In line beer filter

[splocal]

I had an idea on how to filter my beer away from larger particles. I dry hopped a Pilsner in a keg and some of the hops got out of the bag so now ever glass has a few hop leaves in it. Not really a big deal to me but for the sake of cosmetics and not freaking out beer judges in a competition I was trying to think of a way to filter out the small particles and had what I think might be a great idea. Bare with me, so I use to have an old VW bug and I had this inline glass fuel filter and I wondered if I could use such a filter to do the above job. I picked up a new one from autozone for $10. It consist of about 9 parts completely able to disassemble and sanitize every part. I doubt the plastic filter is food grade but I think after a boil most residues should be removed. I smelled the filter and it has no strong petroleum or plastic smells. its basically 2 metal caps, a plastic filter, 3 rubber "O" rings a metal centering bar and a glass housing. Ive attached a pic. my biggest concern is the turbulence will cause foaming during bottling I am bottling carbonated beer from a corny using the beer gun. I will share my results..... Any thoughts? I was hoping I might be able to find a filter that would work to filter out finer particles that maybe I can stick in this one and use in the future for clarifying. Maybe buying filtering pads from my homebrew shop and cutting them to size would work?

[Mikegobrew]

No idea on the filter part, but what about opening the keg, pulling the liquid tube out of the beer enough to wrap a boiled muslin bag around the bottom of it, tie it off, and submerging back into the keg. Kinda like what some do to filter out hops from the fermenter when bottling or kegging?

[splocal]

Hmmm yes I suppose that would work too! I want to avoid degassing the keg and risking contamination though I already had to open it once, the thought did cross my mind though.

[vance71975]

I had an idea on how to filter my beer away from larger particles. I dry hopped a Pilsner in a keg and some of the hops got out of the bag so now ever glass has a few hop leaves in it. Not really a big deal to me but for the sake of cosmetics and not freaking out beer judges in a competition I was trying to think of a way to filter out the small particles and had what I think might be a great idea. Bare with me, so I use to have an old VW bug and I had this inline glass fuel filter and I wondered if I could use such a filter to do the above job. I picked up a new one from autozone for $10. It consist of about 9 parts completely able to disassemble and sanitize every part. I doubt the plastic filter is food grade but I think after a boil most residues should be removed. I smelled the filter and it has no strong petroleum or plastic smells. its basically 2 metal caps, a plastic filter, 3 rubber "O" rings a metal centering bar and a glass housing. Ive attached a pic. my biggest concern is the turbulence will cause foaming during bottling I am bottling carbonated beer from a corny using the beer gun. I will share my results..... Any thoughts? I was hoping I might be able to find a filter that would work to filter out finer particles that maybe I can stick in this one and use in the future for clarifying. Maybe buying filtering pads from my homebrew shop and cutting them to size would work?

I wouldn't use an auto filter on my beer.talk about freaking the judges when they get a taste of the chemicals used to treat that filter! Not to mention it could be a health hazard. i would use the below filter if you feel you must filter.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/midwest-beer-clarity-filter-system.html

[splocal]

I know it sounds kind of weird but the filter is actually just a plastic screen it has not chemical on it as far as I can tell its just a plastic screen. if I remove the screen and stuff some beer filter in there that should work too although I really don't think the plastic would impart any off flavors. Maybe I will run some water through it first and taste it to see if anything is off. I plan on boiling all the parts before use. the filter is basically the same as the one you showed me as far as design but the filter element is just a plastic screen. Those filters from Midwest are polypropylene which is plastic however its FDA approved plastic, I believe the fuel filter is also polypropylene but I don't know if its FDA approved which basically means the manufacturer has a facility the makes things meeting a certain sanitation level and the part wont harm you. Polypropylene is something we make at the plant I work at its all made the same way and distributed to company's that mold it into whatever they want. In midwest's case its spun into a fiber that becomes a filter. its all the same material but a place that is not selling things that will be used in a food industry don't waste time jumping through hoops to be FDA approved although the quality may be equal. Not all plastics are created equal and some contain residual petroleum that can be harmful or a carcinogen.

By the way not to say we shouldn't be careful about which plastics we use in brewing but how many times have you seen those commercials on TV to call this number if you got brain tumors after taking a medication. Guess what all those medications were FDA approved.... pretty sad.