Trying to start homebrewing all my own stuff. I have a good grasp on everything I need for brewing and process itself, but am struggling on what I need for a filtration system. I am looking to run a bottle top vacuum filtration system into a GL45 media bottle. I been looking up and trying to research what is the best to use and I am still not sure. Can someone help point me in the right direction of what I am looking for? I plan on brewing 1000-2000ml at a time when I brew, so something that would be able to handle that amount of brew. I'm also looking for help into which filter paper I would need and if it should be .45 microns or .22 microns or if I should run through .45 filter and then go through the .22 filter. So it would be awesome if some one could help point me in the right direction for that as well. Thanks in advance!
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Vacuum Filtration System Needed For Brewing
- Thread starter biggat21
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First off i would recommend starting with a high quality USP grade carrier oil. Since you wont be producing super large volumes i would go with something like a Whatman zapcap and a hand pump used for bleeding brakes. This set up is cheap and will get the job done for homebrew. For filter size always go .22 and you won't have any problems assuming you properly sterilized your vessel. Hope this helps!
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1000-2000ml at a time is not for just a single person, it is either an embellishment or you are trying to sell your products. Either way, it is not my concern but it has bad optics for your first posting. Any product that has a concentration of 250mg/ml that is prepared to a volume of 1000ml would yield 400 vials. That would be a significant commitment to that one product and you mention that you might double that? So you see where I'm coming from.
Anyway, since I'm a big believer in harm reduction then I can help you a bit here think. You already know that you are looking to run a bottle top filtration system and they are pretty unique in their ways as I'm sure you know, you put your solution in the top chamber, the filter in the middle, and apply vacuum to the bottom media bottle and it pulls the solution through the filter into the media bottle. The problem is twofold.....first, you need to acquire a bottletop filter that is impervious to chemicals or at least resistant. Every filtration system has standardized categories and jobs that those filters can do. For example, you wouldn't use a Steritop AS filter as it stands for aqueous Solution and is hydrophillic. Since your solution is (or at least shouldn't be) made from water it is already the wrong one. The Steritop AS also breaks down from some solvents which would negate even using a filter. You will want something like a PTFE that is hydrophobic as well as chemical resistant. 2nd problem you face is the pore size. All bacteria is larger than .45 micron, so a mechanical sterilization is what is useful here. (there are 4 or 5 differnt types of sterilization and this is one, chemical sterilization is one, gaseous, and microwave means are some others) but for your purposes mechanical is suitable. If you try to run a .22 micron PTFE filtration system then you will yield approximately 50ml befor it has to be changed. Steroids from China are very dirty due to their sloppy manufacturing. Therefore my recommendation is to run a cheaper 1micron filtration to "get the chunks out" and then again at either .45 or .22 if your wallet agrees. You can purchase them at many places and here is an example:
Millipore Stericup Vacuum Filtration System, SCHVU02RE, Set Of 2 | eBay
Millipore Stericup Vacuum Filtration System, SCHVU02RE, Set Of 2. Condition is New. Shipped with FedEx Ground or FedEx Home Delivery.
www.ebay.com
I don't know the material nor the pore size as I just grabbed the first one I saw, I leave that up to you. Those are two VERY important aspects of this production and I strongly ask you to consider doing more research before starting this endeavor. you can get recipe's all day long on the internet that people swear by, but at the end of the day, if you are not applying sound setup and procedure then you might as well be just scraping it off the ground and bottling it. People are going to blindly be putting this into their system without any biological protection such as the liver since we are bypassing it by injection. I digress, the stericup has the filter built into it and the whole thing is disposible and a single use only. It is the popular choice if you want to brew a hundred or a couple hundres ML but you're fooling yourself if you think that it's going to stand up to what you are asking it to do. Expect to go through 5 or 6 of them just to reach your 1,000ml minimum. and 15 to 20 if they are .2 micron. I hope that answers your question.
Never stop learning,
Thank you,
Syn
As an added thought (cause I don't think this posting is long enough) Mechanical Sterilization does not do anything for contaminants such as heavy metals, mercury, cross-contamination, etc. It is encumbent on you to find a reliable source that sells a half decent lypholized steroid (powder). Just because you can get it, doesn't make it good. If you can only remember one thing, just remember that a sterile environment is critical and the single most important thing you can do for yourself. Gone are the days of "bathtub brew". Best of luck.
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You can purchase a media bottle hand pump that screws onto the top and each stroke is exactly 10ml (or whatever you set it at. Alternatively, if you are using a peristaltic pump then you can set it to dispense 10ml every time you depress the foot pedal. Here is a link to an example for the hand pump:
I can definitely see where that would give bad optics for my first posting. There is a good size group of my friends and I that I am looking to start brewing our own Test E and other compounds for and just have good amount of supply built up for us. I am really intrigued by the whole process and have interest in always learning, especially when its something I'm passionate about. So this is not about making money, more of I'm interested and involved in steroids, that I want to learn the whole process from the powders, to making the product, and then using it and seeing the results from it. I see where you are coming from though. Just trying to be as honest as I can so I can get the right help.1000-2000ml at a time is not for just a single person, it is either an embellishment or you are trying to sell your products. Either way, it is not my concern but it has bad optics for your first posting. Any product that has a concentration of 250mg/ml that is prepared to a volume of 1000ml would yield 400 vials. That would be a significant commitment to that one product and you mention that you might double that? So you see where I'm coming from.
