Should I strain/filter?

I'm 15mins into my 60min boil for a BestBrew Wheat Beer.


I followed the direction that came with the kit and added the Northern Brewer Hop pellets for the first 45 minutes. Then I am supposed to flameout and mix in the DME. Boil for another 15mins and flameout. Add 1/2 Hallertauer hop pellets and after 5 minutes it says to pour the wort through a strainer into the fermenter.

The question is do I have to strain? The two books I have are a split decision. One says to strain, the other says its ok to leave the hops in the fermenter.

Thoughts?

Either way is ok. It is all a matter of personal preference. Everything should settle out in the fermentor.

Cheers

i agree. i've done it both ways. the only issue will be that you will have to avoid more trub when you transfer to secondary. more of a technical issue. won't effect taste tho.

Thanks for the info guys. I went ahead with poured all of the wort into the fermenter without straining.

And man, a combo cold bottled spring water and an ice bath got it down to 70deg. in less than 10minutes!

Well off to clean and sanitize so I can brew a batch of Robust Porter tonight.

Thanks again!

One advantage to using a strainer is that it aerates the wort pretty good.

Proofman said:

One advantage to using a strainer is that it aerates the wort pretty good.

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tru dat

I like to whirlpool my kettle then siphon through a strainer/funnel into the carboy..it removes or eliminates the majority of the trub and gets my aeration under way.

I thought I was only supposed to aerate the wort once it cooled down to yeast pitching temps?

HarvInSTL said:

I thought I was only supposed to aerate the wort once it cooled down to yeast pitching temps?

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yup...however if you do full boils and use a chiller, it's been cooled in the kettle.

HarvInSTL said:

I thought I was only supposed to aerate the wort once it cooled down to yeast pitching temps?

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Thats why most people cool in the kettle. It hard to transfer the beer without some aeration. I've dropped my kettle into an ice bath before but a wort cooler is much easier and quicker. Once cool then you can do one of, dump contents into fermenter, whirlpool then siphon into fermenter, or pour through filter into fermenter. I do the whirlpool and siphon.
Craig

I just checked on prices of 3/8" soft copper tubing and I'm going to just follow these directions this weekend and make a 20ft immersion wort cooler.

Thanks for the info!