Coffee filtering wort

[Beer Volcano]

So I'm going to do small (2 gallon) extract batch simply to do a bit of experimentation, but I'm going try a few different things at once to save ingredients and money.

One of the things I was going to try was filtering the wort into the primary fermentation vessel (this time it's a 3 gallon carboy) using a large funnel and large coffee filter. We have a 4 L funnel and these huge coffee filters that can also hold roughly 1 gal or 4 L. We usually use these to filter big batches of cold brew coffee.

Since this will be such a small batch I figure it would take very little time to filter through. Since this will be before pitching yeast getting air into the wort is not a problem. I'll be aerating with an aquarium pump and stone anyway. I just want to see if removing all the trub before pitching actually helps anything.

I'm usually not that stringent about removing trub before pitching because, from what I've experienced, a bit of trub in the fermentation vessel really doesn't make any difference (that I can tell) and it all falls out anyway. But I want to see if removing virtually all of it has any real effect on the final product.

I just wanted to ask here if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing and/or if anyone can spot a potential problem. Thanks!

[BOB357]

If you create a whirlpool by stirring in a circular motion after you chill the wort everything should settle out within 15 minutes or so. You can then siphon the clear wort into your fermenter. I can't see the wort going through a coffee filter very easily unless most all of the trub has settles out at any rate.

[Beer Volcano]

I don't think it'll get stuck. Remember this is a very large coffee filter and funnel. They literally hold a gallon at a time. It will probably filter faster than it takes to whirlpool and it'll remove virtually all the trub, not just 90% of it, and there will be almost no loss of wort.

Also, the thing is, when I've tried to whirlpool in the past, it just doesn't work very well for me. In fact it just seems to disturb the solids more after they've settled some. Sure a little pile starts to gather at the bottom (if I can see it) but there's usually still a bunch swirling around. I would give up and just have trub in the fermenter. Eventually, when I didn't notice any difference whatsoever, I just forgot about it and worried about getting the cooled wort into the fermenter as quickly as possible. Whether there was a little bit of trub in there or a lot, it didn't seem to matter. It certainly doesn't end up in the final product. It doesn't even make it to secondary. And it doesn't seem to make any difference in taste, etc.

Anyway, if it starts to look like it won't work, I'll give up and forget about it. I was just wondering if it would affect flavor somehow. Maybe there's something in the paper that will leach out. Something like that. I doubt it since it's made to filter hot, acidic coffee.

[Beer Volcano]

So last weekend I did it. I boiled a batch of extract brew and sent it through the big coffee filter into the carboy. It went well, but eventually the trub did end up clogging the filter. It only did this when there was about a quart of wort left and so I just moved the filter around to expose bare paper and eventually got another pint out of it. In the end I chucked the last pint because it was going through so slowly and I was becoming impatient at that point. It was really just a pile of wet trub at that point. The whole thing took about 20-25 minutes. Granted it was only a total of 2 gallons of wort.

The nice thing is that by trickling through the paper and landing at the bottom of the carboy, the wort got really foamy and well aerated. I didn't have to break out the pump and stone since the filter did all the aerating.

I was testing this out to see if it would work as a good method to only ferment mostly clean wort without any (or very little) trub in it. I think if I were to try it on a 5 gallon or larger batch, I would try to use 2-4 filters. Once one filter slows down to slow dripping, I'll do my best to get the most out of it, then just switch filters by picking up that one and pouring the contents into the next filter. These are pretty thick filters so they're strong enough to pick up wet like that. Next brew day, which will be this weekend, I'll give it a shot. If it starts to give me too much trouble I can always just forget about it.

[Ck27]

So last weekend I did it. I boiled a batch of extract brew and sent it through the big coffee filter into the carboy. It went well, but eventually the trub did end up clogging the filter. It only did this when there was about a quart of wort left and so I just moved the filter around to expose bare paper and eventually got another pint out of it. In the end I chucked the last pint because it was going through so slowly and I was becoming impatient at that point. It was really just a pile of wet trub at that point. The whole thing took about 20-25 minutes. Granted it was only a total of 2 gallons of wort.

The nice thing is that by trickling through the paper and landing at the bottom of the carboy, the wort got really foamy and well aerated. I didn't have to break out the pump and stone since the filter did all the aerating.

I was testing this out to see if it would work as a good method to only ferment mostly clean wort without any (or very little) trub in it. I think if I were to try it on a 5 gallon or larger batch, I would try to use 2-4 filters. Once one filter slows down to slow dripping, I'll do my best to get the most out of it, then just switch filters by picking up that one and pouring the contents into the next filter. These are pretty thick filters so they're strong enough to pick up wet like that. Next brew day, which will be this weekend, I'll give it a shot. If it starts to give me too much trouble I can always just forget about it.

Interesting experiment. I look forward to hearing your full report when all is done.

I don't filter wort usually but occasionally I use whole leaf hops on my robobrew which seem to ironically filter the wort out I've always gotten the cleanest wort that way.