Using a colander to remove hops -

[Ultrazord]

Greetings fellow home brewers. I'm relatively new, only done a few batches so sorry if this sounds dumb.

After boiling the wort and putting it in the primary, I was told to remove the hops from my Belgian IPA. I put it through a colander and my beer is amazingly clear (a fellow brewer told me it was rediculously clear, so I'm proud of that).

My questions though are

1. Should I remove all the hops before primary? My beer was not as hoppy as I would have liked and not sure if it was removing the hops or just not using them properly.

2. Is a sanitized colander safe to use? I know it's not as good as cheese cloth but I still ended up with clean, clear, smooth brews so I'm very happy.

Thanks in advance! I'm sure you'll see me lurking these forums a lot in the future!

 

[Brulosopher]

Greetings fellow home brewers. I'm relatively new, only done a few batches so sorry if this sounds dumb.

After boiling the wort and putting it in the primary, I was told to remove the hops from my Belgian IPA. I put it through a colander and my beer is amazingly clear (a fellow brewer told me it was rediculously clear, so I'm proud of that).

My questions though are

1. Should I remove all the hops before primary? My beer was not as hoppy as I would have liked and not sure if it was removing the hops or just not using them properly.

2. Is a sanitized colander safe to use? I know it's not as good as cheese cloth but I still ended up with clean, clear, smooth brews so I'm very happy.

Thanks in advance! I'm sure you'll see me lurking these forums a lot in the future!

1. Remove as much as you can!

2. A sanitized colander is fine.

Cheers!

 

[nanofreak]

I use a strainer that I also use for cheese making if I am fermenting in a bucket. One of the reasons I would rather primary in a bucket. While chilling, the bucket is filled with sanitizer, with the strainer on top inside it.

I like using this process, mostly because it makes racking easier for me.

That said, many people debate the need to do this, and I am not sure how much a gain I am buying by doing it. If it has worked for you so far, stick with it.

As far as beer and how hoppy it is, I think by this point you have extracted everything you're really going to notice from your hops. Dry hopping may be worth trying. Additionally you can alter your hop schedule some.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I strain out the hops before they go into primary. The primary purpose is to reduce trub and make it easier to yeast wash but the hops help create a filter that catches a lot of the break material so it further reduces the trub.

 

[unionrdr]

I use a fine mesh strainer myself when adding loose hops to the boil. But it can be messy,so I'm going back to hop sacks for hop additions. Anyway,the collander is fine sanitized too. I like the fine mesh strainer because it also helps aerate the chilled wort & top off water to 3-5 inches of foam. Then stir roughly for 5 minutes. Test & pitch.
If you're not getting the level of hop flavor you want,then maybe your late hop additions are too close to the end of the boil. I do late additions at 20-25 minutes from the end myself. I think it works quite well.

 

[Hockeyhunter99]

i find that when i use the colander i need a second set of hands to hold it. it is clearer but i don't like having a lot of floaters in my bottles. we spent a lot of time cleaning out clogs in spigots and filters and racking canes when throwing the hops flakes in the primary. now we strain them and we haven't had a clog yet (KOW). our problem is we have a very fine strainer that catches everything. the strainer gets clogged and we have to spray water through it, but that will at least rinse the hops and make the brews better, we think at least.

 

[Brewnoob1]

I won't lie, any hop residue that makes it out of my bags when brewing, I call is wanting to be in the primary. I can't deny it if it made it out of the bag..that would be mean to the hops lol It settles out anyways and what do they say if any hops make it into the bottle? It's good luck?

 

[BamaRooster]

I also use a fine mesh strainer, and it works well.

 

[AgentHubcap]

I use a large plastic colander. It fits perfectly on the top of my fermenter and bottling bucket. I run the wort a few times through there to further aerate.

 

[Ramitt]

are you putting the mesh striner at the end of the siphon tube? I had thought about trying that with a 1 gallon paint strainer.

 

[WheatBeerBlows]

I wish we'd used a colander! We have a funnel with a filter insert (fermenter is a BB carboy), but that clogged up in about 15 seconds so we just pulled it out. We did leave as much gunk in the pot as possible, but this first beer is NOT going to be crystal clear.

We had a few (several) krausen/airlock explosions (thank Ninkasi we had it sitting in a bath tub), and all of the sticky spots also have little tiny bits of hops.

I can't believe it did not occur to us to stick a sanitized colander in the funnel. Next batch!

 

[JHawKS]

clear beers are overrated. If i can stick my finger in & still see it - it's too clear.

 

[Yooper]

I wish we'd used a colander! We have a funnel with a filter insert (fermenter is a BB carboy), but that clogged up in about 15 seconds so we just pulled it out. We did leave as much gunk in the pot as possible, but this first beer is NOT going to be crystal clear.

We had a few (several) krausen/airlock explosions (thank Ninkasi we had it sitting in a bath tub), and all of the sticky spots also have little tiny bits of hops.

I can't believe it did not occur to us to stick a sanitized colander in the funnel. Next batch!

Yes, it will still be clear. Believe it or not, the stuff (hops debris, cold break, hot break and the like) will just settle out with the trub.

Don't worry about straining the wort or removing the stuff. If you want to, that's fine. But it's a PITA sometimes when strainers clog. I don't bother at all.

Well, I have to say I usually don't strain my wort, unless I have like 6 ounces of leaf hops that will clog up my pump! And even then I don't strain it- I just bag those leaf hops. I never bag my pellets and all of my cold break goes right into the fermenter since I have a counter-flow chiller.

The amount of floaties in the wort doesn't have a thing to do with the final beer clarity, as all of that stuff settles out with the trub.

I use whirlfloc in the kettle (Irish moss in a tablet form) and get a good hot break and cold break. That's it- no other clarifiers. I don't strain my wort. here's a picture of an IPA: