Using Campden tablets to clean water and sanitise brewing equipment

A Brewer's Guide to Campden Tablets The Old-School Secret for Better Beer, Wine & Cider

It's always amused me that the brewing world has such strange "secret ingredients." Take Irish Moss—it's not moss at all, but seaweed! So what about Campden tablets? What is this super pill that can remove chlorine from your water, kill unwanted bacteria, and protect your brew from oxidation? This guide breaks down the science behind this humble tablet and why it's a powerful tool in any fermenter's arsenal.

These tablets can be used to remove added chlorine from your water, kill wild yeast and bacteria on fruit or brewing equipment, and protect your beer by preventing unwanted foreign bacteria from ruining your batch. As the great master Yoda might say, "Work, the tablet does." Let's find out how.

🧪What Are Campden Tablets?

Key Takeaway:A Source of Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂)

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Campden tablets are pre-measured doses of either potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite. When added to an acidic liquid like water, beer, or cider, they dissolve and release sulfur dioxide (SO₂). This SO₂ gas is the active ingredient that performs three crucial jobs for brewers and winemakers:

• Dechlorination: It instantly neutralizes chlorine and chloramine from tap water.
• Antimicrobial: It suppresses or kills wild yeast and bacteria.
• Antioxidant: It scavenges free oxygen, preventing it from staling your finished beverage.

⚗️How to Use Them: Dosage & Application

Key Takeaway:Dosage Varies by Task

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Using Campden tablets is easy, but the amount you use depends entirely on the job at hand. Always crush the tablet into a powder before adding it to ensure it dissolves quickly and evenly.

Application	Dosage	Notes & Science
Dechlorinating Water	1 tablet per 20 gallons (75L)	Crush and stir into your brewing water. The SO₂ acts as a reducing agent, instantly neutralizing chlorine and chloramine, preventing the formation of chlorophenols (a medicinal, plastic-like off-flavor). Wait 10-15 minutes before using the water.
Sanitizing Equipment	16 tablets per 1 gallon (3.8L)	Creates a high-concentration SO₂ solution that effectively sanitizes equipment with a 20-minute soak. It's an old-school method, and modern no-rinse sanitizers are often easier.
Killing Wild Yeast in Cider/Wine	1 tablet per 1 gallon (3.8L)	Crush and stir into fresh-pressed juice. The SO₂ will stun or kill most wild yeasts and bacteria, creating a clean slate for your chosen cultured yeast. You must wait 24-36 hours before you pitch your yeast to allow the SO₂ to dissipate.
Stabilizing & Preventing Oxidation	1 tablet per 1 gallon (3.8L)	Add at bottling or when racking wine or cider. The SO₂ acts as a powerful antioxidant, scavenging any dissolved oxygen that could otherwise stale your beverage during aging.

✅Are They Necessary for Brewing?

Key Takeaway:It Depends Entirely on Your Water Source

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No, the use of Campden tablets is totally your choice as a brewer. If you are using distilled or reverse osmosis water, they are unnecessary for dechlorination. However, if you are using tap water, it is highly recommended. Municipal water is treated with chlorine or chloramine to make it safe to drink, but these compounds react with phenols produced by yeast to create chlorophenols—a dreaded off-flavor that tastes like plastic, Band-Aids, or medicine.

Brewers in Havelock North, New Zealand will sure tell you how bad the chlorine is in the water after the local Council managed to poison so many residents, so in such regions, you would seriously want to consider using them. 

You can often find water quality reports on your local council's website. If you are using Campden for sanitizing, there are many other great options, including sodium percarbonate or a professional product like Powdered Brewery Wash.

💡Do They Stop Fermentation?

Key Takeaway:No, They Only Inhibit Yeast

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It is a fairly common misconception that Campden tablets can be used to completely halt an active fermentation to preserve sweetness. It is simply not true though. At the recommended dosages, Campden tablets will stun most microorganisms, but a healthy, vigorous colony of brewing yeast is resilient enough to overcome it after a short time. 

To truly and completely stop fermentation, you'd need so many Campden tablets that the resulting beverage would be undrinkable. To halt fermentation reliably, brewers use a combination of cold crashing and adding potassium sorbate alongside the metabisulfite.

📜Where Does the Name Come From?

