Anybody not strain hops from kettle to carboy

I recently brewed a bells two hearted IPA. At the time I didn't have a mesh strainer to use so I couldn't strain the hops that was added to the kettle from the brew that is added to the carboy. So I just left all of the hops that was in the kettle in the carboy when fermenting. I wasn't sure how this would turn out but the beer came out pretty darn good and hoppy. Does anybody else do this on a regular basis with IPA brews?

I do. I don't have a good way to strain out pellet hops in my system.

I try to leave as much of them and the trub behind as I can on the theory that the beer will turn out more bitter or more vegatal from sitting on the hop matter during fermentation. Not sure that the theory has merit though...

I do my best to let the trub settle at the bottom of the BK, and stop the flow into the fermenter before the gunk starts flowing, but there is no straining involved.

No straining here either...3 weeks in fermenter; I have never noticed anything vegetal. I used to strain, but haven't for the past dozen batches. No difference.

I don't strain. What settles out stays behind. I have dumped everything in at times to see the results with no negative results. That makes it tough for saving slurry so I don't do that as a regular procedure.

krackin said:

That makes it tough for saving slurry so I don't do that as a regular procedure.

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Very good point! You will have much cleaner slurry for repitching if you transfer clear beer into the primary.

I always leave my hops in, when I use them. No ill effects.

I imagine a cheap and easy strainer could be made for straining out whole leaf hops by using metal hardware cloth. It comes in different sizes of mesh. Just cut it to fit over a bucket and turn it down around the edges. It probably wouldn't even need a frame.

I've done both ways. I haven't noticed any flavor difference, but the + side is you will get a much cleaner yeast harvest. That is the only reason I use a strainer between the BK and fermenter.

I use a whirlpool in my kettle. But, if hop/trub material gets in the fermenter.....I don't care. Nothing harmful.

I've never strained anything from kettle to carboy.

I brew large batches of DIPA's and try to leave all hops from the boil and knockout in the whirl pool. As I only want fresh hops in my fermenter.
I do this so I can keep tight notes for re brewing...

A inexpensive hop filter can be made out of a copper pipe filled loosely with copper mesh inline with your drain tube.
Or if you want a nice hop burst you can fill it with leaf hops as a filter.
Cheers

I don't filter them out, in fact I frequently add more due to the no-chill method I use.

I set a sanitized metal colander on top of the bucket and pour through it. Once all the liquid is poured out I take a sanitized spoon and squish the junk in the colander to get as much wort out as possible. I don't think this necessarily makes my beer taste better but I figure it makes my life a little easier at bottling time, and it doesn't really cost me anything.

5 gallon nylon paint strainer bags from Home Depot/Menards. I wash them then sanitize before using. They fit over the sides of the bucket easily. Just pour into the bucket then lift it out. Sanitize your hands then squeeze. Normally I would prefer a reusable solution. This is cheap and easy.

Edit: Mind you I only do this when I use more than a few ounces of hops.

I use whole cone hops and a false bottom or a boil screen. I have never been a fan of pellet hops.

I usually just dump my kettle, hops and all, into the primary. I haven't noticed any off flavors from doing this but I can end up with hop gunk blowing out and clogging up my blowoff tubes, especially on my IPAs/DIPAs which are loaded with hops. I plan on purchasing a stainless steel hop spider here pretty quick to help keep the hop gunk out of the fermenter just because my fermentations tend to be fast-and-furious and the hop-gunk can cause issues.

i have a ball valve on my kettle. i usually stir my wort up around my IC to cool it quicker. sometimes i get enough spin to get all the trub in the center and sometimes not. as a precaution i line my fermenter with a paint strainer when i do the sanitizer. then i go from valve through the strainer straight to the bucket. i can get some hop material but any brown goop will fall through.

With the last dipa I did (Pliny kit from morebeer) there would have been about 3/5 of my brew lost to the hops if I left it behind so I dumped it all in. After primary I cold crashed and was able to transfer all my clear beer over, the hops settled out with the trub during my cold crash. The sample tasted great, I didn't pick up any vegetal flavors or anything. I did get some hops in my airlock though, that could have been a mess...

I've been brewing for a long time and I never strain. I usually rack into a secondary carboy. I am usually able to leave most of the gunk behind when I siphon.

I use a hop bag, 6" x 8" is plenty big for the amount of hops I typically use. I don't end up with sediment (albeit just now starting AG BIAB batches so I may actually see hot break now) that needs to be filtered.

I don't strain the hop pellet trub. Like others above - I try to leave it behind but if it's so silty a little gets in the fermenter it's no biggie.

I sometimes don't, mostly when I run out of the strainer bags. Never noticed any crazy effect.

Normally my procedure is to pump the beer from kettle to a sanitized bucket through a paint strainer, shake the bag up and down till all the liquid is in the bucket, then dump the bucket into the final fermenter (or if I'm using the bucket to ferment, just pitch and leave in the freezer).

I use a SS 300 micron mesh tube from Chad @ Arbor Fabricating in my BK. Ni hop gunk at all.
I also use one in my carboys for dry hopping they work very well.

tried straining on the batch i did on thrusday. amazing amount of hop material left in the bag.

I bought a strainer and I'm glad I've got it. When I go from brew pot to primary I can pour as fast as I like and get some very good aeration in the process. But this is clearly more of a "nice to have" than it is a "gotta have"

Cheers

I ferment all, and let gravity, time, and temperature provide clear beer.

Cheap easy and effective!

I have a cheese-cloth that I sanitize and stretch over my bottling bucket. I use a bungee cord to hold it in place. Beer goes from boil pot, thru the cloth filter, into the bucket, and from there into the carboy.

It's a bit cumbersome in that it's a second step and introduces more room for contamination. I'd be open to going straight from kettle into carboy via whirlpool some time, but frankly it's not that big of a deal.

Since I ferment everything in buckets, I use a stainless steel pasta strainer to filter the trub going into the bucket.

It is dual purpose, it filters out the hop sediment and hot break material as well as aerating the wort.

I've done it both ways. I whirlpool now and try to keep as much trub as possible in the kettle. I'm not so concerned about the trub sitting in the carboy as I am with the amount of beer I'll lose when I eventually rack it off into my keg.

Trub does take up space - precious, precious beer space.