Filtering Engine 5

Today we are filtering 30 barrels of Engine 5 scheduled to be bottled on Monday and Tuesday.

Engine 5 is filtered using a plate and frame filter along with a cartridge filter. A plate and frame sandwiches sheets of filter membrane (paper) between two plastic plates. As the beer is pushed through the sheets, yeast, trub, and other particulates are stripped from the beer for a clean final product. Our filter sheets will strip any particle that is greater than 6 microns (0.0006 inches). Once the beer passes through the plate and frame filter, it goes into a cartridge filter. A cartridge filter is basically a large version of your home water filters. It has a filtering membrane inside the housing that will strip out any that is greater that 0.65 microns. At 0.65 microns, the beer is nearly sterile; meaning that any bacteria that may have survived the plate and frame filter, will most likely be stripped out by the cartridge before it enters the Bright Tank. Once it is in the Bright Tank, the beer is carbonated and ready for packaging.

A filter run can take anywhere from 3-8 hours. It has taken as long as 12 hours before. Therefore, it is always nice to have a brewery dog to play with in the meantime.



Here is a picture of the setup of the two filters. On the left-hand side is the Plate and Frame filter which leads into the cartridge filter on the right. After the cartridge filter, the beer goes into the Bright Tank.




Here is a better view of the cartridge filter and the connections to the filters.

James