Key Takeaway:An English Town and a UK Pharmacy

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The original solution was developed in the 1920s by the Fruit and Vegetable Preserving Research Station, which was based in the English town of 'Chipping Campden'. The Boots UK pharmacy chain then made the product popular for home use when they developed and marketed it as a convenient tablet.

Leave a Comment campden tablets, chlorine, cider, sanitization, wine

Can I get methanol poisoning from home brew beer?

Can I Accidentally Make Methanol? A Homebrewer's Guide to a Common Fear

From time to time, I see potential brewers ask if they will accidentally make methanol (AKA 'wood alcohol') when foraying into beer production. It's a legitimate fear, fueled by horror stories of people going blind from "bad moonshine." This is because methanol is genuinely dangerous. It is toxic to the human body and can have some very nasty effects if someone is poisoned - ranging from blindness to, in the worst cases, death.

You may have arrived at this page because of the sad story coming out of South Africa during 2020 where a couple died after drinking homebrew. While there are limited facts on this tragic case, we can be confident that methanol from a standard beer homebrew was not the cause. Let's separate the myths from the science.

The Short Answer: No, You Won't Go Blind

First up, the answer to the question is that the ordinary beer home brewing process makes the alcohol called ethanol - not methanol. They have slightly different chemical formulas, and brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is a biological factory perfected over millennia to produce ethanol.

So you can't get methanol poisoning from your homebrew, no matter how much extra sugar you add. It's more likely that you will just get blind drunk or meet Darth Vader!!

The Science: Fermentation vs. Distillation

The confusion and fear surrounding methanol comes from a misunderstanding between two very different processes: brewing (fermentation) and distilling.

Fermentation is a biological process. Yeast consumes sugar and produces ethanol and carbon dioxide. While some trace amounts of methanol can be produced, especially in fruit-based fermentations containing pectin, the levels are negligible and far below anything that could cause harm. Commercial fruit juices often contain more methanol than a homebrewed beer.

Distillation is a physical process of separating liquids based on their boiling points. This is where the danger lies. Methanol has a lower boiling point (64.7°C) than ethanol (78.4°C). In a backyard still, when the fermented mash (the "wash") is heated, the methanol vaporizes first. This first part of the distillate, known as the "heads," is highly concentrated with methanol. Inexperienced distillers who fail to discard the heads can indeed create a lethal product. For this reason, home distillation is illegal in most countries. If you are homebrew brewing beer, there's no risk of making a killer brew. Distillation on the other hand... stay away from that unless you've been properly trained.

Methanol Poisoning & Treatment

For educational purposes, it's important to understand what methanol poisoning involves. Methanol toxicity is the result of consuming methanol. The horrific symptoms may include a decreased level of consciousness, poor coordination, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The famous effect of decreased vision or blindness may start as early as twelve hours after exposure.

The blindness is caused by the methanol being metabolized by the body into formic acid, which then has a debilitating and damaging effect on the eye's optic nerve. Fortunately, there is a cure. The sooner the antidote, fomepizole, is administered, the greater the likelihood of a good outcome. Other treatments include dialysis and sodium bicarbonate. This is not medical advice. If you suspect a consumption incident, seek medical assistance immediately.

What About That Old Bottle of Wine?

I saw a query from a gentleman who decided to drink a glass of wine after leaving the bottle open for 2 months. The wine was disgusting, burned his throat, and gave him a headache. He wondered if it had turned into methanol.

It's more than likely that the wine's ethanol had not converted to methanol. Instead, it was exposed to oxygen and Acetobacter, a common airborne bacterium. This bacterium consumes ethanol and produces acetic acid—turning his wine into a vile vinegar!

Leave a Comment alcohol poisoning, ethanol, methanol, wine

How to tell if your brew is infected by bacteria

There's a really simple way to tell if your beer is contaminated

Ready for this life changer?

Drink it. 

If it tastes like the scummiest thing you've ever put in your mouth, it's infected.

If it makes you vomit, it's infected.

If it smells like someone set off a sulfur bomb, it's infected.

Rotten eggs... well.

If you open the cap and the beer explodes like it has been shaken up a thousand times, it's probably infected. This happens as rogue yeast or bacteria has over-carbonated your beer, resulting in too much pressure building.

Such an explosion should not be confused with a beer bomb caused by the addition of too much sugar when you primed the beer.

