Autosiphon Grainbag filter ideas

Hi all!

I'm brewing an IPA right now that I want to dry hop (to bump up the bitterness) and I was researching the best methods of doing this. I'm also using toasted oak chips. This is going to be a single-stage fermentation, so here's my plan:

1. Just going to cold-crash the hop pellets right into the carboy, along with the wood chips. If they float, they float. If they sink, they sink. I'm a firm believer in just letting nature take it's course. Either way, they're going to live in there for about a week or two.

2. When bottling day comes, I'm going to sanitize a nylon grain bag and a zip tie in my star-san solution, attach it to the carboy-end of the auto siphon, zip-tie it in place, and off I go. Not only should this keep out the wood chips and the hops, but it should also help keep out the general trub as well. The bonus is, I'll just snip the zip tie off & wash the grain bag for future use.

3. Additional concern: The kit I bought included a pouch of Munton's yeast. Well, I'm a huge fan of US-05, so I put the Muntons back on the shelf in my fridge, and pitched straight US-05 instead. Every batch of beer I've made so far with US-05, I've seen heavy activity usually within 8 hours. I brew at night, and when I wake up in the morning, the carboy looks like a hurricane inside.

Right now, it's been 12 hours exactly, and still no activity. The yeast is just floating in white "groups" at the top of the wort. I know it can take up to 72 hours, but I figured I'd ask anyway... i mean there is NO activity :\ I'm going to give it the full 72 hours, perhaps even more, before I start to panic... But should it come to pass that this yeast is bad, is the whole batch lost, or can I pitch the Muntons?

Your thoughts/ideas/reprimands are welcome Thanks in advance!

Gunpowder said:

2. When bottling day comes, I'm going to sanitize a nylon grain bag and a zip tie in my star-san solution, attach it to the carboy-end of the auto siphon, zip-tie it in place, and off I go. Not only should this keep out the wood chips and the hops, but it should also help keep out the general trub as well. The bonus is, I'll just snip the zip tie off & wash the grain bag for future use.

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I do something similar to this when I rack from a carboy, only difference is that is a standard nylon paint strainer bag. My preference is leaf hops when dry hopping, they filter out much easier in my opinion. They do take on a lot of liquids though so there is a trade off.

Gunpowder said:

Right now, it's been 12 hours exactly, and still no activity. The yeast is just floating in white "groups" at the top of the wort. I know it can take up to 72 hours, but I figured I'd ask anyway... i mean there is NO activity :\ I'm going to give it the full 72 hours, perhaps even more, before I start to panic... But should it come to pass that this yeast is bad, is the whole batch lost, or can I pitch the Muntons?

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Patience

Unless you boiled the yeast during rehydration(if you did that step) it will be fine.

Satisfaction said:

Patience

Unless you boiled the yeast during rehydration(if you did that step) it will be fine.

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Nope! I straight dry-pitched, from the bag to the carboy, like I always do. I wish I could explain why, but I've got issues with making starters. I always feel like if I were a yeast, I'd rather be thrown right into the beer rather than go swimming in water first... LOL. So no, I didn't boil it. I did, however, take it out of the fridge and let it warm up for about a half hour before pitching it. And I pitched it into wort that was about 65 degrees.

I checked the bag, and it expires in 2014, so I'm good there. My biggest concern is replacing the Munton's with the Safale, and that pissed off the beer god.

Gunpowder said:

I checked the bag, and it expires in 2014, so I'm good there. My biggest concern is replacing the Munton's with the Safale, and that pissed off the beer god.

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Did you spill any beer lately? That's a sin..

The yeast do not care where they land as long as it is good homebrew.

they sell single use nylon mesh filters that fit over your auto siphon for this purpose. I wouldn't trust that the grain bag is sanitized properly I only use those things pre boil. My LHBS gives the mesh filters away so there is no reason for me not to use them.