filtration
Filtration
Pass beer through a filter medium to remove yeast and haze-forming particles, producing bright beer with a long, stable shelf life.
What is actually happening
Filters range from a coarse polish that removes only yeast to a sterile filtration that removes essentially all microorganisms. What is lost scales with tightness: body, foam-positive protein and some hop aroma.
A filtered beer cannot condition in the package, because the organism that would do it has been removed.
What goes wrong here
Risks rather than certainties. This step does not cause these faults; getting it wrong can.
- Poor head retention — Foam that collapses immediately — most often caused by grease or detergent residue in the glass rather than by the beer.
Related steps and concepts
- Centrifugation — The mechanical alternative.
- Pasteurisation — The other stabilising step.
Also at the filtration stage
Centrifugation · Cold crashing · Fining
See the whole process in order on how beer is made.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.