Bottle-top filter USA domestic source?

[BigPapa2600]

What's up guys I'm a new member here at Mesorx and also new to homebrewing, long confusing post here so just bare with me if you can.

I've been reading countless threads on here for the past several weeks on homebrewing and have learned lots of very helpful information, but am currently in some confusion about which bottle top filter to use. I will be filtering large amounts of gear once I get the hang of it of course, and want to filter with a bottle top filter, not a syringe filter.

All of the following information I provide is not from personal experience, but from reading countless forums coupled with my own research on the side.

So far it's come to my understanding that using a bottle top filter that has a funnel made of polystyrene housing can result in cloudy gear, since polystyrene is chemically incompatible with Benzyl Alcohol which can actually eat through it and dissolve the polystyrene into the gear thus making it cloudy. There are a couple of threads on here about people complaining about it, (they notice that the gear is cloudy and after the steroid has been filtered, the funnel is sticky to the touch AKA it's partly dissolved into the oil) and I didn't want to risk a polystyrene housed bottle top filter ruining my gear.
"Benzyl alcohol can extract and dissolve polystyrene plastic and may attack other plastics. Incompatible with aluminum, iron, steel"

https://www.pure-chemical.com/msds/BENZYL%20ALCOHOL.pdf

The plastic housing for a bottle top filter to my understanding needs to be polypropylene, which is a highly chemically resistant plastic, and is tolerable with the solvents needed to dissolve the raw powder into the carrier oil. (BA and BB)

As far as the Filter Membrane, from doing research and from reading threads on here, a PES filter is also dissolved by Benzyl Alcohol, and bits of a PES filter can dissolve into the oil since a PES filter is not compatible with Benzyl Alcohol

https://beta-static.fishersci.com/content/dam/fishersci/en_US/documents/programs/scientific/brochures-and-catalogs/guides/sartorius-chemical-compatibility-chart.pdf

So this now rules out lots of bottle top filters that can be used to properly filter gear? To my understanding the Filter membrane must be either PVDF, PTFE, or Nylon to withstand the solvents.

I can't seem to find a single bottle top filter anywhere, not even on alibaba, that has both polypropylene housing, along with a PVDF or PTFE filter to go with it.

I can find a polypropylene PTFE bottle top filter, but the pore size doesn't come available in .2um or .22um... only .45um which won't cut it.
https://www.amazon.com/Autofil-Disposable-Clarification-Prefiltration-Non-Sterile/dp/B01MR9BIX5/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=polypropylene+ptfe+bottle+top+filter&qid=1637694282&sr=8-3
I also can find a PVDF filter, but with polystyrene housing which people have complained about turning their gear cloudy
https://www.medical-and-lab-supplies.com/500ml-millipore-steritop-btf-durapore-pvdf-membrane-qty-1.html?utm_campaign=Smart+Shopping+Test&utm_source=adwords&utm_term=&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=2462377349&hsa_mt=&hsa_ad=346646813178&hsa_kw=&hsa_ver=3&hsa_src=u&hsa_grp=69333253869&hsa_tgt=pla-370435928838&hsa_cam=1854631343&hsa_net=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAiAv_KMBhAzEiwAs-rX1BFMQHJ4fnIWx07ItdZFp_1S3FAnL75b85bhFSM0xDRq8ya2jp3TFhoCpwsQAvD_BwE
The one filter that I am almost sure I was about to buy, was a polypropylene housed Nylon filter membrane bottle top filter. The problem with this one is it is NOT sterile. Which means I will have to run it through my autoclave first which I have absolutely no issue with, however I came to realize after further research that under no conditions is Nylon autoclavable or able to withstand the heat needed to properly sterilize it.
"Polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, acrylic, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lab ware and polyurethane tubing are not autoclavable under any conditions."

Autoclave Use

So do non-sterile bottle top filters have to be sterilized? And how would I go about sterilizing a bottle top filter that has a nylon membrane filter if I can't put it in an autoclave or heat it up too much?
Here's the link to the the bottle top filter I am referring to that is polypropylene housed with a nylon filter membrane
https://www.amazon.com/CELLTREAT-229737-Polypropylene-Non-sterile-Milliliters/dp/B078C8DGTR/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=229737&qid=1637619105&sr=8-2
Any answers / insight would be greatly appreciated here, I'm thinking about just filtering with a Buchner flask instead, although that seems like it will be a pain in the ass. Now if someone could possibly ease my mind that either A, i'm overthinking it and using polystyrene housing is ok to use since the Benzyl alcohol is such a low percent on top of it being dispersed in all the carrier oil, or B can somehow magically come up with a source of bottle top filter that is USA domestic, in stock, and has Polypropylene housing in addition to either a PVDF or PTFE membrane filter that is .2um or .22um.

PS
Now I DID find the type of bottle top filter that I am looking for, (polypropylene PTFE membrane bottle top filter .2um) (PTFE is autoclavable)
HOWEVER, I called the company (Thomas Scientific) and they told me the manufacturer (Lab Force) won't be out with any more for another 48 weeks. So that definitely rules that option out as well, which was literally the only bottle top filter that I was looking for.

Solvent Filtration Disposable Vacuum Bottle Top Filters

labForce® Solvent Filtration Bottle Top Filters are used in a huge variety of applications, including solvent prefiltration for HPLC mobile phase, winterization and lipid removal cold filtration,...

www.thomassci.com

 

[Nail'nPalin]

Did you look at medlabsupply? I had the same issue when I was getting my supplies together for my first go. Probably wasted a couple hundred bucks on disposable bottle top filters between wrong type of filter (pes) and receiving expired products off ebay. I ended up getting a porcelain filter cup and a glass media flask that can be sterilized before each use. Then got some mce filter paper and pvdf membrane filters. I have only made a few batches but it's smooth sailing. I also invested in an electric vacuum pump. after using syringe filters the first time because my brake bleeder wouldn't hold suction I told myself I would never go through that hell again.

