Filtering

[MrC]

Do any of you guys filter your beer?
If so, how do you do it and what are the pros & cons?

[Barry]

I don't filter. But as an educated guess, I'd say the pro's are crystal clear beer, that you can transport free of the fear of a cloudy pint at the end of it. Even with a keg, you'd get some stirring up of remaining yeast.
The cons, it's another part of your process so there'll be a time cost, it's more kit to worry about sanitation of, it _might_ have an undesirable effect on flavour (though you could arguably allow for this in the recipe).

Personally I don't see the need, I have no problem with a cloudy pint (as long as it's within reason and still tastes OK). And most of mine turn up bright and clear in any case.
Have a troll around www.aussiehomebrewer.com.au, there's quite a big filtering community there.

[denimglen]

I don't filter.

Although I used to fine with bentonite but stopped doing that as it just sped up the time it took for the yeast to flocc - easier to just wait another week. I occasianly still use Irish moss but will probably stop doing that as well.

My beers aren't crystal clear - on a scale of 1 - 5 (1 being crystal, 5 being mud), I'd say mine are about 2. Just a slight haze to them - which for some reason I acutally prefer to crystal clear in most beers.

I've also heard that even fining your beer can strip flavour so I assume filtering would as well - to what degree though - I wouldn't have a clue.

[jt]

I've used finings on and off - issinglass usually - a lot and never suffered flavour loss. Filtering could be difefrent, don't know, never tried it.

ATM I'm in a non- fining phase and I can't detect any difference - but maybe I'm just an uneducated taster !

[James P]

I have been talking to a neighbour who used to brew and he recommended I looked into using "milk socks" for filtering my beer. If you are patient with the flow rater, oxidation should not occur, and if you are racking for bulk priming, then there is no difference in the process (except maybe a couple of extra minutes).

I am looking into this as, although I don't mind the slight haze, I want to see what the differences in flavours etc are (it's the experimenter in me!).

[MrC]

Would filtering remove the live yeast and prevent the beer from carbonating with priming?
I would be interested to know if there is a flavour difference.

[Barry]

I would say, depending of course on how fine your filter is, definitely yes. I'd be very concerned about how much yeast might be left for carbonation.
I've heard that Sierra Nevada filter their beers, they remove all yeast and then add back a precise amount for bottle conditioning. Emphasise "precise".

[Dan]

I dont filter, i,d rather drink my beer than stare at it!
Most beers are pretty well clear unless near frozen, lagers are usually very clear!

[Sinykill]

I use milk socks to filter my beer but only after boiling out of he plate cooler so its before I add the yeast seems to work ok.
but i am still learning and experimenting. Filter socks only run at 70 to 100 microns and only remove large stuff so I think enough yeast would get through for secondary fermentation.

[James P]

Sinykill where are you purchasing your filter socks from? PS thanks for letting us know your method, it makes experimenting that much more fun when you have someone to compare to!

[Sinykill]

Hi james I had some old filter sleeves lying around (I am a Dairy Farmer) complete with filter cage and housing. Generally I get my filter sleeves from R.D.1 or Farmlands or the local milking machine agent. If you need a filter cage and housing try an agent they may know of an old small one cheep. If you want to try a couple I could post you a few. Not to sure how they would work without the housing? You might have to sew up one end. I do also have filter socks( one end sewn up already) i guess you could hang that in line somehow?
I hope that was vaguely useful :-)

[James P]

Hi Sinykill, just got back to checking this thread!, It would be great if you would send me a couple of milk socks to try, my email is sumo at orcon dot net dot nz if you want to send me an email and i'll send you my details etc. I have sourced milk socks here in CHCH (Stevens Filterite/Skellerup brand), however they come in backs of 100, a little too many for experimenting!
Cheers!

[James P]

Thanks for the filters Sinykill there is a whole lot of experimenting in those!.

The postie turned up today just before I started to bottle. So I have put half the brew in bottles as the control for the experiment. I then racked the other half to secondary using a filter. It removed quite of sediment, so I let it sit then bottle some more before racking to my bottling bucket using the filter again (for bulk prime).

If it doesn't go well, so be it (it's a kit brew), but at least I have my control bottles at each stage of the process to see wha t the differences are!

Thanks again! :)