A review on Sterile Filtration - An alternative of Beer Pasteurization

In brewing industries, brewers are working to improve the taste and quality of beer. The most important and crucial is to retain the original and unique flavor and color of beer. As we have discussed the pasteurization process in the previous article, it accelerates the staling of beer. Due to the staling taste of beer gets affected and reduce its desirable characteristics. 

What is sterile filtration?

Sterile filtration is an alternative to pasteurization. It is a process of removing microorganisms (yeasts and other spoilage organisms) from a fluid without adversely affecting the product using a microporous membrane. A lot of Brewers are turning to sterile filtration as a reliable method from the pasteurization process. Beer has been which has been filtered, retains its desirable characteristics more efficiently than pasteurization. 

There are two main types of sterile filtration- 

• Multiple Filtration: The pores of the filter are larger than the microorganisms. Due to repeated passage through filters, electrostatic attraction tends to remove the bulk of the cells. After filtration, the beer is safe for consumption, as the number of cells present in the beer is below a critical level. This state of the beer is called commercial sterility. 

The following video shows how the Multiple Filter works - 

• Membrane Filtration: The beer is filtered through a membrane that acts as a sieve. The pore size of the sieve is sufficiently small to prevent the passage of microorganisms. 

The following video shows how the Membrane Filter works - 

Benefits of sterile filtration over flash pasteurization

1. Sterile filtration protects the unique characteristics of the beer, whereas the pasteurization process is much harsher than the sterile filtration. 
2. Sterile filtration protects the distinctive flavor of the beer. But in the pasteurization process, flavor gets affected due to aging. 
3. The filters used in sterile filtration minimize the absorption of desirable components and help to protect beer head retention. 
4. Sterile filtration doesn't,t need any higher amount of energy, whereas pasteurization requires a huge amount of energy to run the heat exchanger. 
5. Sterile filtration equipment is lower expensive than the pasteurization process.

Filtration units you can buy for home-brew 

If you want to make a beer at home, you need a filtration unit to filter the beer. But you can't buy a huge and complex filtration unit for home-brew. The following filtration units are small and very useful for home-brew. These filtration units are also used for the filtration of wine. 

Wine Pourer with Built-in-Filter

An ultra-fine screen mesh is fitted around a hollow core. It filters cork particles and sediment.

For more details: Click Here

Buy: From Here 

Zerone Home-Brew Filter, Stainless Steel Home-Brew Filter

This filter is made of stainless steel with non-toxic, anti-rust, and low and high-temperature resistant material. This hop filter can be used for filtering beer, wine, homemade coffee. 

Dimension: 29 cm X 7 cm (11 inch X 2.7 inch)

For more details: Click Here

Buy: From Here 

Beer Filtration Unit

This filter is suitable for most applications comes and can filter up to 10 gallons of beer. This filter is not reusable. The kit comes with a liquid ball, 30 inches long tube, 10 inches clear filter house, and one 5 micron filter cartridge. 

For more details: Click Here

Buy: From Here 

Source

www.parker.com