Homebrew filters

This is quite an area of contention - to filter, or not to filter. There are styles that simply will benefit from filtering; take kölsch for example, where the BJCP a guidelines state that "Authentic versions are filtered to a brilliant clarity". On the other hand, filtering wild beers/sours are an absolute no-no. I initially bought a pre-assembled homebrew filter from Morebeer some years ago, and mainly used it to filter beers that I want to drink really soon. Accelerated conditioning, in a way. Filtering however does impact on the flavour of certain styles, most notably stripping some of the more delicate flavours in hoppy beers. It will make sense then to compensate for this by increasing the flavour and aroma hop additions, plus dry hop only after filtering. 

I use a 5 micron filter, which is plenty. This leaves residual yeast for natural carbonation (if you're so inclined), and yet removes enough gunk to result in an aesthetically-pleasing beer. a 3 micron filter will remove most yeast, while a 0.5 micron filter will leave you with an almost-sterile product. We really don't need to go there as homebrewers! 

I'll continue the next post with some DIY filters!