Straining Hops?

Is it common practice to strain the wort as it's being poured in to the fermenter?

If so what is the advantage of doing this vs. not doing this. I use pellet hops do they dissolve into the wort or are they able to be strained also? I was under the assumption that they dissolve.

Thanks

I'm new (so take this for what it's worth), but I put pelletized hops in a fine mesh "hop bag" before I throw them in the boil...keeps most of the hops out of the fermenter.

I've read some other posts around here saying that if you don't strain them, the pieces will settle fine in the primary and secondary fermenter. I am currently trying it out so I can't say how well it works.

Straining the wort does two things, it filters out some of the hotbreak (which some people like, some don't, it's personal preference) and it aerates the wort, which is helpful for the yeast to do it's aerobic growth phase. Pellet hops don't dissolve the way salt dissolves into water, more like it turns into tiny bits like sand does in water.

I always strain mine going into the fermenter. You don't have to, though. It does help keep down the amount of crud you later siphon off of. I don't use hops bags even for highly hopped ales. I just through them in, and then strain later.

Using hops bags can decrease the utilization of your hops. If you're boiling a small batch of wort that you are topping off with water (and most extract brewers do), that also decreases the utilization of hops. So, I'm a big believer in just chucking them right in there!

Wednesday's batch had 2.75 ounces of chinook hops (whole hops) and they strained out just fine.

I found this worked well:

http://i12.tinypic.com/85c72af.jpg

I finally have resorted to using a sterilized tea towel to line a pasta colander to strain the tiny specks of hop pellet from the wort. It plugs up a lot, but a slow steady pour will help, and using a spoon to scrape the junk out of there will help too.
It may just be easier to leave them in there...maybe next batch.

I strain as it leaves the kettle. Have to to keep from gumming up my plate chiller.

I use a homemeade variant of the hop stopper. Learned that Bass Pro sells a stainless steel thread as fishing line in the process. Whoodathunk.

Straining is one option, but just fyi, whirlpooling can also work well (it's what I do). To whirlpool, just stir the wort into a whirlpool after cooling, let sit until it stops, then siphon from the side of the pot.