kdvansciver

Recipes 

I received a kit in the mail yesterday, but the grain bag was missing. There's no homebrew store in town, and if I don't brew this weekend I won't have another opportunity for about 10 days. Is there a way to steep the grains without a bag?

I thought about just dumping the grains in the water and straining them out with a fine mesh strainer. Any downsides to this, other than being a pain in the butt?

Pappers_

Recipes 

That could work. If you go to your hardware store, you could also buy a paint strainer bag, which would also work.

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ArizonaDB

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I would go to your local home improvement store (Home Dept, Lowes, Ace Hardware, etc) and ask for a nylon paint strainer bag. They are really cheap (about $5-$7) and can be used over and over. I would get the biggest one you can so you can use it later if you start doing stove top PMs or AGs. It was a VERY good investment for me.

Straining out the grains would probably work but it would be a pain in the a$$ and you would never be able to get them all out so you would boil at least some which could cause some bad flavors (eg tannins). Just a guess tho.

In the end it's your call. Good luck.

thedidey

Recipes 

You should have no problem doing that KD. You might try using the strainer and then pouring it throw a thin dish towel/sheet/pillow/cheese cloth to get the really fine stuff out. But I think you'll be ok with just the strainer too.

Yooper

Recipes 

Nylon stockings work, too. Clean panty hose type, I mean. For small amounts of grain, knee-hi's would be fine.

Any kind of muslin bag, thick cheesecloth, even a thin pillowcase, should work.

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