Anyway, since I'm a big believer in harm reduction then I can help you a bit here think. You already know that you are looking to run a bottle top filtration system and they are pretty unique in their ways as I'm sure you know, you put your solution in the top chamber, the filter in the middle, and apply vacuum to the bottom media bottle and it pulls the solution through the filter into the media bottle. The problem is twofold.....first, you need to acquire a bottletop filter that is impervious to chemicals or at least resistant. Every filtration system has standardized categories and jobs that those filters can do. For example, you wouldn't use a Steritop AS filter as it stands for aqueous Solution and is hydrophillic. Since your solution is (or at least shouldn't be) made from water it is already the wrong one. The Steritop AS also breaks down from some solvents which would negate even using a filter. You will want something like a PTFE that is hydrophobic as well as chemical resistant. 2nd problem you face is the pore size. All bacteria is larger than .45 micron, so a mechanical sterilization is what is useful here. (there are 4 or 5 differnt types of sterilization and this is one, chemical sterilization is one, gaseous, and microwave means are some others) but for your purposes mechanical is suitable. If you try to run a .22 micron PTFE filtration system then you will yield approximately 50ml befor it has to be changed. Steroids from China are very dirty due to their sloppy manufacturing. Therefore my recommendation is to run a cheaper 1micron filtration to "get the chunks out" and then again at either .45 or .22 if your wallet agrees. You can purchase them at many places and here is an example:
Millipore Stericup Vacuum Filtration System, SCHVU02RE, Set Of 2 | eBay
Millipore Stericup Vacuum Filtration System, SCHVU02RE, Set Of 2. Condition is New. Shipped with FedEx Ground or FedEx Home Delivery.www.ebay.com
I don't know the material nor the pore size as I just grabbed the first one I saw, I leave that up to you. Those are two VERY important aspects of this production and I strongly ask you to consider doing more research before starting this endeavor. you can get recipe's all day long on the internet that people swear by, but at the end of the day, if you are not applying sound setup and procedure then you might as well be just scraping it off the ground and bottling it. People are going to blindly be putting this into their system without any biological protection such as the liver since we are bypassing it by injection. I digress, the stericup has the filter built into it and the whole thing is disposible and a single use only. It is the popular choice if you want to brew a hundred or a couple hundres ML but you're fooling yourself if you think that it's going to stand up to what you are asking it to do. Expect to go through 5 or 6 of them just to reach your 1,000ml minimum. and 15 to 20 if they are .2 micron. I hope that answers your question.
Never stop learning,
Thank you,
Syn
As an added thought (cause I don't think this posting is long enough) Mechanical Sterilization does not do anything for contaminants such as heavy metals, mercury, cross-contamination, etc. It is encumbent on you to find a reliable source that sells a half decent lypholized steroid (powder). Just because you can get it, doesn't make it good. If you can only remember one thing, just remember that a sterile environment is critical and the single most important thing you can do for yourself. Gone are the days of "bathtub brew". Best of luck.
I have done a good amount of research on the the whole process, specifically with the sterilization process. This is stuff that is going to be going in my body and my friends so I am taking all the precautions on sterilization and making sure to stay away from harm. In my research and one of your other responses to a posting, I saw and read about needing to make sure the filters hydrophobic, due to the the solution being oil and not water. I have an understanding on that now. I was stuck between the PTFE and PVDF filters. I am glad you mentioned PTFE because that is what I decided to go with. After doing more research I decided to go with the .22 micron filters. I wasnt 100% sure on whether to get the .22 or .45 micron and that was my biggest hold up on everything. The rest of the brewing process I have a real good concept on. I kept reading many conflicting information on the .22 vs .45 micron. I will also ordered the 1 micron filters to work like a pre filter, before I do the actually .22 micron filtering. Thanks for the information on that. My original post probably came off as me not having any idea what I am doing, but that is not the case. There is just a few small details that I wanted to be 100% certain on. I have already came up with a full brewing and sterilization procedure.
As an update as well, I did complete a batch of the test e and everything came out good. Sterilization was on lock down and haven't had any problems with the product since using it. Sorry for the late response, didn't see that you responded to my original posting.
I appreciate you taking time out of your day to answer and help out. It definitely is much appreciated
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You are welcome sir, and I am always happy to share what little that I know. I apologize if I came off snarky, that was not my intent. I don't feel threatened by guys learning to brew and welcome those that want to, so that wasn't my concern, only that you might be brewing for many people without the knowledge and understanding you should have before undertaking that process. but it sounds like you have a decent foundation so I am less concerned. You will grow out of the aforementioned process quickly and may want to upgrade, in which case you are welcome to email me and I can explain the next step up in vacuum filtration. I'm happy that you were able to utilize some of the information that I gave, that is what it is all about, keeping people safe through knowledge and experience. I hope the best for you and I think you made a wise decision. I run my gear through two filters as well, ultimately running the final one as a .22 so it doesn't matter how you get to the .22 as long as you get there so that everyone is protected. Appreciate the follow up,
Thank you,
SYn
Hey Syn,
Id like to talk more about the next step up in vacuum filtration process. The setup I have now is taking way longer than it should be taking. Whats your email?
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My email is [email protected]