To strain wort or not to strain?

After finishing the boiling of my first batch of wort, of a belgian wit, I decided to run it through an ordinary kitchen strainer, while pouring into fermentor. There was a huge amount of sediment that I strained off.

Upon completion of bottling that same batch, about 2 weeks later, I noticed, a huge amount of sediment still in the fermentor. Obviously, most of this was from the actual fermentation process.

The finished product is good. A little sweet, doesn't have a very strong orange/coriander flavor that I was going for, but enjoyable just the same.

Was straining the wort a bad idea?

All grain or extract? You say it was sweet.. How long did you ferment and what was your OG and FG?

Don't strain. Adds unnecessary risk, potential mess, and doesn't accomplish anything.

I'm an extract brewer....and I ALWAYS strain. I was told that early by a lot of people here. Helps remove the hops sediment and other particulars. The only risk I could think of would be an unsanitized strainer...

If anything else it helps oxidize the wort and will provide a clearer beer. Your results may vary, but I've never had a downside to straining my wort. Sweetness is likely due to not enough conditioning, but I don't see how straining could make it sweeter.


Staining won't add any flavor that I call tell. I assume this was all done after the boil.

I was actually wondering how you are getting so much sediment if you are doing extract.. I guess it must be your hops. Do you use a bag for the hops? The reason I mentioned your statement regarding "sweetness" is because it really shouldn't taste all that sweet if it finished fermenting.. When I did extract I never got much sediment. I've never strained, and I don't see it helping all that much. I don't think it could hurt though as long as you're practicing good sanitation... Now that I do a lot of BIAB I get a ton of sediment, but I still don't strain. I scale all my recipes up to 6.5 gallons and toss the last gallon that has all the sediment in it, so I end up with 5.5 gallons of crystal clear wort...

passedpawn said:

Don't strain. Adds unnecessary risk, potential mess, and doesn't accomplish anything.

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It does help oxygenate the work. What risk does it add?

Oh and if you like washing your yeast makes it allot easier.

I tried to strain once. It kept clogging the screen in my funnel so I ditched that idea. I had 5 ounces of hops pellets in my brew kettle and some of them made it into the primary, but it was no big deal. After a primary of 3-4 weeks any hops or trub will be buried under the yeast cake. I also washed the yeast from this batch and ended up with a ton of trub free WLP007.

The amount of oxygen absorbed into the wort as it is strained is negligible and it will still need to be aerated in some way.

Besides the one attempt, I have never strained my wort, used gelatin, cold crashed or any other method to clear beer and the only thing I have in my bottles is tasty, clear brew and a fine layer of yeast on the bottom from bottle carbing.

Check out the 007 yeast porn from the batch with 5oz of hops.

I was not talking about that pos strainer that you put into the funnel.

beerman0001 said:

I was not talking about that pos strainer that you put into the funnel.

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I figured that because any amount of trub clogs it immediately. You are right...it is a pos. At least it is not suited for use as straining wort.

I say to the OP...try it both ways. Strain a batch and don't strain the next. See what works best for you and go with it.

I dump the wort in the bucket. Well..... drain it and what ever gets through is flattened at the end of fermentation, and left when siphoned to bottling bucket. I do cold crash most brews before bottling, but that is just my choice, and seems to help quite a bit. I also primary only for 3-4 weeks cause i'm lazy, and let things settle out. CHEERS

I didn't know to strain my first batch of Double IPA and it had a lot of hops and junk in it. It still tasted great. I do now try to strain and control the amount of stuff in the primary but I don't see a difference. I will stop straining I think.

I don't think I will strain again. It was a huge pain in the a**. Clogged the strainer, made a bigger mess. I appreciate the comments, and suggestions. Thank you all.

I use a double strainer set up, never clogs and if it gets close to clogging, just stop and empty the strainer. I take A LOT of hops and other particles out of the wort before I cool it, then again before I ferment it.

Calichusetts said:

I use a double strainer set up, never clogs and if it gets close to clogging, just stop and empty the strainer. I take A LOT of hops and other particles out of the wort before I cool it, then again before I ferment it.

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You are straining hot wort before its cooled?

I strain by using an 8 inch double mesh long handled stainless steel strainer that nests inside my funnel, which fits and rests unsupported in the carboy neck.

Sanitation is simple. I boil the strainer in a small pot while resting the funnel on top. the strainer mesh is boiled, and the funnel is steam sterilized.

the strainer will slow down and clog 3-4 times during transfer. All you have to do is lift it out of the funnel, dump the junk in the sink, reinsert the strainer,and continue. Very simple.

Both the strainer and funnel were from Northern Brewer and cheap.


Pez.

jdubb75 said:

You are straining hot wort before its cooled?

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Yes, and then again after it is cooled

I've never strained, but I generally put anything I don't want in the fermenter in a hop or grain bag. It doesn't control the fines, but I'm not overly worried about that. However, if I were using a plate chiller I'd definitely want to put in a strainer before the chiller.

If you have spices, orange peel, ginger, or so forth in your wort, straining will reduce the amount of time that the flavor has to leach out.