Paint Strainer on Stovetop Boil??

I am planning on brewing an IPA this weekend with a ton of hops. My last IPA did not come out good and I think it was due to the fact a lot of trub ended up in primary and the bottling bucket due to some carelessness. Anyway, to avoid that, I would like to use a paint strainer to filter the hops in the boil. Since I only do stovetop boils, will it be okay to just binder clip the pain strainer to the brew pot? Is it okay for the nylon to brush the bottom or side of the kettle?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated as well.

Although I do not have an answer to your question, I have a question you might be able to answer lol. I have read a lot about people straining their wort with a paint strainer to try and leave as much trub out of the primary as possible, but I am not familiar with this paint strainer and where you might get it??

Paint Strainers are available at any hardware or paint store. Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

I hang a 2 ft by 3 ft hop bag into a 45 gal boil kettle with it clipped to the side so I can do additions and I've never had a problem with it touching the pot. the hops will make the entire bag float so it won't just sit on the very bottom getting scorched and the side of the pot don't get hot enough to hurt the nylon.


... and if you had and IPA that didn't come out that good, I doubt it was because of the trub. Sure trub will make a difference if a beer is sitting on it for a long time but I don't think those differences are that significant. There are 4.9 million threads on this site with folks debating the need to rack off the trub and into a secondary. At the end of the day, if an IPA is "bad", there's probably somethin' else going on.

First off, Hop debris in the fermenter or even the bottle will not harm a beer. It may even make it clearer.

Grains are a much bigger concern from a PM or AG.

Hops can be strained at racking or even bottling.

I would scrutinize your recipe and process (temps etc) before worrying about hop debris or even trub.

Another alternative would be to add the hops loose in the boil, then hang the paint strainer (sanitized, of course) on your fermenting bucket and pour the wort in, then simply remove the strainer and the hops along with it. This only works if you are using a bucket as your primary.

And where I'm at I could only find paint strainers at Lowes, FWIW. No luck at Home Depot or Menards. Not sure if that varies by location...

Cape Brewing said:

... and if you had and IPA that didn't come out that good, I doubt it was because of the trub. At the end of the day, if an IPA is "bad", there's probably somethin' else going on.

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+1

I think your bad results likely stemmed from another source.

Kickass said:

+1

I think your bad results likely stemmed from another source.

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Yeah, maybe the recipe was just not good. I am using a carboy, so could strain into a bucket then into the carboy. That seems like an option.

It could have been the recipe but I was thinking more along the line of old or low quality extract/hops/grain or a mess up in the brewing process i.e. steeping grains too hot, scorching extract during the boil, dirty or unsanitary equipment.

GarrettLaneBC said:

Another alternative would be to add the hops loose in the boil, then hang the paint strainer (sanitized, of course) on your fermenting bucket and pour the wort in, then simply remove the strainer and the hops along with it. This only works if you are using a bucket as your primary.

And where I'm at I could only find paint strainers at Lowes, FWIW. No luck at Home Depot or Menards. Not sure if that varies by location...

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+1 this is what I do

I clipped it to the side of my keggle this past weekend. I did a full boil with propane. It didnt hurt it. It captured most, but not all of the hop sediment.