Advice on my first brew!

Hi! I just finished brewing my first beer. It was an Abbey Dubbel style with steeped grains and liquid extract. I had a few things that I ran into that I would like to avoid next time.

When transferring the wort from my brewpot to fermentor, I used a funnel and strainer to keep all the hop sludge out. The problem was, the strainer kept getting clogged and I had to keep pulling out the hops by hand. Will this hurt the beer? I'm a little worried that it introduced some bacteria. I tried to be as careful as possible, even rinsing the strainer and funnel and dipping it in sanitizer each time I had to clean it off.

Also, can I use a bag for the hops in the future like I used for the grains? It would make the transfer so much easier. Thanks for looking!

Joeneugs said:

I used a funnel and strainer to keep all the hop sludge out. The problem was, the strainer kept getting clogged and I had to keep pulling out the hops by hand. Will this hurt the beer? I'm a little worried that it introduced some bacteria.

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As long as you weren't making mud pies just prior to transferring, you should be fine. Any trace amounts of bad guys you my have introduced will basically be competing against an vast army of yeast. They're likely to get crushed in that battle.

Joeneugs said:

Also, can I use a bag for the hops in the future like I used for the grains? It would make the transfer so much easier. Thanks for looking!

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I began using a hop bag a few brews into my career, and it suits me just fine. That said, it's all personal preference. Prior to that I'd run batches where I just poured straight into the carboy with no straining. I would be careful to leave the majority of the trub behind, but some would always inevitably end up in the carboy. You'll also find others here who don't even try to separate and throw everything into their fermenter.

There really is no "correct" way to do it. However, if you're just looking to reduce the amount of trub, bagging your hops into one of those reusable nylon bags for the boil is perfectly fine. Just take care to keep the bag from resting on the bottom of the brew kettle, as they may melt. I tie a string around around the bag and then anchor the string to the pot's handle, keeping a length that ensures it can only fall just below the surface.

I use a muslin bag for my hops.

If you throw hops in you can always use a vortex to help out (I do this too even when I use the muslin bag. Swirl your wort while it is cooling and make a vortex. This will make the trub collect in the center. Once cooled use a racking cane / auto siphon to transfer your wort to a sanitized bucket. When you do this place the siphon at the edge of the pot to minimize sucking up the trub in the center. Then aerate (I use the bucket to bucket transfer method), transfer to the carboy and pitch.

Your first batch is going to be awesome!

Joeneugs said:

Hi! I just finished brewing my first beer. It was an Abbey Dubbel style with steeped grains and liquid extract. I had a few things that I ran into that I would like to avoid next time.

When transferring the wort from my brewpot to fermentor, I used a funnel and strainer to keep all the hop sludge out. The problem was, the strainer kept getting clogged and I had to keep pulling out the hops by hand. Will this hurt the beer? I'm a little worried that it introduced some bacteria. I tried to be as careful as possible, even rinsing the strainer and funnel and dipping it in sanitizer each time I had to clean it off.

Also, can I use a bag for the hops in the future like I used for the grains? It would make the transfer so much easier. Thanks for looking!

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I do the same thing with a strainer sitting in my funnel. Using your hand won't hurt it I guess.

This is what I do because I'm anal and love to control my situation. when my strainer is full of Green poop I dump it, rinse it off and then dunk it in my Sanitizer again. Repeat this until the wort is in that Carboy!!

Bags keep the Wort clean during the boil, but it will not give you 100% utilization of the hops. I believe my hops should be like balls. Free and able to move around.

I use a sterilized spoon and scrape the filtering screen on my funnel. It's a slow drain but minimizes risk of contamination by keeping your hands away from the the cooled wort. I've done the hop bag thing too and that works well also.

Yeah, for me, the muslin bags are the way to go. It's pretty much like a sock. Put your hops in it, and tie the end. (Or, in the middle and do it twice if you're adding at two or three different times) If you get your boil going strong enough, you can see that thing swirling all around your brew kettle. Just pull it out at the end, and throw it away. Or, you can reuse them, but I never do. They cost like 59 cents, it's probably worth it every time you brew.

