[tommymorris]

I saw a few posts about filtering beer in another thread. I have a question. Does filtered beer taste any different than beer that cleared on its own? I understand filtering might be faster. Besides that is there any taste advantage or disadvantage?

[Iliff Ave]

I saw a few posts about filtering beer in another thread. I have a question. Does filtered beer taste any different than beer that cleared on its own? I understand filtering might be faster. Besides that is there any taste advantage or disadvantage?

Unless you're unhappy with your current results, I wouldn't waste the time.

[fredthecat]

i don't "filter" (?) my beer, besides sometimes using gelatin if its a powdery yeast, but i started noticing some of my bottles were getting deposits on their sides and bottoms in some cases. some if it didn't look exactly like beerstone, some did. so i guess i decided to try to minimize solids going forward since the start of the year, we'll see if it comes back in any serious way on my cleaned-out bottles

[denny]

I saw a few posts about filtering beer in another thread. I have a question. Does filtered beer taste any different than beer that cleared on its own? I understand filtering might be faster. Besides that is there any taste advantage or disadvantage?

I think it can.  I tried filtering a long time ago and felt like it stripped body and "hoppiness" from the beer.  Finally decided it was more hassle than it was worth and gave the stuff away.

[Village Taphouse]

Many years ago I bought a "plate filter".  Beer is in keg 1, goes through the plate filter and ends up in keg 2.  That was the plan but I never used it.  I ended up gifting it to a friend who developed a yeast allergy.  The instructions said to use a fine filter on pass 1 and then a finer filter on pass 2.  That's right, TWO filtration steps.  It also mentioned that on a five gallon batch you could lose as much as 1 to 1.5 gallons due to filter media absorption.  It also said that the process needed to be done very slowly and that it could take an hour to properly filter 5 gallons.  All of that is why I never used it.  There might be better solutions out there now but I'll be honest... the vast majority of my beers are plenty clear for me.  But the fact that I bought the filter tells you how much weight I put on clear beer.  I want it clear, baby!    I think the craft world and some of their hazy beers are making it so that cloudy beer is acceptable now.  But I feel like a beer that clears on its own is a well-made beer.   

[brewthru]

Hmm... there's the homebrew novice and the homebrew craft beer. The difference, IMO, clarity.

Give plain gelatin a try.

[Bel Air Brewing]

In our previous brewery setup, the beer was always filtered. We used a dual cartridge - canister filter, 5 micron & 3 micron. The beer was brilliant, tasted very good, and was very stable with what appeared to be a longer shelf life than the non-filtered beers.

I am getting ready to filter 10 of the 20 gallons of 5D that will be put in kegs in a few days. The filters are 3 micron, followed by 1 micron. It is a little more work, of course.

Brulosophy did an experiment where tasters were given a blind triangle test, of filtered and non-filtered beers. The participants could not reliably distinguish the beers from each other.

A total of 27 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the unfiltered beer and 1 sample of the filtered beer in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. At this sample size, 14 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, though only 4 (p=0.992) chose the correctly, indicating participants in this xBmt were unable to reliably distinguish an English Bitter that was run through a plate filter from one that was unfiltered.

My Impressions: I simply couldn’t tell these beers apart and resorted to guessing in all of my blind triangle attempts. To my senses, they had the same aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel, despite the obvious difference in appearance. As for the beer, it was really quite delicious, and if I had to choose a preference, it’d go to the filtered version only because I think it’s prettier.

Yes, I know...single data point.

We have used gelatin many, many times. I prefer not to, however.

[Bel Air Brewing]

Here is a good article, from BYO:

https://byo.com/article/clear-steps-filtering-homebrew/

[HighVoltageMan!]

Filtering beer is really not necessary in a home brewing setting. I used to filter beer, but it was a massive PITA. I still have my equipment but I never use it anymore. I can get polished beers in as little as 3 weeks from brew day. These beers are just as clear as any commercial beer, so why filter?

Years ago I set out to get clear beer and found out filtering was an unnecessary step. Clear beer starts in the mash tun. Good brewing practices throughout the brewing process will produce clear beer.

The biggest problem with filter, IMHO, is that it causes you to put your finished beer through a series of processes outside the fermentation vessel, the risk of oxidation is the over whelming reason I don't filter and recommend not to filter. I know some people say they don't have any oxygen problems with filtering, but I disagree. In the last couple of years I made a point to avoid oxygen ingress in finished beers by improving and updating vessels, doing closed transfers, spunding and extreme caution when adding anything to the finished beers. The difference has been stark. My beers are fresher longer, brighter flavors (hops especially) and greater depth in flavor. I believe filtering would set me back because it would introduce oxygen. Remember, it only takes oxygen levels to get up to 50-100 parts per billion to degrade finished beer.

