Basic Question

[Crash]

I've done a hand full of extracts when it dawned on me I may not be doing something right. After cooling my wort should I dump everything including the hops sediment into the fermenter or leave the sediment in the boil pot? I usually dump everything, but my last batch I didn't dump all of the hops sediment from the boil whould I?

 

[sahuaro]

I'm just a nooB myself, but if your not using some sort of bag to contain your hops or steeping grains, I would be straining your wort on its way to the fermentor.

helps with clarification,

 

[MaynardX]

Your beer will not be ruined if you leave it in there, but you will have a better final product if you strain it out.

 

[Crash]

I should have been more specific; I use hops pellets in the boil which pretty much break dow into a sediment after the boil and settle to the bottom when I chill.

 

[Crash]

Your beer will not be ruined if you leave it in there, but you will have a better final product if you strain it out.

If I leave it in will it continue to contribute any hop to the beer?

 

[llazy_llama]

Not really. After 60 minutes boiling, most of the lupulin has already been extracted. Strain or don't strain, I don't notice a huge difference in flavor... just in clarity.

 

[rsmith179]

There's obviously a few ways to do this. When I first started, I whirlpooled my wort a few times as it was cooling and then used the siphon to transfer the wort. Now I just use a strainer, but I do also use hop bags. Would highly reccommend picking up one if you're using pellet hops. Much less trub that way...

 

[Crash]

Really appreciate the info I'm sure this will improve my brew. Thanks guys

 

[Donthoseme]

There was a thread a while back that said that dumping the sludge into the fermenter helped the fermentation to some extent. It said there was something in then trub that acted as a nutrient but also killed head retention.

The article went through dumping or leaving it in the brewpot. The final answer was.....











go ahead and leave it in the brewpot. A better way to make sure you have good fermentation is just to make sure that you oxygenate and pitch healthy yeast.

 

[spitfire]

I had thought I read here somewhere that it isn't good to pour the wort into a strainer as you are pouring into the primary. So it is ok to use a strainer?

 

[Nugu]

I'd assume so as long as it's sanitized. I prefer to boil food grade cotton Cheese cloth and fold it 2-4 layers thick and lay it in the funnel when I run the wort through to the carboy. Bag of cheese cloth is only a few dollars at your local wally world (crafts section).

Edit: Though I'd still used a boil bag, or you end up cleaning out the cheese cloth a *lot*

 

[spitfire]

Since the cheese cloth isn't to expensive I was just thinking use it and throw it. My funnel has a screen already in it.

 

[Yooper]

I had thought I read here somewhere that it isn't good to pour the wort into a strainer as you are pouring into the primary. So it is ok to use a strainer?

Oh, straining as it goes into the primary is good! You're helping to aerate the beer, as you pour it through a sanitized strainer/colander. You don't want to do it after fermentation, though.

I'm one of those "just dump it all in" people, though. Unless I'm using a ton of hops, I just dump most of it in the fermenter. When I get my keggle drilled and a ballvalve put in, I might have to do something else to keep that from clogging, but for now I siphon about half of it, then lift up the pot and pour the rest in. Sometimes through a strainer, sometimes not. (The only reason I siphon part is because I'm a 135 pound weakling and can't lift 5.5 gallons of wort off of the stove)

 

[Mencken]

I do partial mashes, and so I have a grain bag. I don't used a hop bag during the boil though. What I've found to work well is after I'm done the grains, I clean and sanitize my grain bag, then just set up in my fermenter so it's attached at the top with clips (like the pic below, only on my fermenter. Then I just pour the cooled wort through this. I unclip the bag, and shake it a little to get it to drain fully. I figure this is two birds, one stone cause it gets rid of the hops and other sediment, and helps to oxygenate the beer too.

 

[Crash]

Awsome input everyone; I really appreciate it.