Basically, a good rule of thumb is that if you really have to ask if your beer is infected, then the chances are it probably is.

You can, of course, do a visual inspection of your beer before you bottle it as well. What you are looking for at the top of the wort is the formation of 'pellicle' (or a yeast raft)- which is a collection of microbes hanging out on top of your beer.

This may not happen with every infection, however.

The pellicle formation can look a bit like this:

or even this:

Which is a real shame because it's not just the fact that your beer is ruined by bacteria or wild yeast commonly referred to as brettanomyces, it's that you've lost your time - it doesn't matter if you've used a kit or done a diligent boil, you have lost those precious minutes.

You've also lost a bit of cash, which can hurt a little, especially if you've gone and sourced that special wheat yeast from the brew shop or those homegrown hops that you drove 45 minutes to get from a brewing mate who swears they are the best he's ever grown.

So what did you get out of this?

Experience.

It's quite likely that user error caused the infection to occur so maybe there's a lesson here for you that you can learn:

ALWAYS

CLEAN

&

SANITIZE

YOUR 

BREWING 

EQUIPMENT

I learned from my screw up and have never had an infected batch of beer again and that was like three years ago.

Sure, it can be a pain to do the job right but if you want to have a beer that's right to drink, you gotta clean.

So let's talk about the causes of infection.

The most likely cause is as you've probably understood if you've got this far is that uncleanliness leads to infection. By giving bacteria something to feed on or hide in, you open yourself up to a higher chance of infection occurring.

So, clean your fermenter, brewing spoons, pipes, spigots, taps, mash tuns and whatever else you use on brewing day. There's many kinds of cleaning agents you can use (such as the famous Powdered Brewery Wash) but a bit of elbow grease with damn hot to boiling water will do you justice.

Then, sanitization is key. We have promoted sodium percarbonate many times on this site as we think it just does wonders and since we have adopted it, we've never had a problem.

The best part about using sodium percarbonate?

You’ve probably already got some as it’s found in ordinary laundry soak!

So on brewing - clean and sanitizing everything. Don't be lazy or your beer will be hazy!

The next time you'll want to think about bacteria is bottling or kegging day.

Yep, it's almost a case of literally rinsing and repeating.

Your keg and bottles must be free of any gunk and residue yeast. Given them a damn good clean and then use your sanitizer of choice.

In the case of bottles, my favourite trick is to run them through the dishwasher on the heaviest setting. First I rinse them with water to remove all the sediment etc and then they go in. At the Heavy Duty setting, the dishwasher will use the hottest water it can and that kills the bugs. I then store them in a clean drum under a blanket.

Then on bottling day, a quick soak in some sodium percarbonate solution makes things just right.

You can always tell if you haven't done this part properly because if in your whole batch of bottled beers one or two do not taste right but the rest do, you can reasonably assume the issue was with the individual bottle and not the batch as a whole.

This "mega Pellicle' was from a beer brew that was found to be infected.

That Rotten Eggs smell from beer

We mentioned that rotten eggs can be a sign of an infected beer. That may well be true but it is not true in every case.

If you have used a yeast strain that produces this kind of smell your beer is OK. If you open a bottle-conditioned beer too early, you might be able to get those 'eggy' tones.

If you let your beer condition for long enough, that smell will go away as the yeast will continue to work everything out.

If your beer's water is high in sulphate such as that water source infamously discovered at Burton-on-Trent, England then your beer may naturally have this smell as well - the so-called 'Burton Snatch'.

If however, your beer has bacteria that has contaminated your beer, THAT 'smell' is a sign your beer is ruined. 

How can you tell? 

Do the taste test and that will give you a big indicator.

If you make wine or cider, there is another risk vector for your brew. That is the natural yeasts that can be found in fruit that can wreak havoc.

Many cider makers will use Campden tablets to kill off any wild yeast and then substitute their own yeast more suited to the kind of wine or cider that they wish to make.

1 comment campden tablets, hydrogen sulfide, infection, wine

⇒ How to use 'Baking Yeast' to make home brew beer

I was doing the weekly shopping and I came across a line row of baker's yeast and I wondered if you could use that to make homebrew. I took a photo of it! And the answer to the question is...

Turns out you can!

Can I substitute active baker's dry yeast for brewer's yeast?

