Funnel w/ LESS fine strainer ?

Can someone suggest an alternative to the very fine strainer that came with my funnel.

What ends up happening is I get very frustrated toward the end of the brew pot (even with taking it out and rinsing in iodine water every fill-up of the funnel) and end up just taking it out completely.

Is there a better system. I think that having a much less fine strainer that will just collect the hops would be more useful?

 

I used to pour it through a big mesh hop bag. It worked good.

now I'm too lazy and just pour everything into primary and my beer tastes fine that way too.

 

I just leave it out. Whirlpooling after cooling helps somewhat.

 

thanks so it is fine if whole hops end up in the primary?

 

Sure, whole hops, hot break, cold break, it's all good.

 

Both my brews (porter and pumpkin ale) ended up having everything in the carboy for the same reason. Turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

I would not mind just a funnel with a much less fine strainer to pull out the whole hops or even hop pellets. Does anyone sell such a thing? generally the whole hops don't fit through the funnel even without the strainer, and I end up having to stick my finger through the funnel to push them through into the fermenter. Seems it would be easier to just pull them out. But the mesh screen that came with the funnel is very fine that fine sediment clogs it up nearly every single fill up of the filter.

I have pasta strainers and steamer inserts but these are too large to fit over the funnel opening.

 

I would suggest the Brewbucket Filter Bag. It comes with an elastic band and strains nicely. Toward the end, it does get a bit clogged, but I just scoop out the goop and it strains just fine. Trick to it however is to clamp it to the bucket with enough give. I use a small ratchet strap to keep it in place. Love the thing.

 

I have the same problem and usually just don't use the strainer.
Two alternatives I've been considering are a stainless steel dish scrubber.
like this http://www.naturallynorwex.com/images/products/22101%20spirinett.jpg
Or I also came across a small screen used to filter lint from a washing machine drain
it might work also. like this http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/h8/16/washing-machine-lint-traps-200X200.jpg

 

I second the whirlpool suggestion. Its..like.. magic

 

When I have tried whirlpooling it doesn't seem to help much if you have to dump the kettle into the fermentor.

 

It's true, whirlpooling works only sometimes, but in those instances nothing seems to help and we end up dumping through a pasta strainer like this one:



Some techniques to good whirlpooling include:

1. Clockwise rotation in the northern hemisphere, counter clockwise in Southern.

2. After cooling and any aeration is complete, whirlpool in a manner to get the entire mass of the kettle in rotation so that there is a vortex all the way to the bottom of the kettle.

3. Do not move the kettle after whirlpooling, set it where it needs to be prior to whirlpooling.

4. Wait until the entire mass is still before draining.

5. When this dosen't work, dump the whole mass through a pasta strainer, what a PITA.

Also, if you use a tube on the end of the drain valve it will syphon most of the wort out so you don't have to tip the kettle. (Not shown in the above picture)

I've tried numerous types of "screens" on the inside of the kettle on the dip tube also but they all seem to get plugged up, it helps to put hops in a hop bag, this gets cumbersome on big IPAs though.

 

My suggestion would be to get a strainer with a larger surface area.

I do have a trick though, that I use. Once the strainer gets a bit clogged, stop pouring in liquid. The strainer must be half full of liquid or less. Gently shake the strainer back and forth in small, rapid, jerky motions. This will move the sediment around and allow the liquid to pass. Dump out the mostly-dry hops and add more liquid, repeat. It only needs to be done 2-3 times depending on the amount of hops in your recipe.

 

I picked up a generic 7 or 8" strainer at Kmart which fits in my funnel perfectly. It still gets clogged, but is definitely not as much of a pain as the insert that comes with the strainer. Pick up one of those and try what MikeRoBrew1 suggests and you should be good to go.