Sparging??
 

Ive done some reading about this and am still not sure about it. I just brewed my second batch of beer. I used pellet hops in both of them. I think i have an idea of what sparging is , but not real sure.

When I transfer from the brew pot to the fermenter, should i pass it through a strainer? The first batch had lots of the hops stuck to the side when i racked to the bottle vessel. The instructions from the kit said nothing about this so i didnt do it. I wasnt sure if it would sacrifice flavor or not? Whats the truth to this?

Sparging is something you do only when all-grain brewing. I'm assuming you're brewing extract, so it doesn't apply.

Basically, it's rinsing the mashed grains to collect the converted sugars.

On your other question, you do want to keep hops out of your fermentor. The problem you point out is one of many many reasons that I prefer to use whole hops. It's much easier to keep them out of the fermentor. Plus they give superior flavor, which makes sense. What will taste better? A hop that is whole and undamaged or one that has been ground up and mangled into small pellets? ;)

If you want to use pellets, some people will rack from the kettle to the fermentor with a racking cane with a filter on the bottom. Or stick a filter on your outlet faucet on your kettle if you have one. Or start a gentle whirlpool in the kettle. The hops will pile in the center after a few minutes and you can rack out of the kettle from the side, avoiding the pellet goo.

But, seriously, get yourself some whole hops. You can even put them in a bag for easy removal at the end of the boil. You'll like em better ;)

Janx

Okay.....i used a kit and that was what it came with, but I'll remember that for future reference.

So would it be a good idea to pour the wert through a strainer from the brew pot to the fermenter, or dont do that? I did it and it caught lots of the hops, but then i put it back in because i was unsure if it would cause flavor problems.

Yeah. It's a good idea from the point of view of keeping hops out. Once the boil is over, you want the hops out. They have contributed all the flavor they will give and will only cause off flavors if they go in the fermenter.

Do you use a chiller? Are you pouring chilled or hot wort through the filter? The problem with pouring hot wort is you get hot side aeration, which can cause haze and off-flavors. So one of the other methods I outlined that does the filtering job more gently is preferable.

But, yes, the long and short of it is that you want to keep the hops out of the fermenter.

I should add that at this point, don't worry about it. Your beer will turn out fine. Don't do anything crazy like trying to filter the hops out now that it's in the fermenter because you seriously risk infection. If you rack to a secondary, that'll solve the problem. If not, no biggie. The beer will still be beer, and that's the best part about it :D

I think I'm going to try the "Chore Boy on the racking cane" technique the next time I brew. I've never gotten the hops out of the fermenter, and (luckily) never had off-flavors...but I think I'm pushing my luck...

:D .....youre reminding me of the joy of home brewing book now...."Don't worry, have a home brew"


Im not going into the fermenter now, but I was more talking about for future, if i use pellets again, It sounds like it wouldn't hurt to run it through the strainer??

Yes, bearing in mind that you want to minimize HSA. The chore Boy/racking cane seems like the best bet to me if you don't have a kettle with a faucet.

HSA??? Now im getting a little lost.....whats the chore/boy racking method??

HSA - hot side aeration - mentioned above

chore boy/racking cane method has been mentioned in a number of threads. Basically, you take a Chore Boy or brillo pad type wire mesh scrubby pad and secure it to the bottom of the racking cane. That acts as a filter.