Sparkys Hop Stopper. Works really, really well.

You can use a hop bag, but make sure it is big enough so the hops have room to move around freely once they have absorbed some wort. (They expand a great deal during the boil). Also, don't expect the bag to keep all the sludge contained. They will contain a lot, but some will still get through.
I prefer to use whole hops. They don't disintegrate so much, and make a wonderful filter, but they do absorb more wort.
Also, as Johnnybrew said, you can always use a whirlpool to keep most of the hop debris out of the fermenter.
The other way of handling this problem is just to ignore it, and transfer all the sludge into the fermenter. Plenty of people do this, and by the time fermentation is complete it will have settled to the bottom.

-a.

These are all great ideas. Thank you all so much! My airlock has been bubbling vigorously for about 21 hours now. I couldn't be more excited.

One more question. Like I said, I'm brewing an Abbey Dubbel with a final gravity of about 1.018 and I have it fermenting in my pantry at about 73 degrees. Is this too warm? Should I add some cool water to the bucket I have the fermenter sitting in to cool it down a bit?

Should be fine. You're reaching the border of max temp. No need to add cool water. I'd say leave it and hope the temp doesn't go up in the room. Or move it to a little cooler area of the apartment or house?

3PegBrew said:

I believe my hops should be like balls. Free and able to move around.

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Awesome analogy, 3Peg!

On the ferm temp: in my experience, a temp measurement using a thermometer strip on the outside of the fermentor means that it is likely warmer inside where the action is taking place. Too high temps will cause off flavors from things like esters. I would put the carboy in a plastic bucket (like the ones you would use for iced drinks at a party) with cold water and when add a few ice packs several times a day. Use your brew thermometer directly in the water to monitor temps. Keeping temps down during warmer months is important and can be challenging. And, cooler (64 - 68F) is always better than hotter when ferm is concerned.

johnnybrew said:

Awesome analogy, 3Peg!

On the ferm temp: in my experience, a temp measurement using a thermometer strip on the outside of the fermentor means that it is likely warmer inside where the action is taking place. Too high temps will cause off flavors from things like esters. I would put the carboy in a plastic bucket (like the ones you would use for iced drinks at a party) with cold water and when add a few ice packs several times a day. Use your brew thermometer directly in the water to monitor temps. Keeping temps down during warmer months is important and can be challenging. And, cooler (64 - 68F) is always better than hotter when ferm is concerned.

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Actually, for Belgians, esters are a desired characteristic. And they are usually fermented on the high side. Check your yeast manufacturer website and it will give you the proper temperature range.

I used one of the typical nylon bags that you can find in all of the online and local stores I think. It has a drawstring, but you also need to tie it, or alot of the sludge escapes. With 1 oz of pellets in it, it rolled along nicely in the boil. For the second addition I used a small muslin bag and that worked ok too. After removing the bags and transferring, there was only about 2 tablespoons of sludge left in the strainer. So overall they both worked great.

Reelale said:

Actually, for Belgians, esters are a desired characteristic. And they are usually fermented on the high side. Check your yeast manufacturer website and it will give you the proper temperature range.

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Reelale is correct. My bad. E.g., WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale, the top temp in the range is 67-74°F. If it were me using WLP400, I would try to keep it around 70F.

johnnybrew said:

Reelale is correct. My bad. E.g., WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale, the top temp in the range is 67-74°F. If it were me using WLP400, I would try to keep it around 70F.

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That's the thing about those Belgian beers......great ones for summer brewing. And I think mid-range is the best of both worlds.

Reelale said:

Don't look now, but that cross-eyed girl is staring at you...and me.

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Reelale - gotta tell you that every time I see your signature I laugh. Never gets old.

I wish I had come up with it. I plagiarized.

You can just dump the hop sludge in your fermenter as well. I've been doing this for my last few and it doesn't seem to affect anything that I can tell.