 I'd heard of beer a craft brewer made from yeast found on his hipster beard, so why not use bread yeast?

So I did some research, and it turns out you can use baking yeast as it is an 'active dry yeast'.

The real question is should you use baker's yeast to make beer? 

Yeast is a wholly active part of the fermentation process, which is hugely relying on all kinds of factors to go right and a good yeast will make a good beer better.

Many craft brewers would probably shudder violently at the thought of using a yeast that's normally used to make bread but let's have a look at the idea.

You can totally use baking yeast for brewing, as both yeasts (beer and baking) are different strains of the same species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Which sounds like a good starting place!

A good question to start with is, what is the difference between baker's yeast and brewer's yeast?

The difference between the two kinds of yeasts is their cultivation.

Each has been grown for the attributes they bring to the final product. In the case of beer yeast, the popular strains have been cultivated for hundreds of years to hone their specific attributes being the beer flavour produced, attenuation (how well the sugars are fermented by yeast), and consistency.

I found a great comparison of the two: brewer's yeast was bred to produce more alcohol and less carbon dioxide while baker's yeast was bred to make more CO2 and less alcohol.

So be warned using baking yeast in place of brewing yeast is like driving a Ford and expecting to drive like a Ferrari!

There is, of course, nothing wrong with driving a Ford. First on race day eh?

How much baker's yeast to pitch? 

I've read that 11 grams of baker's yeast per 5 gallons or 23 liter fermenter drum are recognized by many brewers as a fair amount to pitch in.  Too much more will probably be redundant. 

What ABV alcohol does bread yeast make?

Bread yeast tends to ferment alcohol up to about 8% without too much effort which is a fine tolerance range for beer, but when trying to produce alcohol beyond this level, the bread yeast begins to struggle, very often stopping around 9% or 10%.

And that's actually because beers are generally brewed between 4 and 8 percent.

Clearing baker's yeast

When using this yeast, you just have to be conscious that your beer won't taste as clean or look as clear as the beer that you may have become accustomed to brewing.

This is in part because the yeast doesn't settle quite as well as most brewer's yeast does.

If you are bottle conditioning, another trick you could try to clear the baker's yeast is by cold crashing the fermented wort (often referred to as the primary) and then racking it to a bottling bucket and then bottling.

The reason is that the baker's yeast will likely stay suspended in the beer for a lot longer than brewing yeast does (it has a tendency to be awesome at floccing out and then sticking to the bottom of bottles). The cold temperature will force the baking yeast out of suspension and into the bottle of your beer.

You can of course also try and use finings to help clear the baking particles.

The careful pouring and chilling of the bottles before pouring will help alleviate this somewhat.

Can I use baker's yeast to make mead?

You sure can. Wine too! Some specific mead recipes state to use baker's yeast!

Can I use baker's yeast to make apple or pear cider?

You sure can use baking yeast with your homemade hard cider brewing. If you do things right, you should be able to get a 6 percent alcohol content. 

I'd recommend you always hydrate the yeast before you pitch it. 

Be careful about adding too much sugar. 

If you are really brave, you can even ferment apple juice with bread yeast. But you are getting into making the kind of hooch they make in prison at this point... I've done it - I made a bitter juice with a real punch - mix with lemonade 50:50 and it tasted fine.

Using baking yeast to rescue a beer that's stopped fermenting

If you're worried your pitched beer yeast has run out of puff, in a pinch you could add some baker's yeast to help get things going again.

Just remember by adding a second yeast, the intended nature of your beer's taste will change.

If you go down this path you may need to activate the yeast in water before you pitch it, just to give it a helping hand.

What baking yeasts can I use?

Anything from your supermarket is a good place to start. In New Zealand, Edmund's Sure To Rise suits fine. Fleischmann's active dry yeast seems a popular choice overseas.

Using brewing yeast to bake bread

Given brewing yeast is 'active yeast', you can also use brewing yeast to make bread products too! I imagine you could make a really heavy dough bread with some brewing yeast!

Some internet research tells me brewing yeast doesn't give off the same amount of CO2 as bread yeast so you will get a dense loaf of bread (the CO2 makes bubbles in bread, making it 'fluffy'. Here's a good discussion by brewers who've had success with this cooking method!

