Splatter screen to filter hops from boil?

[scoundrel]

Currently, I use a paint straining bag over my fermenter bucket for removing the hop sludge from the boil. I like this approach since I partial boil, I can remove the hops from my wort and then I can bring the volume up to 5 gallons easily with the gallon marks on the bucket. I've done this 10+ times and it works great. The problem is waiting for all of the wort to strain out of the bag.

I noticed a 13" splatter screen at the my local grocery store and thought that I could simply put this over the bucket and slowly pour the wort through the screen. It looked very durable and the holes were similar or slightly larger than a door screen. I suspect whichever part of the screen I'm pouring the wort over will eventually clog with hops but then I could just move the wort stream to another part of the screen.

It seems like this might work. Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Hammy71]

Sounds messy, Maybe a strainer is what your looking for?

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/double-mesh-stainless-strainer.html

 

[SKMO]

My experience has been most everything screenwise clogs when trying to pour and filter wort through it, especially if you are using pellet hops. One thing that will help is to try to filter most stuff out of your boil kettle with a strainer, while it is still hot, and you don't have to worry so much about sanitizing the strainer. i.e. At the end of the boil when it's still hot use a hand strainer to scoop out the majority of the junk.

Do some hot side straining with a handheld strainer / screen, then rack into your fermenter with a "filtered cane" once it's cooled down. To make a "filtered cane" I put a wad of stainless steel pot scrubber on the end of the racking cane, put a piece of nylon hop bag around that, and secure it with a zip tie. I'll get 60% of crap out with the strainer, and 35% will be blocked by the racking cane filter. Not much ends up in the fermenter.

Lots of ways to do this, but this works for me. Pouring dirty wort through any type of filter has never worked for me.

 

[hoplobster]

I tried a splatter screen once and I don't recommend it. When I dumped the cooled wort into the carboy (splatter screen over a funnel) the screen clogged as soon as I got to the hops, and since I wasnt expecting this, a whole bunch of wort just splattered against the hop sludge and went every except for the inside of my carboy. So I had to set the pot down, clean the screen, dump more wort, set the pot down, clean the screen etc... This resulted in the hop sludge in my kettle just mixing in with my wort, so I would have been better off just dumping it all in the carboy and letting it settle over fermentation.

My next experiment was to use a cone shaped screen (colander) and I had the same result.

Now, I just dump the wort into the carboy, even the nasty stuff, and everything is fine without the mess.

 

[enkamania]

I use the splatter guard and it works fine.

 

[msa8967]

I bought several splatter screens from Dollar Tree (where everything is a dollar but not everything in the is worth 25 cents) and I use these to help screen out my hops from near the bottom 1/3 of the kettle. I sanitize a plastic pitcher and pour the wort from the pitcher through the screens with no problem. Only costs a couple of buck to try.

 

[shroomzofdoom]

Currently, I use a paint straining bag over my fermenter bucket for removing the hop sludge from the boil. I like this approach since I partial boil, I can remove the hops from my wort and then I can bring the volume up to 5 gallons easily with the gallon marks on the bucket. I've done this 10+ times and it works great. The problem is waiting for all of the wort to strain out of the bag.

I've tried various splatter screens and sieves, in hoppier beers like my IIPA I have to empty and rinse these a few times.

If you are doing the PSB in a bucket method and find it painful to wait for the bag to drain try lifting the bag and gently agitating and rocking it from side to side. The hop sediment will come off the bottom of the bag and will allow the bag to drain in less than a minute. Yes, I find this to be a pain--but all the other methods I've tried were even worse.

 

[wolverinebrewer]

I prefer the 10" strainer from the LHBS. Yes, it does fill up but I use a large sanitized spoon and when the strainer fills up, I scoop all of the gunk into a bag. Then I use the hose with nozzle and spray out the strainer, resanitize, place back over the bucket and continue pouring. I may have to stop three times to clean out the strainer, but evenually it all goes through. I will then pour back through the strainer into the kettle and then back from the kettle through the strainer into the bucket. I get out everything that won't go through. Works great.

 

[terrapinj]

i used a metal strainer ~10" over the bucket before and it always clogged and you had to stir the hop sludge to get the remaining wort out or even scoop some sludge out

i just tried using a paint strainer bag inside the bucket as i poured the wort from the kettle in - it was much quicker and easier to lift up the paint bag and shake/squeeze it to get all the wort from the hop residue out and i didn't have to worry about it overflowing from hops blockage

id use a strainer instead of a splatter screen if you do go that route as there is little to prevent the hop sludge from going over the side of the splatter screen as you are pouring your wort in

 

[BendBrewer]

When I did partial mashes and before my ball valves I would take 2 SS strainers. One would sit with the handles on top of the fermenter. With the other, I would 'scoop/strain' the floating hops out of the kettle and place them in the strainer sitting on the bucket. This would make a nice spent hop bed in the strainer and then I would ladle or pour my wort through the spent hops and use them as the filter.

 

[rycov]

i did it. didnt like it. it worked though. if your going to just becareful to pour slow. the gunk piled up ALOT quicker than i thought. the screen was flat. the wort just pourd over the edges FML