Do you strain wort when pouring into primary?

Does anyone strain their wort when pouring into the primary fermenter? I'm wondering if it's worth it so I don't get so much junk at the bottom of my primary. If you do, how do you do it?

I just bottled a batch of beer and I went from my primary to a bottling bucket. This was the first time I didn't use a secondary. I ended up sucking up some of the junk and it ended up plugging up my bottling wand when I was filling bottles. It was a big pain.

If I did do this, do you think this would affect the IBU if I'm straining out some of the hops? I use pelleted hops.

Thanks
Todd

I don't know if it would make that much off a difference trub wise but Midwest sells a huge funnel with a strainer in it I have one and didn't see much of a difference with the strainer and with out and removing the hop particals will not affect ibus

I do. I doubt that it really does that much but I usually get a few things stuck in my strainer plus it will help to oxygenate your wort. I whirlpool and that gets most of my trub into the middle of my kettle then I siphon off the edge. There are the the inevitable chucks of trub that will get sucked up and I like to think that my strainer catches these.

It can't hurt if you already have a good wire strainer sitting around.

I did with my first two and I think it was worth it. I forgot on the last batch tho so we will see this weekend when I go to bottle.

I filtered it once. Haven't done it since.

I do BIAB, and I clean and sanitize my bag and filter the last gallon or so through the bag to get rid of the trub on its' way to the fermenter.

I usually do, sometimes you get a lot and other times nothing. I keep doing it because I know it's helping to aerate the wort.

i pour mine through a bucket paint strainer. Works pretty well

There really isn't a lot of benefit to separating the wort from the trub IMO. I just dump it all in the fermentor. I've done it both ways and see no difference.

Crap doesn't get stuck in the auto-syphon? (if you use one). This is my main reason for straining and my strained beers both came out great so nervous about switching it up. I did anyway on accident so will find out for myself.

hoppymonkey said:

i pour mine through a bucket paint strainer. Works pretty well

Click to expand...

This.

I sometimes depending on batch size will also "pre strain" the wort with a mesh strainer, then what gets through that I will pull the paint strainer bag out. I have a stainless steel milking can that I use to transfer 5 gallons from the brew cart to the fermenter when I do 12 gallon batches.

I strain through a nylon thingie that goes over my bottling bucket, then from there into the better bottle. Gets most of the hop junk out, and I think aerates as well as possible short of actually getting an oxygenation system...

For 5 gallon batches? Everytime. I am a believer that it helps in aeration as well... I can just pick up the bk and pour it through a strainer straddling a bucket.

10 gallon batches? Haven't figured out how to pick them up yet...

I put everything into primary, I would put all the hops too if they fit through my counterflow.

Beezy said:

Crap doesn't get stuck in the auto-syphon? (if you use one). This is my main reason for straining and my strained beers both came out great so nervous about switching it up. I did anyway on accident so will find out for myself.

Click to expand...

I don't strain anything, I just use my auto siphon and pull out 99% of the wort from my kettle, including the really thick trubby crap at the very bottom. Granted, my hops are contained so there's not a whole ton of hop material in there... but occasionally I just toss the pellets in. Haven't had an issue with clogging yet.

Beezy said:

Crap doesn't get stuck in the auto-syphon? (if you use one). This is my main reason for straining and my strained beers both came out great so nervous about switching it up. I did anyway on accident so will find out for myself.

Click to expand...

I have never bottled so I don't know that process, guess I was a bad person to answer.

I siphon from my primary to a glass carboy for cold crashing (plastic carboys collapse at the low temp), but when I siphon I start at the top and work my way down. When I get near the trub I slowly tilt the carboy forward. I might lose a pint by not going fishing but I'm alright with that.

I aerate just fine, my last brew had bubbles in the airlock and a head of foam after 4 hours of flame out (1056). That actually was the fastest I've ever seen personally with no starter.

I put a fine mesh bag in my funnel and run wort through it. It does catch some hop and hot break particles.

I use a big wire mess pasta strainer to dump the wort through into the primary. Catches all the hops, and aerates the wort a little. If you use one, make sure it's clean, and soak in sanitizer before use.

I stopped straining into primary because of the extra steps in having to sanitize the somewhat large strainer and then having to clean it. Now I just dump. You can avoid sucking stuff into your bottling bucket by using an autosyphon and the clip that holds the syphon rigidly to the bucket. I scratched a mark on the syphon all around that I line up with the top of the clip. I placed the mark so that there is about 1 1/4" from the bottom of the bucket to the intake of the syphon. Once I've sucked this much out, I sometimes strain the last bit as a seperate batch directly into pre-primed bottles and mark those so I know they have extra gunk in them.

I just started using a MoreBeer hopback on my last couple batches, couple ounces of leaf hops on a ten gallon batch are a great filter. Trub was sitting right on top of the hops when I dumped them out into my composter.

I've dumped the boil hops and break into the fermenter for hundreds of batches. Lately I've been doing a whirlpool and leaving most of it in the kettle. It may have reduced astringency from the hops. I like the cleaner yeast cake.

My mash tun has a built in filter so yeah

hoppymonkey said:

i pour mine through a bucket paint strainer. Works pretty well

Click to expand...

This.

I use a funnel with a strainer in it, but the thing I found to work best was to use a nylon bag when adding my hops. When the hops are added without a bag you have a whole lot of sediment and it tends to block the the strainer and your wort doesn't pass through without having to constantly clear it.

