Filter?

I am curious, I have a cream ale that I am going to be bottling today and there is a little bit of the corn flakes that got through my filtering from post boil to primary. I did leave quite a bit behind from primary to secondary, but would like to make this thing nice and clean. I bought this heavy duty clothe stuff the other day that I am thinking about filtering the beer through when I rack into the bottling bucket, however I have heard that you should not aerate the brew once it has been fermented...is this really true and would this really add that much oxygen to the brew? Thanks Brew Pals!!!

We had a discussion about this yesterday. Someone said he clamped a fine mesh bag over the end of the siphon hose when siphoning into the bottling bucket.

That accomplishes what you're talking about without aerating. I think I'll try it.

Boiling is probably the easiest way to santize the mesh bag and hose clamp.

Well I have like 6yrds of this material and I was thinking about putting it inside my collander I use to help filter from boil to primary, then just letting it run through that......wonder if that is too much oxygen?

GABrewboy said:

Well I have like 6yrds of this material and I was thinking about putting it inside my collander I use to help filter from boil to primary, then just letting it run through that......wonder if that is too much oxygen?

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Couldn't you just cut a small square of it (say, 10 inches) and gather up the corners into a hose clamp over the end of the siphon tube, creating a little straining bag?

Then you could lay in on the bottom of the bucket and not aerate when you siphon.

GABrewboy said:

Well I have like 6yrds of this material and I was thinking about putting it inside my collander I use to help filter from boil to primary, then just letting it run through that......wonder if that is too much oxygen?

Click to expand...

Aeration is not a problem when tranferring from your kettle to the primary as long as you have cooled your wort. In fact, you want to aerate as much as possible. It's while your wort is hot and also after fermentation has started that you want to avoid aeration.

Hmmmmm......well that's a good idea there......didn't really think about making it into a small bag like that.......I would assume there isn't enough grist in there to stop up the flow, so that should work!!! Thanks for the insight there.......!!!!!

So, let me get this right - if my wort is cool when I transfer it from boiling kettle to primary fermentation bucket, I can pour it through a collander will little fear of any ill effects to the taste of my final beer. I understand that aeration is a good thing (for the yeast) at this point, but doesn't the process of straining "oxidize" the wort?

I'm not really sure what all this means . . . but I've read/heard that use of a collander (especially metal ones) can do bad things to your final beer. Anyone else know about this?

To minimize stuff that needs filtered out of the wort, I've always just put my hop pellets in a mesh bag so that I can take them out of the boil easily. As I understand it, this means I get less utilization out of the hops.

So, which is the more optimal practice - using a bag for hops in the boil or filtering them out with the use of a strainer after the wort has cooled?

Well I haven't had any after tastes or effects from pouring it through the strainer once I am down to about 70-75 degrees. I have been told and understand that if you were to pour it through when the wort was still at high boiling temps that it would then become a problem. Anyone with more info please respond!!!

sonvolt said:

So, let me get this right - if my wort is cool when I transfer it from boiling kettle to primary fermentation bucket, I can pour it through a collander will little fear of any ill effects to the taste of my final beer. I understand that aeration is a good thing (for the yeast) at this point, but doesn't the process of straining "oxidize" the wort?

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Nope. If the wort is cool enough, the oxygen that makes it into the beer will not combine (aka: oxidize) the wort. It will just aerate it and make your yeast happy fungii.

sonvolt said:

I'm not really sure what all this means . . . but I've read/heard that use of a collander (especially metal ones) can do bad things to your final beer. Anyone else know about this?

Click to expand...

Never heard anything like this.

sonvolt said:

To minimize stuff that needs filtered out of the wort, I've always just put my hop pellets in a mesh bag so that I can take them out of the boil easily. As I understand it, this means I get less utilization out of the hops.

Click to expand...

correct.

sonvolt said:

So, which is the more optimal practice - using a bag for hops in the boil or filtering them out with the use of a strainer after the wort has cooled?

Click to expand...

What is your definition of "optimal"? If you want optimal hop utilization, then don't use a bag.

-walker

GABrewboy said:

Well I haven't had any after tastes or effects from pouring it through the strainer once I am down to about 70-75 degrees. I have been told and understand that if you were to pour it through when the wort was still at high boiling temps that it would then become a problem. Anyone with more info please respond!!!

Click to expand...

You're fine GA. As long as the wort is 'cool', you are fine. What exactly defines 'cool'? That depends on what reference you are looking at. Some say 80°F, some say 100°F, and I've even seen 110°F quoted someplace.

I personally shoot for cooling below 100°F before aerating it and I've not had any issues.

-walker

Well Walker I don't pour it through the strainer until it is ready for the yeasty to be added......so I pour in the 70-75 degree range........Thanks for the insight as I thought I was good to go on this subject..... Many I am not sure positive on.......

sonvolt said:

To minimize stuff that needs filtered out of the wort, I've always just put my hop pellets in a mesh bag so that I can take them out of the boil easily. As I understand it, this means I get less utilization out of the hops.

Click to expand...

As Walker said, optimum is relative.

I usually put the bittering hops in a bag (compensating for the reduced utilization), but the later hop additions I just throw the pellets in there. This is because...

1. I don't want to fuss with adding hop pellets to the scalding hot bag or using more than one bag. (I'd rather relax...)
2. Most of the hop gunk comes from the bittering hops anyway (unless we're talking about a massively hopped IPA or something).
3. I'm leery about how much flavor/aroma would be lost if the flavor and aroma hops were in a bag.

I don't worry too much about that trub going into the primary. It'll settle out, and straining a whole kettle full of wort is a PITA and a sanitation risk. I usually siphon all but the last trubby pint or so of wort straight to the primary, then strain just that last bit into the primary.