3 comments baker's yeast, baking yeast, floccing, mead, wine, yeast

How to use yeast nutrient for beer brewing

Yeast, that magnificent beast of an organism that converts sugars to alcohol, is the key to fermentation 

Fermentation itself is a fairly straightforward process but there are a lot of variables at play to ensure that you get a good tasting beer, let alone a brew that tastes like you intended!

Temperature, time, pH levels and oxygen are key factors.

An overlooked one is often yeast nutrition.

Does your beer yeast need nutrients? 

The malt in your beer is usually enough to sustain the yeast cells but in order to thrive (and thus efficiently ferment your beer wort and achieve a high attenuation) other elements such as levels of free amino nitrogen, fatty acids, and even vitamins and other minerals come into play and become factors in a successful brew. 

The truth is though, you could do a hundred brews and never need it but if you a looking for high attenuation rates (how much sugar is consumed by the yeast) or a brewing a beer with a high ABV, it may help as you need a strong yeast to achieve those two goals.  

When should I use a yeast nutrient?

You may also consider using a nutrient if your water is lacking in calcium, magnesium, and zinc as these metals. 

Zinc can help with the cell count while magnesium helps with cellular metabolism.

If your beer is using a high proportion of 'adjuncts', you'll want to consider supporting the yeast too. Sugar alone does not support the yeast so if there's a higher concentration of sugars in your beer, then a nutrient may assist yeast development. 

If you are making wine or cider or mead, you would be more likely to use nutrients as there is less for the yeast to make do with than in the malty beer wort. Honey, for instance, contains no nitrogen.

To cover some of these factors off, many home brewers choose to add yeast nutrient to their beer batch.

The other benefits of adding a yeast 'energizer' include the shortening of the 'lag phase' of fermentation can contribute to a reduction in off-flavours in beer or wine.

Yeast food may also help reduce the final gravity by invigorating the yeast pushing it to a more complete fermentation leading to a reduction of diacetyl or acetaldehyde (that apple flavour). 

There are three modes of yeast nutrition:

• Nitrogen supplements -  usually in the form of di-ammonium phosphate which is a water-soluble salt and or urea, this should be used when there's a lack of free amino nitrogen. Can be used for mead, cider, wine, and beer. Fermax and Fermaid are popular brands used by brewers as it contains the phosphate as well as magnesium sulfate and autolyzed yeast
• Yeast hulls - dead yeast of which the residue acts as a home for live yeast. Live yeast will eat the hulls and feed on the nutrients contained therein. 
• Yeast energizers are used to stimulate or restart a stalled fermentation.

Can I add yeast nutrients to my starter?

You sure can. Brewers will often add about a quarter teaspoon to their starters.

Bread bakers have been known to add it to their sourdough starters!

When should I add yeast nutrients to my brew?

It should usually be added at the start of fermentation. If you are using an energizer you will most likely be adding it when fermentation has failed or halted. 

How much yeast nutrient should I add?

Manufacturers typically recommend 1 gram per litre or 1 teaspoon for 5 litres/1 gallon. There should be instructions on the packaging.

What are Servomyces?

This is a yeast supplement produced by the famed yeast developer, White Labs. They boast that 

"Servomyces enables any yeast strain’s ability to incorporate essential nutrients into its cellular structure. It is propagated in a micronutrient rich environment and then killed off prior to packaging.  

Boiling incorporates the servomyces into the wort. The benefit of servomyces is that micronutrients, e.g., zinc are able to pass through its cell walls to your live cell yeast cell, thereby delivering the micronutrients without toxicity."

Check out what White Labs have to offer on Amazon.

So if your beer batch is short of zinc, then using Servomyces may be the right option for you. If you are doing a boil, it is recommended you add one capsule ten minutes prior to the end of the boil. If doing a kit brew, you can open the capsule up and add the Servomyces directly to the wort. 

Leave a Comment wine, yeast energizer, yeast nutrient, yeast starter

Using Malic Acid with wine to reduce the pH level

How to manage pH levels with malic acid 

Did you ever see that episode of Knight Rider when K.I.T.T. was placed in an acid bath and he left it as shell of a car?

Yeah?

Well, don't use that acid when making wine, perhaps use malic acid instead.

Malic acid is an acid that is found in fruit and quite commonly in grapes and apples. Have you ever had a Granny Smith apple and found it to be quite sour?

