Straining Before Fermenter

[flexbrew]

I bought a large mesh bag from morebeer and have been using it to strain the wort from the boil kettle to the fermenter. There is always a ton of break material and this seems to work real well. Especially when harvesting my yeast.

Is this a good thing? Do you do this? Perhaps theres an easier way like a collender instead of a bag? The bag us awful to clean. Im sure im increasing the chances of infection.

 

[ASantiago]

I use a large funnel with a filter piece. It works great for most of the racking, except at the very end. Depending on how much stuff there is in the kettle, I may have to empty out the filter several times. I've taken to just leaving a couple of inches in the pot and that eliminates most of the stuff getting transferred over.

Both the funnel and the filter are easy to clean and sanitize and using them has the added benefit of aerating the wort as it makes its way into the fermenter. I still aerate by stirring with a plastic spoon for about 5 minutes though.

 

[Haputanlas]

 

[BeerLogic]

You're definitely risking infection with the bag. Filtering out the hops with the colander is a good idea (or you could use a hop bag!), but it isn't necessary to filter out all of the cold break. In fact (I wish I could remember where) I recall reading about a study done that showed that filtering out 100% of the cold break actually results in slower startup times and longer fermentations. It apparently contains a good bit of nutrients that the yeast likes.

 

[LambChop4Prez]

I built a hop spider for pretty close to $10. Super effective with my last batch, my counterflow chiller didn't clog one bit with any of the trub! I did get a little break material, but I'm sure that made my yeast nice and happy.

 

[flexbrew]

Asantiago, you said something that got me thinking. You said racking. Are you using a racking cane when tranfering to fermenter? I just dumped it in from the pot. What is everyone else doing? Racking would be good for airation I would imagine, especially if you kept the ouput up high and let it splash in the fermenter.

I think I will use a sterilized collinder from now on. Then i will add yeast nutrient to the fermenter.

What is yeast harvesting like with so much trub?

 

[BeerLogic]

One thing I have done on the occasions that I racked to the fermenter (before I discovered paint strainer bags for hops) is put a handful of sanitized stainless steel bbs into the bottom of my auto siphon. That filtered out all of the hop material and a good bit of the cold break. That way you won't have to worry about quite as much trub as straight racking.

 

[Clann]

You're definitely risking infection with the bag. Filtering out the hops with the colander is a good idea (or you could use a hop bag!), but it isn't necessary to filter out all of the cold break. In fact (I wish I could remember where) I recall reading about a study done that showed that filtering out 100% of the cold break actually results in slower startup times and longer fermentations. It apparently contains a good bit of nutrients that the yeast likes.

If you sanitize the bag how aare you risking infection. I regularly use a paint strainer from lowes and all I do is pour into my fermentor, remove the bag (letting it drain mostly but I am guilty of squeezing my bag) then pour back and forth to areiate and pitch.
Not ever been infected yet, my doctor said so

 

[ASantiago]

Are you using a racking cane when tranfering to fermenter? Racking would be good for airation

My boil kettle has a valve, so I don't have to siphon with a racking cane. But before I had this pot, I did use one with a small metal screen I would put on the pick up.

Anything you can do to put the wort into more contact with air before you pitch the yeast will help. The way you are thinking about going would certainly aerate (racking with a cane, directing it to a colander). I would still stir the wort or do something else to aerate some more, however.

I take it you are using a bucket to ferment.

Then i will add yeast nutrient to the fermenter.

I'm under the impression that yeast nutrient goes in the boil. Maybe you can do it either way? I've been boiling it...

What is yeast harvesting like with so much trub?

I've found you need more water and more mason jars to be able to wash out all the crud. I think that if you don't use enough water the crud will be a larger percentage of the contents of the jars. I'm still playing with this, however, so I can't say anything from experience. But so far I've had to use more water.

 

[ASantiago]

If you sanitize the bag how aare you risking infection. I regularly use a paint strainer from lowes and all I do is pour into my fermentor, remove the bag (letting it drain mostly but I am guilty of squeezing my bag)

Heh heh... I use a large mesh laundry bag from Bed, Bath and Beyond (I think I've posted pics and info on this site somewhere) to rack to the bottling bucket when I dry hop or believe its use is appropriate. No problems yet.

But I do sanitize the hell out of it and I keep it in a zip lock bag once dry.

I don't so much squeeze as much as I just let it drip.

 

[terrapinj]

colanders are a huge PITA if you have a good bit of hops in your kettle

i use a paint strainer bag and then let it drip for a while then squeeze the hops residue to get as much wort out as possible - invert to dump the hops in the trash and wash it out when i clean the rest of the gear

i then use that bag to either filter if im dry hopping and then use it for my next BIAB and then toss after its been used for a mash

i get about 3 uses this way from each bag that costs ~$2 but do plan on making a voile bag very soon

 

[Clann]

colanders are a huge PITA if you have a good bit of hops in your kettle

i get about 3 uses this way from each bag that costs ~$2 but do plan on making a voile bag very soon

I've only bought two, of course they come in packs of two but that was last year and I still have only used one

 

[terrapinj]

I've only bought two, of course they come in packs of two but that was last year and I still have only used one

im sure they could be used way more often but I don't use them after mash partially due to laziness and partially because i was warned (probably incorrectly) not to

 

[Haputanlas]

im sure they could be used way more often but I don't use them after mash partially due to laziness and partially because i was warned (probably incorrectly) not to

I don't have any problems with colanders. I use them all the time for my IIPAs. As long as you have a very big colander and can stop the transfer of wort, you might only have to rinse off and dip back into the sanitizer maybe 2 or 3 times. No big deal.

 

[slamback]

I used to try to strain out that junk but now I just dump it all into the fermenter... It generally all settles out, plus it's a lot easier and faster. When I rack to secondary or bottling bucket I use a paint strainer on the bottom of my racking cane to get out any particles that may float up. Has worked well for me and produced some very clean/clear beer.

 

[jmhart]

+1

 

[terrapinj]

to me having to stop and clean the colander is the PITA