Filtering

[DaKajun]

I've been looking at bottle top filtering systems at Med lab and can't make n educated guess which one would be best for the small time home brewer with the info they give on their products. Can someone point me in the right direction as to which one you like and what all do I have to purchase to get this going. Thanks

[Gopro]

Watman (SP?) .22 micro filter. You want to make sure it is a .22 micron filter or finer otherwise bacteria and viruses can still get through. You can use a .45 micron filter to do some quick fine filtering of your solvents/oils to get rid of bigger impurities. But eventually it all gets brewed and then goes through your .22 micron filter, so you are good 2 go brother. I always double filter my finished product though. Just personal preference.

They have bottle top and syringe filters that are .22-.45 micron filters. 45 micron will take less time. Im guessing you are filtering your solvents and oils with this first, before you start to mix them?

[DaKajun]

Thanks for the reply gopro. Does anyone have a preference between the Nalgene MF75 and the Whatman ZapCap?

[Gopro]

I have always used Whatman, the best around if you ask me.

[Smoove]

I prefer the nalgene myself. Whichever way make sure the receiver bottle is glass not plastic. When you filter I always get longer life out of my filter when the oil is still warm

[DaKajun]

I prefer the nalgene myself. Whichever way make sure the receiver bottle is glass not plastic. When you filter I always get longer life out of my filter when the oil is still warm
You say longer life. How much can you filter out of lets say a 500ml bottle top filter? The 500 implies the volume it will hold at a time. But will it filter more or less than 500ml?

[Smoove]

I usually get ~200-250 mls before starts slowing down. I don't let it keep going to see how much it can do before it completely stops, I just swap it out. 250 ml is 25 vials. I usually don't make more than that at a time of each product anyway. I'm not a dealer but a do'er.

[DigitalAsh]

For small time guys I think the stericup filters are good, just use a hand pump and don't get the pressure over 8-9psi if I recall and it won't crack. I had some faulty ones before that leaked but they served me well early on before I upgraded. I didn't personally use the steritop or bottle top ones much, the ones that fit on a glass media bottle, but if you do remember that you have to autoclave and dry the bottle first (you can dry heat but it takes forever and can bake minerals to your glass if you don't use deionized water). So really I think the full disposable ones are good for a personal use brewer. Screw syringe filters unless you're only doing a reallyyy small amount, a couple vials maybe.

Also I believe the PVDF filters are always a bit cheaper than PTFE. Those are the ONLY materials I would use bro. The PTFE will flow a bit faster but PVDF is cheaper. I don't believe you need to double filter, as filters generally aren't cheap and not meant to be reused, also if you use any glass components they will need to be cleaned and resterilized. The second pass won't catch anything anyway, filters are rated in nominal or absolute, an absolute filter stops all particles below its micron rating. >45micron is generally regarded as safe, some rare prions can pass through a .45 but they were not even discovered until fairly recently from what I remember reading. Some places will regard .22um as the only true measure of sterility, but most I believe still accept .45um filtered solutions to be safely considered "sterile". They will also flow signifigantly faster and cost alot less than .22um filters. That is up to you to decide and research on your own. Using .22 filters in a syringe can be a pain, with a vacuum setup it is not really any slower and the filters for a glass filter are cheap in bulk. You can also use a glass filtration setup, but unless you are brewing on a small commercial scale I don't think its worth all the extra investment in time and money. I also believe for most guys using presterilized vials is the easiest way, unless you want to get into crimping and sterilizing your vials its not really worth the little bit of time and money saved, especially on small batches. Lastly I think if you have to buy raws in bulk you may as well brew it and bottle it all at once, it will store for a long time brewed and you know you will never have to make time and get supplies to brew again when you need it. You also will lose some % of your product in all your filtering and bottling and mixing processes etc. so making one large batch saves product, as well as alot of time on multiple brew cycles :)

[DaKajun]

I found a Roush Autofill 1101-RLS sterile full assembly vacuum filter system that has a .2u pore PES filter for only $80.00 /12 that's under $7.00ea

[DigitalAsh]

You don't want to buy PES filters bro I don't think they will withstand the solvents. PVDF and PTFE are the only filter options you have usually as far as I know. There are quite a few materials that won't work and most are cheaper lol

Here is a compatibility chart for different materials, PES is not compatible with BA and there is "No Data" for BB

http://scientiis.com/laboratorium/catalog/images/Laboratory/Filter Membrane Chemical Compatibility.pdf

[lith56]

info is great Im starting to slowly express a nice interest in this

[Joker]

I found a Roush Autofill 1101-RLS sterile full assembly vacuum filter system that has a .2u pore PES filter for only $80.00 /12 that's under $7.00ea

PVDF BRO all the way! !!
Digi is right.......


Also Here's a lil tip... You can thank me later. ...

A common problem using those disposable filters and the bottle top filters is they leak. Either from the psi pressure (cracking) or. . On the bottle tops they'll leak from the Seam .. where the clear plastic joins the base. To solve this issue... use rubber cement. ... It will form a seal. Prep them BEFORE you start filtering...
Anyone that has done this enough times knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about lol
Give it a try. You'll Thank me later hommie slice ; )

[DaKajun]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Will definitely glue the seams above the filter an keep the pressure low to keep from cracking(about 6-7psi). And will use PVDF filters. The guy that told me about those filters says at 1-1/2% - 2% it isn't enough to mess up the filters but I'm not going to take the chance....lol

[Deimos]

Bottle top filtering is def the way to go with the small time homebrewer. I've made some contraptions in the past for those whatmans lol those things suck

[hrtpharm]

Get yourself a glass 45mm top media bottle then you can run 25psi no leaks or cracks.

[enrod]

How would you guys compare the following filters?
Millipore stericup vs Nalgene vs. Roush autofil? Roush is the only one using a .22u membrane, but it looks fairly new to the market.

[hrtpharm]

Millipore and they make a .22 membrane they all work well just my preference.

[enrod]

Millipore and they make a .22 membrane they all work well just my preference.

That's for the info HRT. Are the filters one time use?

[hrtpharm]

Yes one time only as with all of them.

[swoleup]

There are so many contradictions about filters that its hard to decide which to use. I like the idea of the Roush Autofill but I don't know anything about it.

[ODB]

Couple of places to look @;

http://www.millipore.com/catalogue/module/c3240#2

http://www.medical-and-lab-supplies.com/filtration/disposable-vacuum-filters/bottle-top-filters.html

[THE 67]

GET THE MILLIPORE BRO... AND THE FILTERS ARE CALLED MEMBRANES BRO.. :) 47MM IS USUALLY WHAT COMES WITH THE FULL FILTRATION SYSTEM.. :)