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I'm looking to upscale our production of cold brew to batches with a 1000L yield, using a ratio of 1:12.5 to make a ready-to-drink coffee for bottling. Currently we run batches of ~40L through a large stainless 40-micron mesh conical filter with good results, however this won't scale so easily as the mesh is really expensive. I'm thinking that making large batches by steeping coffee in big mesh tea bags will be the easiest upgrade. I'm also assuming that a secondary filtration will be necessary, but that's a separate question.

What sort of mesh sizes and materials are best for balancing yield with how fine the filtration is? Thanks!

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5 Answers 5

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I have had bags made up in China. 30cm x 30cm 100 micron is best for stepping. Put 5kgs of coffee in each bag and filter it a second time straight out of the tap.

Ohhhh and never squeeze the bags.

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  • What are the bags made of? What do you mean about filtering a second time? Through a new bag, through the same bag again, or through paper or something else? If you're filtering a second time, why not squeeze the bag? Would you expand on these? It seems like an interesting idea, but more detail would help. Welcome to Coffee!
    – hoc_age
    Commented Jan 26, 2017 at 19:08
  • I'm also curious about squeezing the bags. I've spoken with coffee producers who squeeze/press in order to get every last drop of coffee out. I've also spoken with others who claim that squeezing the grounds will extract and yield off flavors that you don't want in your coffee.
    – brendo234
    Commented Mar 6, 2017 at 17:22
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I've been testing out our latest releases (at the coffee company where I work) and found that I needed to brew them all in the same style to really compare the nuance of each roast. I decided to go with cold brew across the board, though I drink the resulting coffee both hot and cold.

I have had great results with the Coffee Sock or on Amazon, and I really enjoy its simplicity. I am only brewing in much smaller batches (a gallon at a time) but I wonder if that material would give similar benefits (no need for secondary filtration, good pass-through, durable, easy to clean) at a much larger scale?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

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  • I haven't tried a coffee sock, and they don't seem to know what the pore sizes of their fabric are, however I'm guessing that they won't be in the <100 micron range so secondary filtration will still be necessary. Do you squeeze the sock?
    – Tod
    Commented May 16, 2016 at 23:39
  • Welcome to Stack Exchange! I removed a link because of guidelines on self-promotion -- it's not relevant to your answer; for more, see about How to Answer or take the tour. I also changed the product link to be to the product itself (I think) and to the SE-helping Amazon link. If I have mis-characterized your content, please modify again. Welcome!
    – hoc_age
    Commented May 17, 2016 at 0:18
  • @Tod Sorry for the delay! I suspect my at-home method doesn't scale up as well as a mesh. You're right, secondary filtration is probably necessary. To answer your question though, it's not necessary to squeeze the sock (which, I suspect would pass through even more sediment). I leave it 12-18 hours then remove it and let it drain.
    – Robert1er
    Commented May 24, 2016 at 15:35
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Have you looked into these stainless steel cold brew systems at all? Reusable filter, no mesh bags to clean. Good for the environment and easy to use.

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  • Yeah I have, I'd be interested to know how effective they are (probably a separate question). I can't imagine that the mesh is fine enough to get away with no secondary filtration. The main reason I passed them up is because of the size - we want to move to 1000 yield batches.
    – Tod
    Commented Jun 26, 2016 at 5:00
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Have you considered a larger mesh than follow with a small centrifuge to polish out all the solids that go through the mesh?

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  • Hi Mike, welcome to the site. Can you expand on your answer, as it is it's a little hard to follow.
    – fredley
    Commented Apr 1, 2017 at 22:38
  • Mike, I second @fredley's comment.
    – Mayo
    Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 15:41
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You may want to check this one out. It's stainless steel, uses sanitary fittings and single use compostable filters. No cleaning filters required and they drain much better than the stainless mesh options in my experience.

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