135 micron filter for cold shock?

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iamthefly

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Hi,
Would 135micron nylon mesh filter out cold shock solids? The description on ebay says it's suitable for fine filtering foods and juices.

Cheers
 
In two words "Probably not."

Cold crashing is mainly to remove yeast cells (dead or alive) and small particulates that are still floating around in the brew after fermentation is completed.

The yeast cells (which form much of the haze in a newly fermented brew) will pass straight through a 135 micron filter because they are so small.

"Yeasts are very small, typically 5 to 10 microns
which is around 5 times the size of most bacteria."​

...from http://www.wyeastlab.com/yeast-fundamentals

Hope this helps. :thumb:
 
OK thanks.

I thought cold shock was when you cooled with a cool after the boil?
 
Ah, a totally different situation.

I would call that "chilling the wort" rather than "cold shock"; sorry!

The suspended solids in the wort are mostly the tiny bits of flour and debris from the grain and bits of hops from the bittering process.

Personally, I use Protafloc to flocculate (clump together) the tiny particulates in the wort but there are many other methods that may be used and some Forum members don't use anything.

Flocculation makes it easier to remove the particulates. All I personally do after cooling is "whirlpool" the wort (i.e. swirl it around rapidly so that all the solids migrate towards the centre of the boiler), let it settle and then drain the boiler very slowly (through a 10mm pipe) from the edge of the boiler.

Other members use a filter laid across or around the edge of the boiler for the same purpose.

Getting back to the suitability of a 135 micron mesh for the purpose of filtering the wort I think the mesh may actually be too small.

Here's a typical Bazooka filter that is used for a similar purpose.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Beer-Brew...el-/221895094373?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

... and here's a sheet of 135 micron mesh for comparison.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-metre-F...ERIAL-WATER-NYLON-STRAIN-FFN125-/380095820991

Hope this helps. :thumb:
 
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