That's the malic acid at work. It's quite similar to citric acid in that sense.

As such it's used in all kinds of foods to give that tart flavor. Ever tasted 'Salt and Vinegar' chips?

That's not just vinegar you're tasting...

So why would one use malic acid when brewing wine? 

It's a very handy compound for reducing the pH level of wine.

All good brewers know that both beer, cider, and wine need to be within certain pH level otherwise, the tasting experience will be horrible. The acidity works to counter the sweetness and bitter components of the wine such as tannins.

A wine that features too much acidity will taste extremely sour and sharp and produce a physical response from the mouth and tongue. A wine with not enough acid present will taste somewhat flabby and flat and its intended flavor will hard to discern.

This is why so many wine makers use pH testers (such as the Apera) to ensure their wine is in the correct range.

A word to the wise. If your wine is going to undergo malolactic fermentation (such as red or sparkling) do not add extra malic acid as this will convert to lactic acid.

Which wines suit the addition of malic acid?

• Most reds
• Rieslings
• Gewurztraminer
• Muscat 

When do I add acid to the wine?

Malic or tartaric acids may be added either before or after primary fermentation.

They can also be added during any blending or aging periods, but the increased acidity will become more noticeable to the drinker.

How much malic to add to the must?

It's a general rule of thumb that 3.4 grams per gallon will adjust the acidity by +.1%. 

It will lower pH less than tartaric acid will which is why some wine makers prefer to use that acid.

Order your acid from Amazon.

What is malolactic fermentation?

Malolactic fermentation or conversion is the chemical process in winemaking where the malic acid that is naturally present in grapes, is converted to lactic acid. 

Fermentation is caused by a family of bacteria known as lactic acid bacteria.

Malolactic fermentation usually occurs as a secondary fermentation shortly after the end of the primary fermentation. The process is usually undertaken for the vast majority of red wines produced. Some white varieties such as Chardonnay use it as a byproduct of the reaction is a diacetyl which imparts the 'buttery' flavor associated with Chardonnay.

This process helps give the wine a good 'mouth feel' which is something all good beer brewers appreciate.

If you're wondering how beer makers can reduce bitterness and pH levels, they can use gypsum salt and calcium chloride.

If you're making prison hooch with juice you can do the same with malic acid.

Leave a Comment malic acid, must, ph levels, wine

>> Best beer filtration kits for clear beer

Beer filtration kits - what are the best ones to use?

The thing about beer is it's not just about how it tastes.

It's also about how it looks.

A good-looking beer says to the mind, this beer is clean and crisp and ready to drink.

A cloudy beer can suggest dirt and sediment and the lizard brain just doesn't want to drink it.

So many a brewer will do a variety of tricks to make their beer clear.

Cold crashing, using gelatin, refrigeration and the like are pretty hand methods but a beer filtration kit can work absolute wonders to clear beer.

So other than the goal of clear beer, why would you filtrate?

Filtering will take out the yeast, any tannins and some large proteins from your beer that can contribute to off-flavors and haze.

And while it is true that such solids do precipitate out of the beer through lagering and the aging process, filtering greatly accelerates the process of clearing by physically removing them in minutes.

This means you don't need to sit around for weeks or even months for your beer to become ready.

This is not to say that if you use a beer filtration kit your beer bottles will not have any sediment (how we wish that could be) AND in fact, using a filter is not for bottle brewers. This is because the filtration process removes the active yeast from the beer.

So if you were to bottle your filtrated beer and add sugar for the customary secondary round of fermentation - fermentation will not occur as the yeast will no longer be present in the beer to eat the sugar. 

So what to do then?

Filtration is for DIY home brewers who use a kegging system.

The popular method is to filter your beer directly into a keg using CO2. You can then bottle it from the keg using a counter-pressure bottle filler or a beer gun. The true beauty of a using a bottle filler attached to the keg is that it prevents the loss of any carbonation.

If you are worried about your water quality, you can test for iron, nitrates and bacteria with a test kit.

And now you've got that sorted, here are three reliable options to consider:

Inline Filter	Price Comparison
Home Brew Stuff ✔	Mid range
Midwest  ✔✔	Mid range
Bouncer ✔	Budget

HomeBrewStuff 10" Beer Filtration Kit

Home Brew Stuff can of course only say good things about their kit.

