Filtering before bottling

I recently bottled my first batch of home brew, so am quite new to all this.

The second batch which has just finished fermenting is a Pilsner, to which I added some hops, as supplied with the kit I purchased. When adding the hops mix to the fermenter, I didn't adequately filter it, and am now worried that much of hops residue will end up in my bottled beer. Even when I tested the final gravity, I noticed a large amount of green sediment - from the hops - in the bottom of my test tube.

The question: Now that the intial fermenation is complete and it's ready for bottling, it there a way to filter the brew before it goes into the bottle? I now realise the importance of properly straining the hpos as it goes into the fermenter!

Obviously, I don't want all this ending up in the bottle, but at the same time, I don't want to have to tip out what I have and start again!

Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Starmans,

I often ferment with hops in the primary. I wouldn't worry about filtering.
There's a few ways around it. Instead or bottling straight from you primary, rack (move) it to a bottling bucket and leave the hops behind.
What most people seem to do is rack to a secondary and leave it for a week to 3 weeks then to a bottling bucket.
Each time you rack you will keep most of the gunge behind. If you want a bit more clarity you can add something like beerclear to the secondary a day or so before bottling. You could always use a strainer on one of the racks if required but you want to avoid aeration of the beer after initial fermentation.

When it comes down to it I guess taste is a lot more important than clarity.

starmans77 said:

Now that the intial fermenation is complete and it's ready for bottling, it there a way to filter the brew before it goes into the bottle?

Click to expand...

Tie a sanitized hop bag (or some cheese cloth) around the bottom end of your racking cane to filter the trub out as you siphon.

I dry hopped an IPA with pellet hops that left a layer at the bottom of the secondary. I transfered to my bottling bucket being careful, but still got a few hops in the bucket. However, the spring tip on my racking cane for bottling caught the remaining little flakes so nothing got in the bottles. I wouldn't worry too much about it. El P's suggestion makes alot of sense too.

Another thought... perhaps I'm being a little hasty with the bottling, and have not yet allowed enough time for brew to settle before bottling.

My setup is very basic, so I bottle straight from the primary fermenter, meaning that I probably lose the chance to do any good filtering. If I allow is to settle sufficiently, will the hops etc simply stay on the bottom of the fermenter as I bottle the brew? Sure, some may slip through, but hopefully not enough to worry about.

Does this seem reasonable?

Just don't take as much liquid out of the fermenter and don't stir up the bottom.

Since you said it may not be ready then just prop one side up and allow it to slide down into the lower corner and rack off of the other side of the fermenter. Try to keep it clean.

i had hops get into the primary(hops bag opened suring boil) and i noticed that the during fermentation had put most of the hops up above the level of the beer on the sides of the primary. there wasn't much in the bottom at all. any one else seen this? i'm talkin about a half inch of hops sticking to the sides of the primary!!!!

justbrewit - hops are light and ride up with the krausen. When it fell, they stuck to the sides. No biggie.

oh i know its no big deal, i was happy that the weren't in my beer!!! that means less in the bottling bucket!!!

So true.....

I use the cheesecloth. It get's most of that hop residue out so you have a lot less crud at the bottom. They are cheap, and disposable.