Keeping stuff out of fermenter.

So I'm still new to home brewing and I mostly do extract with grain brewing. So far my first three beers have come out great but they are definitely cloudy, one was a wheat so not a big deal, but the others would have been nicer with a little more clarity. I use hop pellets with hop bags, which is a pain doing multiple hop additions, but when I cool the wort there is inevitably some particulate in the bottom that makes its way into the fermenter. I want to do an IPA next so I'd really like to do away with bags and do more of a continuous hopping. That being said I'm sure I'm in for loads of stuff in the bottom of the kettle and probably all through out the wort. I've heard of the whirl pool method of gathering the sediment in the middle but I did that last time and unless I leave about a half gallon of wort in the kettle it still flows out. I'm sure I'm not doing it quite right so could someone help me understand this idea better or any other methods of clearing my beer? Much appreciation in advance.

The stuff that makes it to your fermenter is not what makes the beer cloudy. The hops and other debris from the kettle will settle out. It's proteins that are clouding your beer. Try using Irish moss in the kettle for the last 15 minutes or one of the other finings on the market.

So to clarify, if I use hop pellets without a hop bag I should just dump it all into the fermenter and it will all end up at the bottom?

You can still use hop bags to keep the mess and sediment down. If you want clear beer use gelatin.

If you are bottling, rack the beer over to a secondary fermenter and let it settle out for 4-5 days or even a week. Take a cup of water and boil it for 5 minutes then cover it and let it cool down enough so it's still hot, but just cool enough where it won't burn your finger (sanitized finger). You don't want the water too hot. Take a small packet of plain, unflavored gelatin and mix it in with the cup of water until it's dissolved. I use a sanitized fork or whisk. Pour the mixture into the top of the fermenter and place the fermenter in the refrigerator for a 4-5 day cold crash, then bottle it. Be careful handling the fermenter when moving it out of the fridge. You don't want to stir things up. This will give you super clear beer. Just don't drink from the bottles as the yeast in the bottom will stir up and cloud the beer. Do one tilt of the bottle and pour it all in a glass at once.

If you are kegging, add the gelatin/water mix to the keg just as you are about to move the keg to the refrigerator or kegerator and let it settle out for at least 5 days. Pour off the first 2-3 glasses to get to the clear beer.

Don't even use Irish moss if you are going to use gelatin. Irish moss does a weak job compared to the gelatin anyway.

I know I'm not answering the cloudy beer question but when I move my beer from the boil kettle to the fermenter, I strain it through a mesh strainer. Helps get all the hop sludge out

For the hops: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Hop_Filter

For the cloudiness, cold crashing and gelatin are awesome.

That hop bag filter is great. I just drop a big bag in the boil kettle, but I'm liking this a little better. Thanks.

I always just throw my hops in the kettle (pellet, plug, or whole leaf), and strain the wort on its way to my fermenter. Its a simple process and seems to help with aeration quite a bit.

mdgagne said:

I always just throw my hops in the kettle (pellet, plug, or whole leaf), and strain the wort on its way to my fermenter. Its a simple process and seems to help with aeration quite a bit.

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Me, too, except I don't strain unless I have a ton of leaf hops. (Those clog my pump!)

Clarity really isn't at all related to the stuff in the trub, believe it or not. What usually causes cloudy beer is suspended protiens. A couple of things that can help: use whirlfloc or Irish moss in the kettle as mentioned; make sure you get a nice hard boil during the boil; chill fast to under 70 degrees; and use a yeast strain like nottingham or s04 that settles out well. Another thing that really helps is cold! If you can put the fermenter into a very cold place for 48 hours or so before bottling, that really helps stuff fall out. That's called "cold crashing".

I have some friends who are vegetarians so I've never used gelatin or anything like that.

If you do use hops bags make sure you stir the hops well inside the bag throughout the boil. Otherwise they act like a sponge and it can hurt your hops utilization.

I now only use hops bags for heavily hopped IPAs. I don't bother with them for lightly hopped beers.

All that info is great, thanks a bunch. Changing gears slightly I made an oatmeal stout recently and I used Irish moss in it, had and amazing hot break on it. Beer is ultra clear, and I've had it carbing for just over 3 weeks, plenty of carbination but weak head. Glasses were rinsed thoroughly with filtered water and air dried. Head formed initially to about half a finger and then died quickly. Beer tastes great, slightly less body than I hoped for but still good. Is poor head a side effect of the Irish moss or could it be something else. If a recipe helps let me know and I'll post it.

I figured I would just post recipe anyways.

Type: extract w/grain
Batch size: 5 gal
Boil size: 6 gal

Grain bill:
6 lbs. Breiss Dark LME
1 lbs. Crystal 10
2 lbs. Chocolate Malt
1 lbs. Black Patent Malt
1 lbs. Flaked Oats

Spices:

1 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
2 Vanilla Beans (cut and scrape)
1 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder

Combine spices, save bean skins, in 1 cup of water.

Bring water to boil and cool 3 gal. Remove 1 gal of remaining water and set aside. Steep grains and flaked oats for 30 mins. Remove bag and soak in half of the water that was set aside, light agitate grains. Pour that back into boil kettle and repeat with remaining water. Let grain bag hang above boil kettle to drain. Turn off heat and add in LME. Stir until combined. Bring to rolling boil.

Hops:
Add .25 cup of spices with each addition.
60 mins - .5 oz. Kent Goldings, .25 oz
Saaz,
vanilla bean skins
45 mins - .25 oz. Saaz
30 mins - .5 oz. Kent Goldings, .25 oz
Saaz
15 mins - .25 oz. Saaz

Chill and transfer to primary. Add liquid Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale).

Primary for 10-14 days, secondary for 3-4 weeks. Prime with 5 oz. of corn sugar and store for 3-4 weeks.

OG: 1.045
FG: 1.012

Kind of disappointed with the low gravity but it is what is. As for the taste the Nutmeg came through more than the vanilla but neither are over powering. Slightly drier and lighter in body than expected. Weak head.