They boast that the "filtering process can eliminate weeks of secondary aging, giving you better tasting beer much quicker than before.

During secondary aging the primary effect is that more yeast settles out of suspension, carrying with it, proteins, polyphenols, and other flavor compounds that contribute to the "green" flavor of un-aged beers.

Filtering will eliminate most of this yeast and those flavor compounds in a matter of minutes instead of weeks. "

A standard 5 micron filter included is suitable for most applications and it will filter up to 10 gallons of beer when used on two consecutive kegs. 

Note that the filters should not be reused. 

The kit also comes with liquid ball lock fittings on both sides, (2) 30" lengths of tubing, 10" clear filter housing, and one 5 micron filter cartridge. 

Here are reviews from actual users who have used the unit:

"The quick connects are great, they make purging the o2 out of the line quick and easy. A must for any home brewer who wants to elevate the quality of the beer."

"We ordered two of these kits and interconnected them together with great results. The nice thing about these filters is that they are easily accessible and cheap when compared to the plate filters we use to utilize for our plate filtering system."

"Easy to use, no leaks like the plate filters, cleans up easily. 5 gallons took only a half hour. The valve operates as expected. I recommend going down to a half micron to really polish your beer. " 

With reviews like that, you might want to check out the price on Amazon.

Midwest Beer Clarity Filter System

The Midwest filter system has been reconfigured to make filtration easier and less expensive.

In order to filter beer or wine you will need to have a Cornelius keg system with a minimum of 2 kegs. Un-carbonated product from one tank is pushed with CO2 through the filter into the sanitized empty tank.

In order to polish your beer and remove yeast you will need to do this in a two stage process, which means with 2 kegs you will have to clean and sanitize the originating keg before sending the beer back through the fine filter. The first filter you will use is a 5 micron sized filter to remove large particulate (hops and proteins) that if left for the fine filters would clog them before you finish.

Once your beer passes through the 5 micron filter then it is up to you how fine you want your product filtered. The fine filters consist of a 1.0 micron and a 0.65 micron filter. The 1.0 micron filter should filter out 80-90% of the yeast in solution while the 0.65 - 0.5 sterile filter will filter out 100% of the yeast.

• 10" filter housing
• Tubing and Disconnects
• 1- 5.0-micron coarse basic disposable filter
• 1- 1.0-micron polishing basic disposable filter
• Water tubing kit

Here are some reviews left by beer makers who have used the filter on their own precious beer,

"This filtration kit has taken my beers to the next level of quality. I can produce competition level, crystal clear beers now. I would highly recommend this for any home brewer looking to take their brew to the next level."

"Solid, heavy duty filter housing a beer lines make this a great product! Cleaning attachment makes cleaning the system simple and efficient. Takes maybe a hour and a half to clean and sanitize kegs and complete the filtering process but the beer is clear and crisp when done."

"Works great. I filtered 10 gallons very quickly. It came out crystal clear."

If those recommendations are solid enough, then check out the price on Amazon.

Bouncer inline beer filter 

If you are looking for a cheaper filter, the Bouncer comes in at a budget of under half of Midwest's offering, making it a cheap solution for those who want a clear beer but need to save some pennies so they can grab some nice hops. 

Bouncer's promotional guff says that it:

• improves the taste and clarity of your beer by filtering trub, krausen, hops, and proteins
• built to last, use it over and over, custom molded from high quality thermoplastic and T304 stainless steel in the USA, use up to 150F
• saves time and beer, pays for itself in a few batches, get more beer out of each batch, easier and quicker than cold crashing or additives
• easy to use and clean, gravity fed using your racking siphon, no need to pressurize or pump, fewer parts to clean and sanitize, fits 3/8" inner diameter siphon tubing (standard size)

Don't take Bouncer's word for it, check out the reviews of real brewers who have filtered gunk from their beer with it:

"I'm pretty impressed with this solid little rig. It clears out all the large stuff without issue on 5 gallon batches. I use false bottoms and nylon brew bags for hops and speciality grains, so I typically have very little junk in my wort. This did catch all the stuff I missed, however, and kept it out of the primary fermenter."

"I was skeptical about how this would make a difference, but I have never had better clarity with homebrew than after applying this filter; even without the use of Irish moss or whirlfloc tablets, the two batches that ran through this came out beautifully. Easily installed and will use it with all of my future batches."

