead and filter but ill wait if you think it'd be an issue.

BTW I'm filtering it because I plan to back sweeten it, force carb, and then bottle from the keg.

 

[runningweird]

do you have time to use the gelatin fining trick? it probably won't completely clear out the beer - fruit beers are horrible to clear - but it will drop most of the crap out of suspension. it might even bind to the fruit gunk floating around and pull that down. cold crash for a day or two, add gelatin mixture, wait a few more days, rack out to keg.



to filter my fruit beers I just put a nylon paint strainer bag on the end of my racking cane - i wish I had a real filter though, and in such an absence I can't give you advice regarding proper highfalutin' filtering techniques.

Ian.

 

[Ryush806]

I have time for whatever. I just don't want to wait unless my filter would clog. This will be my first time filtering so I have no idea how the system will perform.

 

[Ryush806]

Also, I'm not really concerned with clearing the beer as much as I am with making sure fermentation can't start again after I back sweeten. I know I could do Camden and K-sorbate but I have a buddy that does primarily wine say that method has failed him before. I'd rather just filter all the yeast out to make sure and also get the added benefit of clear beer.

Any advise from those experienced with this type of filter would be appreciated. This is the filter I bought just in case it was unclear from the first post. http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=1419

 

[Yooper]

Filtering a not-clear beer will clog the filter pads very quickly. In order to filter with the "fine" pads, you'd start with clear beer. Then use the "medium" and then the "Fine". The medium will make sure that that "fine" pads don't clog before the batch is done, but you still have to start with clear beer.

 

[Ryush806]

Thanks, Yooper! I figured that would be the case but really didn't want to mess with racking to another vessel before the kegs.

 

[Ryush806]

So I racked over gelatin into a keg and held it at 45ish for 2 weeks. Then I transferred to another keg in an attempt to leave behind a lot of the sediment. Now it's trying(?) to move its way through a 10 micron filter. Going very very slowly. Looking at the beer in the supply line it's about hefeweizen clear. Does this just take a long time or is my beer way to cloudy or? Also, It's very slightly carbonated due to the CO2 pad I had on the keg so there's some bubbles involved on the discharge side of the filter. Is that an issue?

 

[Yooper]

So I racked over gelatin into a keg and held it at 45ish for 2 weeks. Then I transferred to another keg in an attempt to leave behind a lot of the sediment. Now it's trying(?) to move its way through a 10 micron filter. Going very very slowly. Looking at the beer in the supply line it's about hefeweizen clear. Does this just take a long time or is my beer way to cloudy or? Also, It's very slightly carbonated due to the CO2 pad I had on the keg so there's some bubbles involved on the discharge side of the filter. Is that an issue?

I just don't know, so I'll have to leave that up to someone else with more experience filtering. It just struck me that "hefeweizen clear" isn't clear at all. You may have a pectin haze due to the fruit.

If it's going so slow, how many psi are you using to push it?

 

[Ryush806]

Pushing at 12 psi. More than that and the filter starts leaking out the sides slowly. I might need to get a canister type filter housing so I can push harder in the future and maybe use a larger particle rating to pre filter beers like these.

So far I think I have pushed a fourth of the keg trough. Just 4 more hours and maybe it'll be finished....haha

 

[Ryush806]

Aborted the attempt. 1.25 gallons in 3 hours isn't going to work. And that rate will just get worse as the filter pad blinds over more and more.

I took the filter housing apart and found a lovely paste of what I assume is strawberry bits. New filter pad there for comparison.



I guess I'm going to add the 1.25 gallons back to the rest and back sweeten with Splenda (ick) or lactose instead.

 

[BrewJames]

I've had good luck using liquid isinglass to clear my fruit beer. I used a whole 2oz bottle for a 5 gallon batch of loquat saison and ended up with my clearest (and most popular) beer to date.

 

[Ryush806]

I've had good luck using liquid isinglass to clear my fruit beer. I used a whole 2oz bottle for a 5 gallon batch of loquat saison and ended up with my clearest (and most popular) beer to date.

Thanks for the tip. I might have to try that.

I've also thought about getting a water filter housing with a 50 micron (or maybe less) filter to use as a pre-filter. Maybe a hodge podge combo or techniques will yield a clear beer.

 

[Jlaw3000]

I just secondary my fruit beers for a week or so and use my auto siphon CAREFULLY as not to disturb the trub. I bottle condition too so by the time I pour a beer there are no noticeable fruit pieces....

 

[Ryush806]

I just secondary my fruit beers for a week or so and use my auto siphon CAREFULLY as not to disturb the trub. I bottle condition too so by the time I pour a beer there are no noticeable fruit pieces....

I racked this one over gelatin into a keg and left it at ~45 for about a week. I guess I just had too many fruit particles in it. I used 10 lbs of strawberries and blended them up pretty good before adding them. SWMBO says the flavor is better than the time I just cut the strawberries in half but this hassle may not be worth it.

 

[Yooper]

I don't do fruit beer but I make a ton of wine.

What I would do is freeze the fruit, and then put it loosely in a fine mesh bag (the "fine" from the homebrewstore). I'd let it thaw in the bag, while in the fermenter. I always use pectic enzyme on fruit, so I'd use that. Then, I'd rack to the keg when ready. That would help contain the fruit but still allow full contact. At least that's what I do for wine, and it works well.

 

[Ryush806]

I don't do fruit beer but I make a ton of wine.

What I would do is freeze the fruit, and then put it loosely in a fine mesh bag (the "fine" from the homebrewstore). I'd let it thaw in the bag, while in the fermenter. I always use pectic enzyme on fruit, so I'd use that. Then, I'd rack to the keg when ready. That would help contain the fruit but still allow full contact. At least that's what I do for wine, and it works well.

Thanks for the suggestion Yooper. Do you purée/blend the fruit first and then freeze it?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the suggestion Yooper. Do you purée/blend the fruit first and then freeze it?

No. Freezing it (and then thawing it) means it gets very smooshy and breaks up well, without clogging my siphon or causing a permanent haze. The pectic enzyme helps too.

Putting fruit in a blender or a food processor would be a huge mess.

 

[Jlaw3000]

No. Freezing it (and then thawing it) means it gets very smooshy and breaks up well, without clogging my siphon or causing a permanent haze. The pectic enzyme helps too.

Putting fruit in a blender or a food processor would be a huge mess.

x2. I leave mine in quarters or bigger pieces and freeze then pasteurize before brewing. It settles quite nicely. Sounds like you just have a lot of fine particles... Long cold crash may just be te way to go for this batch. Try freezing next time (Charles P. has a good section on fruit)

 

[BrewJames]

I will concur that putting food into the food processor makes a huge mess. It is a lot of fun though and it makes packaging for the freezer a snap.