Straining wort instead of vorlaufing?

I loathe vorlaufing. It seems to take me forever. I mash in a cooler with a stainless steel braid. I do a double batch sparge so I end up vorlaufing 3 times.

Couldn't I just strain my wort before it hits the kettle? It would save so much time. And now that I'm no chill brewing, I could be looking at 3 hour brew days.

What kind of volume are you vorlaufing that it instills this kind of hatred?

I vorlauf two quarts, anything more is overkill.

I vorlauf still it's clear of big chunks. No joke, takes me about 10 minutes each round.

No joke, takes me about 10 minutes each round.

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Meh, doesn't sound like too much time to me.

It's all relative, I suppose.

I put the runoff hose inside a paint strainer bag - use a hose clamp to hold it in place. Start the runoff slowly and ease the valve open when you don't see any more debris in the runoff. You will find very little grain in the bag when you are done. I have done this for the last 6 batches - can't see or taste any difference in the beer.

10 minutes? I suspect you're overdoing it because a braid clears fast. Before pumps and stainless infested my brewhouse, I'd hold a measuring cup over the collection bucket and catch the first quart of runnings. When the cup was full, I'd drop the hose into the collection vessel and add that quart back on top of the mash. Mission accomplished!

I think I used to overvorlauf. I'd go til it was really clear, which is great, but then it was pointed out to me that it's going to have plenty of time to clear while fermenting (where the yeast will cloudy it up again!), in secondary if I do one, etc.

I do agree that vorlaufing while batch sparging suuuuucks. It's part of the reason why I'm buying parts to convert a 5 gal cooler into a hot liquor tank and will be fly sparging come Sunday

Sigafoos said:

I do agree that vorlaufing while batch sparging suuuuucks. It's part of the reason why I'm buying parts to convert a 5 gal cooler into a hot liquor tank and will be fly sparging come Sunday

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Geeze I never thought of Vorlaufing as anything that sucked to bad. I mean sure it takes a little time but your makin beer whats the rush

Bobby_M said:

I'd hold a measuring cup over the collection bucket and catch the first quart of runnings. When the cup was full, I'd drop the hose into the collection vessel and add that quart back on top of the mash. Mission accomplished!

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My method as well.

I wonder if you are collecting small amount, closing valve, collecting small amount, closing valve repeat. This is how I used to do it till I learned on here why that sucks.

Each time you re-open the valve your re-creating anew suction that's pulling more grain in.
Get a larger vorlauff container, open valve slowly and collect into till it's full then move it out of the way letting your running fall into your collection bucket or Boil Kettle.

AS Bobby Explained above. It's the same amount of time as not vorlauffing at all + the 3 minutes MAYBE for that first few quarts to run out that you add back to the top. Very gently I might add.

Bobby_M said:

10 minutes? I suspect you're overdoing it because a braid clears fast. Before pumps and stainless infested my brewhouse, I'd hold a measuring cup over the collection bucket and catch the first quart of runnings. When the cup was full, I'd drop the hose into the collection vessel and add that quart back on top of the mash. Mission accomplished!

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This is what I do, too. It's hardly a frustrating exercise. It actually makes me happy to see what wort go from cloudy to clear right before my eyes.

plus it's cool to tell your friends: "hang on a second I need to vorlauf, but don't worry, it'll only be a few seconds"

Is it possible to over-vorlauf? Seems odd.

With the minimal amount of stuff that is usually in my vorlauf, I have considered not even bothering. Anyone have any idea if this would have much impact on the finished product.

Oh, btw, I use a braid and the run off improves very quickly...will that first cup or so of cloudy wort really do any harm?

Thanks,
Mike

That's a good point, if you strained the chunks out of 2 or three runnings, you'd probably find the total husks to be about a table spoon. I doubt it's a concern at all.

Bobby_M said:

That's a good point, if you strained the chunks out of 2 or three runnings, you'd probably find the total husks to be about a table spoon. I doubt it's a concern at all.

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Yep, I agree with that.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from my wort. I usually do it till it's pretty much clear or I'm tired of doing it. My thought was that if mashing too high can extract tannins from the husks, surely boiling would as well. I usually just have little chunks floating around, not huge husks. I guess ya'll don't worry about the little chunks, though.

Next time I'll fill my big container one time and let 'er rip.

Thanks guys.

desertbronze said:

I put the runoff hose inside a paint strainer bag - use a hose clamp to hold it in place. Start the runoff slowly and ease the valve open when you don't see any more debris in the runoff. You will find very little grain in the bag when you are done. I have done this for the last 6 batches - can't see or taste any difference in the beer.

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That's how I do it

I had similar troubles which I believe were due to disturbing the grain bed. I started recirculating very small volumes of wort. I think the quart saucepan recirculation was hitting the grain bed with enough force to disturb it. Basically I pour 4 oz into a cup, pour it lightly on top, repeat. Clears much faster.

gyllstromk said:

I had similar troubles which I believe were due to disturbing the grain bed. I started recirculating very small volumes of wort. I think the quart saucepan recirculation was hitting the grain bed with enough force to disturb it. Basically I pour 4 oz into a cup, pour it lightly on top, repeat. Clears much faster.

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I started using a sheet (maybe a foot long) of aluminum foil on top of the grain bed and that seems to keep the disturbance pretty small.

gyllstromk said:

I had similar troubles which I believe were due to disturbing the grain bed. I started recirculating very small volumes of wort. I think the quart saucepan recirculation was hitting the grain bed with enough force to disturb it. Basically I pour 4 oz into a cup, pour it lightly on top, repeat. Clears much faster.

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If you put something on top of the grainbed like a lid or plate you don't have to worry about pouring directly onto the grainbed and disturbing everything.

Before this weekend I was vorlaufing then shutting it off, pouring it back in and opening the valve again and doing some more. But this Sunday I just vorlaufed about a quart (which seemed like more than enough) and kept the flow running into my brew kettle while I poured back onto the lid which was sitting on top of the grain bed. Worked great.

Edit: Damn I am slow haha