"I got to use this when I transferred an IPA from Primary to keg. I dry hopped in the primary so there was a lot of hop detritus in there. Bounced filter it all out. Great product."

Sounds like the smart choice then.

How to use the Bouncer inline filter

There are three methods of use:

1. out of the brew kettle 
2. out of the fermenter
3. out of your serving tap. 

To use your bouncer out of your brew kettle, simply connect it to your brew kettle valve with standard tubing, or cut your siphon tube line near the top, and insert the barbs into the tube. Pay attention to the arrow that indicates the flow direction. 

Make sure you have disassembled the bouncer and dipped it in sanitizer just before you use it.

Then open your valve, or pump your siphon. If the flow decreases too much, you can stop the flow, remove the bowl and filter, rinse, sanitize, reinstall, and keep going. The other methods are discussed here.

So if you take these brewers at their word, this inline filter has it going on.

How does a beer filter work?

Filtering has been around for donkey's years. Pool filters, dust filters - they are simply screens which let the desired substance through, preventing the unwanted from having access.

It's the same with a beer filter. 

The screen filters the unwanted beer particles like proteins and other hazy bits.

In the case of beer filters, the measurement term for the size of the holes in the filter is a micron. Most filters have a micron of one. Anything sized about 5 microns will tend to let the yeast through, which is not the point of this exercise!

Can I reuse a beer filter?

There are indeed filters that you can reuse. They require some earnest maintenance. Backflushing to clean them is really important. You need to clean away all the beer residue as that can be a vector for the contamination of your beer. 

This means you'll need to have sanitized them before using. Many brewers soak the filter in a Starsan solution.

That said, there are some strong arguments not to reuse them. The biggest one is to simply avoid the risk of contamination. If a filter is 5 bucks, why worry about reusing them?

We totally get of course that 5 bucks is five bucks and a penny saved is a penny earned so if you can clean and sanitize your filter properly, go for it.

What is the difference between a pleated and spun filter?

A pleated filter is designed in the form of pleats. This means the filter has mean folds - the idea being you create a larger surface area meaning you can filter faster. A spun filter is usually made of polypropylene fibres and are 'spun' together to look like foam packaging.

Each filter should load the same way into the filter's housing.

What is a plate filter?

Plate filters are a different kind of device but work on the same principles. They are very common in breweries and wineries use a large plate filter system to achieve clear beer product however, smaller versions can also be used by backyard brewers.

You need a kegging system to use the plate filter to transfer the beer under a low PSI pressure. 

If you use one, a good trick is to run a gallon of water through the filter set up to help remove any 'papery taste flavor" that might transfer through into the beer.

Where can I get replacement cartridge filters?

The beauty of using a filter is that there's a thriving competitive market so there are plenty of online sellers and beer merchants that sell replacement cartridge filters.

The benefit of a plate filler is they generally offer a greater filtration surface area over traditional cartridge models.

Many are also interchangeable between brands - so you don't need to stick with brand loyalty if you need to go for a cheaper option, the increase in quality option and you can also purchase in bulk.

There's plenty of cartridge options on Amazon.

Points on using filters on beer brews

• Filtration is not the answer to preventing bacterial contamination in beer. I have no idea why people think this is the case.
• Filtration will not remove extraordinary amounts of brewer’s yeast from the wort (if you have over pitched). You may need to run it through twice or use a double kit system.
• The colder your beer is when you filter, the better the result
• Get a kit which allows you to swap out different brands of filters as you may find you want to use difference micro sizes or use a pleat or spun filters.
• Many filter kits used in brewing are simply multi-purpose and can be connected to household plumbing and the like. By buying a specialist brewer will ensure that your beer filter will come with the correct coupling fittings to connect to your keg and CO2 system
• Using a filter is not the only way to clear beer, remember you can use finings, cold crash and simply bottle age and let the sediment settle.
• If you're a winemaker, you can totally use a filtration system to clear wine. It is best done just before bottling. You can also clear wine with sparkolloid fining agent.
• If you think you are being clever by coming up with the idea of using coffee filters that have been wrapped around the end of a siphon tube, you're probably dreaming on that one. The coffee filter will quite likely filter WAY too slowly and probably cause blockage quite easily. 

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