When to strain.

Should you strain your wort as you put it into your primary carboy? I have had some people say yes and some people say no so I am a bit confused.

Thanks
Tom

Here is what I have gathered about this. First of all, straining is not absolutely necessary. You do want to leave behind most of the spent hops from your brew kettle. So assuming that you are dumping hops directly into the boil, you will want to find some way to get them out. The whirlpool method is used by a lot of folks, but many strain.

The added benefit of straining (IMHO) is that you are aerating your wort at the same time you are getting a bunch of spent hops out of it. So, in this sense, straining your wort is a great thing.

There are, however, some dangers. Obviously, if your strainer or straining method is unsanitary, you run the risk of infection. Another danger may be straining out too much of the hot break which contain healthy nutrients for your yeast. A final danger - never strain hot wort because it will cause "hot side aeration" which is a no-no.

Edit - If your question is about "when" to strain - you should do this after the wort has cooled and before putting it into primary.

I'm sure some others on the board will correct my mistakes and add what I left out.

Too much straining can lead to hemmoroids, though.

you pretty much summed it up, sonvolt.

sonvolt said:

Another danger may be straining out too much of the hot break which contain healthy nutrients for your yeast.

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I'ts pretty hard to strain out to much of the trub since this requires a filter. Commercial brewers remove all the hot break and hops and may remove up to 60% of the cold break. The remaining 30% cold break are enough nutrient for the yeast.

Kai

Thanks for the info...i found a thread on the 2nd page which also had good info.

Can someone please explain 2 tems to me though...cold break and hot break.

Thanks
tom

I'll bet that you notice your wort is much clearer before you boil than after you boil. All of the little floaty things that end up in your boiled wort are a result of a hot "break" of proteins caused by vigorous boil. Early in the boil, you may experience boil over . . . this is often referred to as the "break" and once it has finished, you rarely have another boil over in a boil - unless you add more fermentables, etc.

When this boil over happens, these little floaty bits of protein are left in your wort. We often refer to these thingies as the "hot break." A similar process occurs during the fermentation (I believe) that is called the cold break - I don't know so much about that, but I believe it is partially responsible for chill haze?

Sorry my answer is not as scientfic as others' may be.

sonvolt said:

A similar process occurs during the fermentation (I believe) that is called the cold break - I don't know so much about that, but I believe it is partially responsible for chill haze?

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The cold break happens when you get a good, rapid cooling of the wort prior to putting it into the fermenter and pitching the yeast. But, yes, lack of a good cold break is what supposedly leads to chill haze.

-walker

sonvolt said:

There are, however, some dangers. Obviously, if your strainer or straining method is unsanitary, you run the risk of infection. Another danger may be straining out too much of the hot break which contain healthy nutrients for your yeast. A final danger - never strain hot wort because it will cause "hot side aeration" which is a no-no.

Edit - If your question is about "when" to strain - you should do this after the wort has cooled and before putting it into primary.

I'm sure some others on the board will correct my mistakes and add what I left out.

Click to expand...

Interesting info. I've been brewing for 13 plus years and have strained every hot wort since my first one. Then I sparge the hops/trub (through a nylon net that fits over my primary bucket) with filtered ice cold water. All sanitized prior to usage naturally.

I'm not correcting any of your mistakes, more like thinking out loud...

hot break are large chunks of protein that settle pretty fast. Cold break is much finer and takes much longer to settle out. But it will clump op in the primary (at least that's what happens with mine all the time).

Kai

Hi

If I am siphoning into my Primary (let's say a glass carboy as opposed to bucket), is that not essentially the same as a strain? Obviously I will still get some residue coming through the siphoning tube, but not the way a complete dump into the primary.

What about styles? For example, Im making a Porter this weekend. Am I better to clean off the wort going into the primary, or can I benefit from taking everything from the wort boil?

Also, as I steer directions here , would there be any benefit in leaving a porter in a single ferment vessel for X amount of weeks, rather than racking to a secondary?

Cheers,
J

If I am siphoning into my Primary (let's say a glass carboy as opposed to bucket), is that not essentially the same as a strain? Obviously I will still get some residue coming through the siphoning tube, but not the way a complete dump into the primary.

Click to expand...

While the end result may be the same . . . the process is not. When a wort is strained, the liquid is forced through many tiny holes. As it passes through those holes, air is forced into the wort. If you are siphoning without a straining device, this air is not forced into the wort in the same amount. That aeration, btw, is very essential for healthy yeast, although many brewers will say that simple straining does not add enough air to the cooled wort.

As for your porter, if you do a full "dump" as you say and then leave the beer in the same vessel for a long time, you may pick up some off flavors resulting from the beer being too long on the trub. I would think, though, that if you were able to get most of the trub off the wort when you went to primary that you would be able to do a single stage fermentation with little to no worries. Your beer won't be as clear, but this may make little difference to you - especially with a porter.

sonvolt said:

As for your porter, if you do a full "dump" as you say and then leave the beer in the same vessel for a long time, you may pick up some off flavors resulting from the beer being too long on the trub. I would think, though, that if you were able to get most of the trub off the wort when you went to primary that you would be able to do a single stage fermentation with little to no worries.

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Have to disagree with you a little on this one. The part of the trub that causes off flavors after time is the spent yeast, not the hot/cold break and/or hop residue coming from the brewpot.

jaymack said:

What about styles? For example, Im making a Porter this weekend. Am I better to clean off the wort going into the primary, or can I benefit from taking everything from the wort boil?

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I believe that you are better off if you can leave as much of the trub behind. This makes reusing yeast easier and you don't loose as much beer when you rack to a secondary.

jaymack said:

Also, as I steer directions here , would there be any benefit in leaving a porter in a single ferment vessel for X amount of weeks, rather than racking to a secondary?

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There is not much benefit to leaving it in the primary after it is done fermenting if you plan to use a secondary. All the yeast still in suspension will settle out in the secondary.

sonvolt said:

When a wort is strained, the liquid is forced through many tiny holes. As it passes through those holes, air is forced into the wort. If you are siphoning without a straining device, this air is not forced into the wort in the same amount.

Click to expand...

When I strained using the funner and mesh, I didn't see this effect, Since the mesh clogged up faily fast, I got only a mere trickle and the wort run along side the mesh untill it dropped into the fermenter. The only good aeration came from the wort splashing into the fermenter. I could see that this forcing through tiny holes caused lots of aeration if you are able to create some sort of wort shower.

Kai

El Pistolero said:

Have to disagree with you a little on this one. The part of the trub that causes off flavors after time is the spent yeast, not the hot/cold break and/or hop residue coming from the brewpot.

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Oh . . . I knew that break did not impart off flavors . . . but I thought that spent hops did. That is why I love this board . . . . learn something new every day.