Like others, I also use a paint strainer. Into the primary and also into the keg. Probably overkill but I do it anyway.

I keep forgetting to, and it bites my ass in the end when I can't get a clean sample for OG. Haven't gotten a proper reading in the last 4 or 5 batches (and this is after I let it settle out after cooling).

richbrew99 said:

Like others, I also use a paint strainer. Into the primary and also into the keg. Probably overkill but I do it anyway.

Click to expand...

You strain the fermented beer before it goes into the keg? Aren't you worried about oxidizing your brew?

lestershy said:

You strain the fermented beer before it goes into the keg? Aren't you worried about oxidizing your brew?

Click to expand...

Hasn't happened... yet. The line is down into the keg so it is not really spraying or splashing.

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.

Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

JefeTheVol said:

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.

Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

View attachment 29211

Click to expand...

That's brilliant! I just bought a paint strainer for a BIAB experiment but will try this on my next dry hopped beer. As long as the strainer stays below the liquid level of your beer it wont do anything - been looking for this solution but have been thinking on the syphoning end, not the bottling bucket / keg.

JefeTheVol said:

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.
Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I do, paint strainers from Home Depot. They're washable and cheap.

JefeTheVol said:

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.

Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

Click to expand...

I do a similar set up every now and again but I use panty hose its a little slower to rack but it catches lots of junk

richbrew99 said:

Like others, I also use a paint strainer. Into the primary and also into the keg. Probably overkill but I do it anyway.

Click to expand...

I would be concerned about oxidation by using a strainer into the keg.

I do it only when I'm planning on washing the yeast. Leaving the hops and break material out of the fermenter makes yeast washing much, much easier.

Otherwise, eh, just let it roll.

dfc said:

I would be concerned about oxidation by using a strainer into the keg.

Click to expand...

Why would that cause oxidation? The flow of beer is relatively undisturbed as it passes through the strainer(ie it doesnt bubble or foam). As long as your transfer tube is at the bottom of the receiving vessel no extra oxygen is being introduced. And as soon as its under the fluid level, no worries(about 1/4 gallon). I have used this method almost on every one of my rackings and never had oxidation problems.

I can see how the strainer would oxidize if you let the beer splash into the receiving vessel, but that would happen anyway via that method, sans filter.
-jefe-

JefeTheVol said:

Why would that cause oxidation? The flow of beer is relatively undisturbed as it passes through the strainer(ie it doesnt bubble or foam). As long as your transfer tube is at the bottom of the receiving vessel no extra oxygen is being introduced. And as soon as its under the fluid level, no worries(about 1/4 gallon). I have used this method almost on every one of my rackings and never had oxidation problems.

I can see how the strainer would oxidize if you let the beer splash into the receiving vessel, but that would happen anyway via that method, sans filter.
-jefe-

Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just seeing problems where there are none, but it seems like pulling the bag out would introduce oxygen since you'd be pulling some of the beer out with it which would then drip back into the keg.

It's tough to argue with experience though. I'll take your word on it.

JefeTheVol said:

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.

Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

View attachment 29211

Click to expand...

I wonder if one of those bulb type strainers that you insert into the top the downspout in gutters could be modified to make a good frame for the bag when using this approach? Could also be used at the bottom of an autosyphon. Much easier to disinfect and clean than a large strainer. Maybe I'll try this on my next batch.

I should have taken pictures. I don't strain. I Use whirfloc, then I use the immersion chiller then whirpool, cover all in the boil kettle. I wait about 1/2 hour, I siphon off the very clear liquid and get barely any trub in primary. I aerate and pitch yeast. Then I pour the trub from kettle into a sanitized pitcher and cover. There is still a lot of salvageable wort. The whirlfloc'd trub in sanitized pitcher settles out even more after about another hour. I pour this salvaged wort back into the primary.
Never had an infection. and then only thing in the trub in the primary is yeast settling out.

JefeTheVol said:

Why would that cause oxidation? The flow of beer is relatively undisturbed as it passes through the strainer(ie it doesnt bubble or foam). As long as your transfer tube is at the bottom of the receiving vessel no extra oxygen is being introduced. And as soon as its under the fluid level, no worries(about 1/4 gallon). I have used this method almost on every one of my rackings and never had oxidation problems.

I can see how the strainer would oxidize if you let the beer splash into the receiving vessel, but that would happen anyway via that method, sans filter.
-jefe-

Click to expand...

thank you for helping me out by explaining. I do have the line down into to the bottom of the keg and if you pull it out swiftly enough you don't get much dripping action. For my purposes, it works for me.

smata67 said:

I wonder if one of those bulb type strainers that you insert into the top the downspout in gutters could be modified to make a good frame for the bag when using this approach? Could also be used at the bottom of an autosyphon. Much easier to disinfect and clean than a large strainer. Maybe I'll try this on my next batch.

Click to expand...

Im not so sure that kind of filter covering the vinyl would work very well. The benefit of the "tube mittens" is that it has about 4X6 inches of filter space while the filter you showed in your attachment has about 1x1 inches. A filter that small will more than likely fill with trub and your flow will diminish to a trickle.

The trick with the paint strainer is that most of the bag is away from the end of the transfer tubing; and thus a larger filter.
-Jefe-