 

[Nail'nPalin]

Just saw your medlabsupply part of your post

 

[Nail'nPalin]

*glass buchner filtering flask

 

[BigPapa2600]

I ended up getting this setup

https://www.grainger.com/ec/pdf/Sibata-Filter-System-Spec-Sheet.pdf

along with a GL45 adapter that fits the no. 8 rubber stopper so I can screw the filter right onto a Glass media bottle, along with a botte-top dispenser will fit over the media bottle as well so I can dispense into vials.

The problem I have now is that the company sent me the fritted glass support base, which has a built-in glass filter thats 120-160um.... I have .2um PTFE filter papers that will fit over that but the steroid dissolved in GSO (which is what i'll be using) is going to have to pass through both the filter paper and the fritted glass filter. I read somewhere on meso about someone saying that fritted glass filters could shed pieces of glass into the gear if filtered this way but I don't think he was speaking from experience but rather off assumption... Either way I'm gonna have to do a test run with a small amount first to make sure there are no glass particles in the gear I filter first.
I was hoping to get the glass support base that doesn't have the fritted filter built in, it's just a glass support base and it comes with a stainless steel screen and a PTFE gasket that helps seal the filter paper into place and keep it in form. I called the company after they sent me the wrong thing and of course they don't have the other in stock...

The setup I'm using will also only be 47mm. I'm assuming it's gonna take alot longer to filter it this way especially since it also has to get sucked through the glass filter. Then I also have to worry about rinsing out the glass filter after each use as well. probably with carbon tetrachloride since it dissolves oil...
Sounds like alot of unnecessary work and wait time.

I am now looking at this setup
https://www.amazon.com/StonyLab-Porcelain-Buchner-Funnel-Laboratory/dp/B07PPMQJL6/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=90mm+porcelain+buchner+funnel&qid=1639351671&sr=8-4
a 100mm porcelain buchner funnel, I would have to buy 100mm filter paper
and hopefully some sort of gl45 adapter that I could use with it to filter directly into a glass media bottle.

 

[Nail'nPalin]

I ended up getting this setup

https://www.grainger.com/ec/pdf/Sibata-Filter-System-Spec-Sheet.pdf

along with a GL45 adapter that fits the no. 8 rubber stopper so I can screw the filter right onto a Glass media bottle, along with a botte-top dispenser will fit over the media bottle as well so I can dispense into vials.

The problem I have now is that the company sent me the fritted glass support base, which has a built-in glass filter thats 120-160um.... I have .2um PTFE filter papers that will fit over that but the steroid dissolved in GSO (which is what i'll be using) is going to have to pass through both the filter paper and the fritted glass filter. I read somewhere on meso about someone saying that fritted glass filters could shed pieces of glass into the gear if filtered this way but I don't think he was speaking from experience but rather off assumption... Either way I'm gonna have to do a test run with a small amount first to make sure there are no glass particles in the gear I filter first.
I was hoping to get the glass support base that doesn't have the fritted filter built in, it's just a glass support base and it comes with a stainless steel screen and a PTFE gasket that helps seal the filter paper into place and keep it in form. I called the company after they sent me the wrong thing and of course they don't have the other in stock...

The setup I'm using will also only be 47mm. I'm assuming it's gonna take alot longer to filter it this way especially since it also has to get sucked through the glass filter. Then I also have to worry about rinsing out the glass filter after each use as well. probably with carbon tetrachloride since it dissolves oil...
Sounds like alot of unnecessary work and wait time.

I am now looking at this setup
https://www.amazon.com/StonyLab-Porcelain-Buchner-Funnel-Laboratory/dp/B07PPMQJL6/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=90mm+porcelain+buchner+funnel&qid=1639351671&sr=8-4
a 100mm porcelain buchner funnel, I would have to buy 100mm filter paper
and hopefully some sort of gl45 adapter that I could use with it to filter directly into a glass media bottle.

I was looking at that same basic setup.. my thoughts were how the hell am I suppose to clean and sterilize that filter. That's why I went with the porcelain. Ya, just do a small test batch and see how it goes, like I said it can be some trial and error. Good luck, hope it works for you

 

[Nail'nPalin]

That porcelain one is basically what I have then bought a pack of rubber rings to seal it into my glass media flask

 

[Nail'nPalin]

 

[BigPapa2600]

hmm, I wonder if that would work with this those filter adapter cones could maybe sit down in this polypropylene gl45 adapter linked below

Filtration Adaptor for VF12, Fits GL45 thread media bottle (197000-65)

This filtration adaptor design enables VF12 glass filter funnel connection with GL45 storage bottle. Constructed with autoclavable polypropylene for easy cleaning and sterilization.

www.sterlitech.com

this is so I can just connect the buchner funnel directly to a glass media bottle with a gl45 screw on top. I just want to eliminate one step in transferring the filtered product to vials. I have a bottle top dispenser that can screw onto a glass media bottle, was pretty pricy to get and just didn't want to have to pour from the flask into a media bottle

 

[Nail'nPalin]

It is kinda a pain in the ass, I sterilize a 150ml beaker then go from my flask to beaker to my vials. I tried pouring from the flask straight to the vials but that had potential to make a mess.