New pilsner idea

My experience is different, but I've also only ever filtered lagers. I've never filtered an IPA, so I can't comment with personal experience, other than to say that at school, our professors claimed that filtering doesn't change the flavor or aroma unless you go down to .2 micron. At Blue Pants for our Pils (not dry hopped) we filtered down to .45 micron and there was no noticeable difference between the clear but unfiltered beer and the sterile filtered beer.

I do 9 micron because when I filter lagers, they're already very clear and I like having fast filtration time. In fact, I most commonly filter carbonated beer directly into kegs now at Tombstone.

 

Ah, that is an important consideration.

Thanks for that input.

Cheers!

 

We've done unfiltered pils a couple of times and it gets almost as clear as filtered but the mouthfeel isn't as crisp and the aroma isn't as clear after a month of two. We did a stronger unfiltered export pils last year and I really liked it but it took a couple of months of lagering to drop really clear. As long as you don't rush lagering, the difference isn't usually that big. We also just did an unfiltered pils with some new American and English hops and it essentially looks filtered. If you use good pilsner malt and know how to make wort, all your lager bier will clear up with proper time.

 

At the Ayinger tour the guide said that when the beer has lagered to the desired specs (he didn't go through those), the beer is filtered. It made sense to me, as at a certain point you are spend in tank time waiting for everything to drop out, filtering frees up the tank. Oh, Ayinger makes some tasty beer even if it is filtered.

 

Jeff, did they provide any beer samples from the tank (zwick'l samples) during the tour? This way you could have a tasting of before and after.

Cheers!

 

Jeff, did they provide any beer samples from the tank (zwick'l samples) during the tour? This way you could have a tasting of before and after.

Cheers!

 

Yes, I had several tastes of the Jahrhundert drawn off from the Zwickel tap. I didn't have any filtered Jahrhundert on that trip. The Ayinger stube across from the Hofbrauhaus puts on a wooden barrel of unfiltered unpasteurized Jahrhundert at 5:00, and it was wonderful due to a little time in the barrel.

 

True Story. We have a very similar experience with our kellerbiers. Oddly we have two different ones on-draught at the moment, and despite very minimal post-fermentation handling, they're both pretty clear (not brilliant, but mostly clear.)
The big difference, though is mouthfeel. Both of our current kellerbiers are rich and creamy with a nice malt flavor and hop bite. Last summer we used the same base beer and filtered one, and left the other, and the mouthfeel was the biggest change, along with some hop aroma drop off. Neither are dry-hopped but they both have a modest to high hop aroma.

Good kellerbiers are among my all time favorite beers to drink, so I'm a sucker for the style. Who says the "haze craze" started in New England!?!

 

Bill, thanks so much for that input. It is very useful!!

Cheers!