Straining Wort

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:55 am

I'm curious what everyone is doing with respect to wort straining.

I have been whirlpooing + stainless braid in my keggle, but it just isn't getting the job done. I'm thinking of removing the braid, then just opening the spigot to drain the chilled wort through a nylon paint strainer bag into a sanitized bottling bucket. And from there just pouring into the primary carboy via funnel.

Anyone tried a technique similar to this? Any other recommended techniques?

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 1:43 pm

I bought some stainless steel mesh on ebay, and built a hop stopper type device. Looks kind of like a 4 sided pyramid that clamps over the diptube with the seams folded over and clamped with bent copper. Haven't given it a full test yet though. I've been doing mini mashes and using one of those large strainers that fit in your kitchen sink over a bottling bucket with whole leaf hops that kind of act like an extra strainer.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:00 pm

An immersion chiller helps a lot, irish moss helps a little... I've never used whirlfloc.

If I don't think I can siphon the wort off the top, or if I'm planning to reuse the yeast, I'll use one of these:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page ... 2120,33279

If you're not reusing the yeast, and you rack to a secondary, is there a problem with transferring some trub?

bufordsbest · Post by **bufordsbest** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:41 pm

i've had this problem getting tons of trub and cold break in the primary. last brew i did a whirl pool and let stand for 20 minutes but alot of the material still hadn't fallen out.

i racked to a carboy, let stand for 2 hours and then racked to a second carboy before pitching. this got it pretty clean in the my 2nd carboy but is more labor intensive.

from what i've heard, if you brewing an ale and don't plan leaving it on the trub longer than a month, dumping the whole kettle into the carboy shouldn't be an issue.

edit: i also tried putting a muslin bag over my auto siphon while racking from the kettle but it seemed to inhibit the sucking power.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 5:00 pm

bufordsbest wrote:
from what i've heard, if you brewing an ale and don't plan leaving it on the trub longer than a month, dumping the whole kettle into the carboy shouldn't be an issue.

^this^

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:17 pm

matt7215 wrote:
bufordsbest wrote:
from what i've heard, if you brewing an ale and don't plan leaving it on the trub longer than a month, dumping the whole kettle into the carboy shouldn't be an issue.

^this^

Indeed. If beer clarity is an issue, let it sit outside in the garage overnight. As long as it doesnt freeze, your yeast should survive and your beer should clear up fine.

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:41 am

I don't mind a little trub in primary. However since I started brewing 10 gallon batches split between two fermenters, by the time you get the second carboy half full you are left with a kettle of sludge to deal with. And it really becomes a nuisance when you go to rack to secondary.

I often reuse yeast as well.

So I employed the nylon paint strainer bag technique yesterday and it worked like a charm. Cleaned and sanitized two pails, two strainer bags, two carboys and a funnel. The bags have an elastic top to hold it over the mouth of the pail. Poured the chilled wort into the pails through the strainer bags, lifted the bags out and boo bam, two pails of clear wort. From there into the carboys through the funnel.

I'm hooked.

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:38 pm

cannondale wrote:I don't mind a little trub in primary. However since I started brewing 10 gallon batches split between two fermenters, by the time you get the second carboy half full you are left with a kettle of sludge to deal with. And it really becomes a nuisance when you go to rack to secondary.

I often reuse yeast as well.

So I employed the nylon paint strainer bag technique yesterday and it worked like a charm. Cleaned and sanitized two pails, two strainer bags, two carboys and a funnel. The bags have an elastic top to hold it over the mouth of the pail. Poured the chilled wort into the pails through the strainer bags, lifted the bags out and boo bam, two pails of clear wort. From there into the carboys through the funnel.

I'm hooked.

I'm having a hard time picturing the strainers you refer to. All of the paint one I know would be too small. Where did you buy yours?

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:08 pm

Tapsucker wrote:I'm having a hard time picturing the strainers you refer to. All of the paint one I know would be too small. Where did you buy yours?

Do a google image search on 'paint strainer bag' and you will see a bunch in action.

They are large nylon mesh bags with an elastic around the opening. You put the bag inside a 5 gallon pail then fit the elastic around the opening.

I bought them at Lowe's. There are two sizes, 1 gallon and 5 gallon.

My understanding is that some people hang the bag in the kettle during boil. But to me, there are a few drawbacks to this approach.

The bags were surprisingly easy to clean. They are hanging dry, waiting until next brew day where I will clean again and sanitize before use.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:40 pm

I stopped by Lowe's today but they only had the 5 Gallon strainers in a 12 pack for $25. If anyone is interested in splitting, PM me and we can split them at the L2B event.

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:23 pm

icemachine wrote:I stopped by Lowe's today but they only had the 5 Gallon strainers in a 12 pack for $25. If anyone is interested in splitting, PM me and we can split them at the L2B event.

I have seen individual strainer bags at byo or winekitz type stores (they're used for fruit in winemaking) you can get a 5 gallon bag for under 10 bucks. I used it for steeping grain in mini mashes.

I think I may make one that hold hops in the kettle and then use a sanitized one in my primary to catch anything else coming out of the kettle. I tried my stainless mesh one and it clogged up very quick.

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:45 am

phirleh wrote:I think I may make one that hold hops in the kettle and then use a sanitized one in my primary to catch anything else coming out of the kettle. I tried my stainless mesh one and it clogged up very quick.

If you intend to use one in your primary, then the one in the kettle would be redundant.

How do you chill your wort?

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:29 pm

cannondale wrote:
phirleh wrote:I think I may make one that hold hops in the kettle and then use a sanitized one in my primary to catch anything else coming out of the kettle. I tried my stainless mesh one and it clogged up very quick.
If you intend to use one in your primary, then the one in the kettle would be redundant.

How do you chill your wort?

True, I was thinking it may catch any sort of break gunk going out of the kettle. Right now I'm just chilling in a sink, no immersion chiller yet.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:35 pm

phirleh wrote:
cannondale wrote:
phirleh wrote:I think I may make one that hold hops in the kettle and then use a sanitized one in my primary to catch anything else coming out of the kettle. I tried my stainless mesh one and it clogged up very quick.
If you intend to use one in your primary, then the one in the kettle would be redundant.

How do you chill your wort?
True, I was thinking it may catch any sort of break gunk going out of the kettle. Right now I'm just chilling in a sink, no immersion chiller yet.

i thought you were cubing?

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:46 pm

matt7215 wrote:
phirleh wrote:
cannondale wrote: If you intend to use one in your primary, then the one in the kettle would be redundant.

How do you chill your wort?
True, I was thinking it may catch any sort of break gunk going out of the kettle. Right now I'm just chilling in a sink, no immersion chiller yet.
i thought you were cubing?

Didn't get to cube last time, I intended to... but the clogged keggle didn't help, had to pour it into a bucket.