Wort Filtration

I will be doing my first partial boil in a couple of days where I am adding my own hops and such. I am going to add 1 lb. DME then let the hop pellets boil for 45 mins then add the rest of the DME/LME and boil for another 15 mins in order to avoid caramelization. When adding the wort to my primary, do I need to run it through a funnel with a filtration screen or will anything unwanted in the brew simply settle out during primary/secondary fermentation? Thanks guys (and ladies?)

Joe

I always pour my wort through a fine mesh strainer into the primary. This traps most of the hop residue. I'm sure most of the junk would settle out on its own in the primary if you didn't want to spring for the big strainer.

You can run it through a screen or some cheesecloth. It will seperate out the hops and help with aeration. Just make sure it's sanitized. If not just dump it all in. It will settle out, just more stuff at the bottom of the fermenter to be careful of when transfering. I accidentally did this on my last batch. It was late and I just dumped the wort in the fermenter, before looking down to see my strainer sitting in the sanitizing solution. You'll be fine either way, although I would try to seperate it out.

Contraywise, I tried once to use cheescloth to strain stuff and go so aggravated by the constant clogging and general slowness of the process that I just said screw it, and I have never strained anything since. The beers came out fine. My suggestion is to experiment and go with what makes the best beer for your taste and tolerance for process steps.

my second last batch i strained with a metal strainer and it turned out to be a pain, and slow.. my last batch, i stirred up a pretty good whirlpool, let it setting for about 1/2 hour and then siphoned to the primary.. i was amazed at how much of 'crap' i actually left in the bucket in a nice pyramid..

I have only made three batches, however I have strained each time. I do not find it to be difficult because I use a spatula to consistanly push residue off of the mesh strainer (works like a windshield wiper.)

scilost said:

I have only made three batches, however I have strained each time. I do not find it to be difficult because I use a spatula to consistanly push residue off of the mesh strainer (works like a windshield wiper.)

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wait until you make a batch with 5 oz of whole hops in it.

I had to stop ever few minutes to remove the hops from my funnel/strainer with tongs because the entire funnel was full. I ended up with about 2/3 of a gallon of spent hops in a jug by the time I had it all the wort into the fermenter.

-walker

Imperial Walker said:

wait until you make a batch with 5 oz of whole hops in it.

I had to stop ever few minutes to remove the hops from my funnel/strainer with tongs because the entire funnel was full. I ended up with about 2/3 of a gallon of spent hops in a jug by the time I had it all the wort into the fermenter.

-walker

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Yep, this is true. Strainer in no problem with 1 oz of hops, but if you are using a lot of hops, it requires constant cleaning. I so far have strained two of my batches, and left one (whice i want to be hoppier) unstrained. It was my thinking that hop residue sitting on the bottom of the fermenter would contribute a little more hop taste/smell to the brew. Could be wrong tho...

after i use my wort chiller i let the pail of cooled wort settle while i clean and sterilize the chiller and put a sterilized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer over the
chiller.
i slowly lower it into the pail of cooled wort ,all the trub and hops stay on the outside of the chiller and i can siphon clear wort from the inside of the chiller
works great

rod said:

after i use my wort chiller i let the pail of cooled wort settle while i clean and sterilize the chiller and put a sterilized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer over the
chiller.
i slowly lower it into the pail of cooled wort ,all the trub and hops stay on the outside of the chiller and i can siphon clear wort from the inside of the chiller
works great

Click to expand...

Damn good idea. After my last batch of IPA I decided that I have to come up with something better than my current method for getting wort into fermenter without all the solids. That batch had 4.5 ounces of whole hope floating freely in the kettle.

I first tried to siphon, but it kept getting clogged.
I then tried to put a small bag over the cane, but it was a hastle.
I ended up pouring it through a strainer but I still had to stop every minute or so to remove hops from the funnel.

I've got a huge mesh bag (meant for large volumes of grain), and I should be able to do what you are doing here.... slide it over the chiller and drop it all into the wort, and siphon with my tip inside the bag.

THANKS!

-walker

I have a strainer with a long handle on it, meaning that instead of pouring the wort with hops through the strainer, I take "scoops" of hops out of the wort. It takes a minute or two.

I don't get all of it like that, but the little that remains can easily be strained from the wort by pouring it through the strainer into the fermenter. At that point there's certainly not enough hops left to block anything.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian