Yeast Allergies

 

To start this article you need to know the back story. I’d like you to imagine my joy as I picked up my 15 gallon single malt whiskey barrel. The time invested in designing a peat smoked rye stout to age in the barrel. The patience of waiting 10 months for the Norwegian lager yeast to ferment age the beer. The pure joy as I took my first sips. I woke up in the middle of the night with a raging sore throat that ensued for the next 3 weeks! Waiting until I was better to be able to enjoy my creation again. Watching as my wife gulped down glass after glass in pure ecstasy. Then just as I was better, I took my wifes beer one night and took a sip…It was even better than I remembered! But then, my mouth began to itch. I did a quick google search and to my horror discovered that certain people can be allergic to certain yeast strains. I had to find a solution, the sheer torment of watching others enjoying my creation was killing me.

 

 

I started with a 10” canister filter with a 10 micron paper filter. It took me 2 paper filters to get through 15 gallons of beer, slowly gravity feeding it through the filter. Then on to the 5 micron filters, that took 2 filters to finish. And finally the 1 micron filters, a total of 4! Because I didn’t have kegging equipment either I then pitched some fresh champagne yeast with the appropriate amount of sugar and bottled all 15 gallons. I had to wait 10 days before I could see if my experiment worked, and it DID! I was finally able to drink it. The result of all of that filtering, it was the silkiest beer I’ve ever had. I managed to save one bottle for 4 years and it was truly worth the wait.

 

Over the years now I’ve had several friends that express that they’ve had to stop drinking beer because of different reactions. Let’s be clear, I’m not a Doctor, I'm just sharing my experiences. Each time that I’ve crafted a beer just for them, using organic grains and filtering the beer to 1 micron and serving it on draft, they’ve had no adverse side effects. Again if you have serious allergic reactions I’d consult a medical professional before trying this.

 

With the acquiring of experience and equipment I now cold crash the beer at 40 F for a few days before beginning the filtration process. With good racking I can eliminate the 10 and 5 micron stages and go straight to the 1 micron filter. I use a stainless steel washable filter in the same 10” canister filter I’ve had for 10 years. I can usually get through 5 gallons of a light beer like an IPA in one pass. Stouts and Porters usually have to be done in 2-3 gallon batches, washing the filter in between.