My new sock (separate your wash)

[rgreen2002]

So I recently came across this thingy...

The Sock

I had mentioned it in another thread. This one was from amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004F9GX ... 3EE8N62_pr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
but there are other places to purchase them (I want to buy from this guy! - https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow )

They come in many different sizes and lengths. The one I got was a 4" mouth and an 8" long sock. It has about a 1 micron porosity and it is similar to the geotextile stuff we have seen before ( http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 7#p7419667 - actually this whole post is great.)

I decided that I would put the sock into my 4" opening in my keg and see how it did for filtering.

Fit like a ...... sock...?

Notice the nice handle for pulling it back out..

So I had a BW wash sitting around for a cleaning I was doing and I thought lets give this a whirl. If it can filter that tomato paste laden wash it's good enough for me. I poured it right into the sock, wash, paste, yeast and all...right in.

Starting to back up...

I have a second port as a fill port so I reached in and collected a sample of the filtrate as it ran into the boiler...

Not too shabby...

Tomato mess for comparison...

So for less than $10... not a bad little filter for those nasty washes. Plus.... since your yeast is about 5-10 microns ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces_cerevisiae" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ) you should capture much of it as well. I am planning on using another inside my grain mash barrel to collect and strain from the inside.

[Phlash]

Looks like it does a nice job, thanks for sharing

[bilgriss]

Sock filters work great. The really fine ones clog easily though, which can be frustrating. Ask me how I know.

[FreeMountainHermit]

So I recently came across this thingy... This one was from amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004F9GXG2/re ... BT3ZMQN2E8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow )

Made out of felt just like the old 'shiners hats. I believe they knew a thing or three. Maybe use one or two on the output end to filter out some of the oils ???

[BoomTown]

We have been using 'socks' in our fermenting barrels. We line the fermenter with these socks made of mosquito netting, and ferment on the grain. When the ferment finishes, we simply tie them off, lift them out and hang them from the ceiling till the dripping stops. What's left in the fermenter runs quite cleanly in our electric fired pot still.

And, following MCH's advise, we now drop the separated grains into our steam powered still, and harvest about 15% more yield before we discard the grains. Once we empty the sock, we toss it into a bucket of water / vinegar and rinse it out and hang out to dry.

We ferment in 30 gallon barrels now, but have these 'socks' sized to work great in 6 gallon buckets too.

If you decide to make some of these socks for yourself, be sure you boil the mosquito netting for an hour or so, and rinse it several times to be sure that you have eliminated any pesticides or preservatives that the netting may have been exposed to earlier in its life span. If you don't the netting will kill the yeast in your ferment.

Boom

[rgreen2002]

So I recently came across this thingy... This one was from amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004F9GXG2/re ... BT3ZMQN2E8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow )

Made out of felt just like the old 'shiners hats. I believe they knew a thing or three. Maybe use one or two on the output end to filter out some of the oils ???

FMH... that idea never occurred to me! That geotextile stuff does have an "oil" barrier. Very Interesting.

[rgreen2002]

So these socks are awesome... I will admit when your running 30 gallons of wash through them they do gunk up fast and slow the production down a little but they really work great. With my mash in a bag technique I have few solids and the majority of what I filter out is the yeast trub (and the lacto infections most of my all grains seem to get... ) I bought a few more socks to speed the process but then I found out they sell this stuff in sheets!
So I bought a sheet. I have a 200 micron paint strainer and I cut the sheet up into about 15 disks and put them in the bucket:

My new sheet

I then go through those (and the socks) to filter my wash. When they look like this and slow things down too much I spray them off ( gonna need a power washer soon...) and use them again. Amazon sells the sheet for $23 free shipping.... its 1 Yard x 72" in size and you get a heck of a lot of filters for that.