[fredthecat]

Filtering beer is really not necessary in a home brewing setting. I used to filter beer, but it was a massive PITA. I still have my equipment but I never use it anymore. I can get polished beers in as little as 3 weeks from brew day. These beers are just as clear as any commercial beer, so why filter?

Years ago I set out to get clear beer and found out filtering was an unnecessary step. Clear beer starts in the mash tun. Good brewing practices throughout the brewing process will produce clear beer.

The biggest problem with filter, IMHO, is that it causes you to put your finished beer through a series of processes outside the fermentation vessel, the risk of oxidation is the over whelming reason I don't filter and recommend not to filter. I know some people say they don't have any oxygen problems with filtering, but I disagree. In the last couple of years I made a point to avoid oxygen ingress in finished beers by improving and updating vessels, doing closed transfers, spunding and extreme caution when adding anything to the finished beers. The difference has been stark. My beers are fresher longer, brighter flavors (hops especially) and greater depth in flavor. I believe filtering would set me back because it would introduce oxygen. Remember, it only takes oxygen levels to get up to 50-100 parts per billion to degrade finished beer.

absolutely, i havent read simple homebrewing yet, but after listening to the podcast a bit lately i might pick it up sometime.

filter is simply a "why?". there are just so many excellent, excellent craft or traditional breweries that don't filter and even leave noticeable sediment in the bottle. not to mention, i'm getting perfectly clear beers these days without even needing gelatin often. absolutely no need, and an oxidation risk+more work.

[denny]

If the filtering is done under CO2 pressure in a closed system under CO2 pressure, where does the O2 come from?  Wouldn't there be some way to purge O2 before you filter? Not that I have any interest in filtering, but I'd like to know.

[Bel Air Brewing]

If the filtering is done under CO2 pressure in a closed system under CO2 pressure, where does the O2 come from?  Wouldn't there be some way to purge O2 before you filter? Not that I have any interest in filtering, but I'd like to know.

Yes, we have multiple sanitized / purged kegs and the transfer will will done under CO2 pressure. There will be close to zero oxygen in this procedure.

Regarding O2, I found multiple articles online that state it is little more than an old-wives-tale. Not old, actually, as this is a fairly new invention.

I have a 5D that was subjected to heavy O2 during the mash and sparge. And I mean HEAVY! It actually tastes great, might be one of my best efforts to date.

Another blind taste test show the participants could not detect the beer with O2. And interestingly, the person who ran the experiment could not distinguish the two beers apart.

Oxygen? Not worried about at all. Not in a 5, 10, or 20 gallon homebrew setting. In a commercial brewery, that might be another matter.

[fredthecat]

I have a 5D that was subjected to heavy O2 during the mash and sparge. And I mean HEAVY! It actually tastes great, might be one of my best efforts to date.

how and why was it subjected to "heavy O2"?

[Bel Air Brewing]

I have a 5D that was subjected to heavy O2 during the mash and sparge. And I mean HEAVY! It actually tastes great, might be one of my best efforts to date.

how and why was it subjected to "heavy O2"?

It was an accident. Long story...during the circulation of the wort in the mash tun, a colander was placed inside to help diffuse the liquid in hopes of not causing any channels or "tunneling".

The colander created quite a spray, with hot wort going everywhere, including on me. I did my best to quiet the flow down, but due to the volume being pumped it was next to impossible.

Normally a dual false bottom is employed. A false bottom with a fine SS screen at the bottom of the mash tun, and a second false bottom on top of the mash to diffuse the wort during the re-cycling of the liquid. I actually had a "stuck mash", as the top bottom impeded the liquid flow. Thus, the colander was used...and I literally took a wort-shower.

My first thought was oh no, what about hot side oxygen uptake? So far, it tastes very good. I do not detect any off flavors at all. A double decoction mash. 90 minute, vigorous boil.

It will be transferred to the keg, and filtered next Monday.

[fredthecat]

I have a 5D that was subjected to heavy O2 during the mash and sparge. And I mean HEAVY! It actually tastes great, might be one of my best efforts to date.

how and why was it subjected to "heavy O2"?

It was an accident. Long story...during the circulation of the wort in the mash tun, a colander was placed inside to help diffuse the liquid in hopes of not causing any channels or "tunneling".

The colander created quite a spray, with hot wort going everywhere, including on me. I did my best to quiet the flow down, but due to the volume being pumped it was next to impossible.

My first thought was oh no, what about hot side oxygen uptake? So far, it tastes very good. I do not detect any off flavors at all. A double decoction mash. 90 minute, vigorous boil.

It will be transferred to the keg, and filtered next Monday.

ouch, i guess i can imagine that. i always just do a batch sparge, dumping it in without splashing. not too concerned about 02