Can paint strainer bags effectively filter break material?

[petrolSpice]

I'm looking to reduce trub in my fermenter for the primary goal of not having the trub layer cover the spigot at the bottom of my fermenter. I use a hop bag in the boil to keep the hops out, so now I also want keep out as much of the break material as possible.

Let's not turn this into an thread about break material providing flavor or nutrients for the yeast, the benefits of whirlpooling, how the bag will get clogged causing a mess, etc...

All I'm curious about is if your standard Home Depot nylon paint strainer bag is effective at catching the break material? Or will the break material flow right through the bag?

 

[kh54s10]

I don't know, but I use them to bag my hops. (the 5 gallon bags) I then dump all but the last pint or so of the wort into the fermenter. The deepest trub/yeast layer I ever get is less than 1/2 inch and usually less than 1/4 inch deep. When I pour out the leftover to save the yeast I usually get only about a quart.

 

[20grit]

I usually put a voile bag over the end of my hose filling the fermenter. It collects quite a bit of stuff, but I still have a thick layer of sediment in my fermenting bucket.
Voile bags are a much finer mesh than the paint strainer bags I have seen.

 

[mxstar21]

Yes and no depending on how you use it. If you are that worried about it, you could use a wide mouth bubbler fermenter and put a paint strainer bag in it and then put the wort in it. Then just pull the bag out of the fermenter when you want to remove the trub. I don't do that, but I would think it would remove a could amount of trub.

Ditch the fermenter with a spigot. Use an auto-siphon. Fermenters with spigots are harder to clean, and not necessary. Use it for a bottling bucket.

I would comment more, but you asked to not talk about it....

You could also put a wedge under the spigot side to raise that side of the fermenter and allow the trub to settle away from the spigot.

 

[petrolSpice]

\You could also put a wedge under the spigot side to raise that side of the fermenter and allow the trub to settle away from the spigot.

That's exactly what I'm doing now. It's a Speidel 7.9 gallon fermenter. I made a 6.2 gal batch, filtered out the hops, and the trub is right at the level of the spigot (without the wedge). If I brew a larger batch then it will be above the spigot, not good for bottling from the spigot.

When I go to cold crash I'm going to give the trub a stir and put a wedge underneath.

It has a wide mouth so I can easily use a 1 gallon or even larger bag to strain and not worry too much about it clogging. Easy to remove too. I might do this to strain out hops instead of using a hop bag in the boil.

But it sounds like the paint strainer bag won't keep out much of the break material. I also have a Wilser BIAB bag, but it's about as fine as the paint strainer bag.

 

[mongoose33]

I use the BMB w/ spigot--and I would not go back to using a siphon. Hard to clean? No. Pull the spigot off, rinse clean, soak in PBW for 20 minutes, rinse in clean water, dunk in Star-San. Reinstall. I found it harder to keep trub from going up the siphon than I ever do w/ the spigot. I now have three BMBs, all with spigots.

I'm a little surprised there's a trub problem. I dump it all in the fermenter and at first, it looks like it's going to cover the spigot. But it settles, and hasn't been a problem. Maybe the spigot isn't high enough?

However, I used to use a normal strainer to catch trub, and I caught a lot of it. I'm sure a paint strainer bag would be no worse, and probably better. It'll work.

 

[JohnSand]

I have used a paint strainer bag to filter trub. It works to an extent. The break material mostly filters out, but also clogs the bag, holding back wort. I then squeezed the bag, or tried to hold it closed while rolling it to let the wort drain through the sides. This led to spilling wort, or other messy results. I gave it up. It might work better if you could hang it and let it drip, or put it in a colander to drain. Let us know what you do, and how it goes.

 

[Bradlo]

Yes hanging the bag works. I had tried JohnSand's way a couple weeks ago with the same frustrations. So today, I rigged a couple of coat hangers to hang the bag in my bottling bucket, then cut a few inches of plastic tubing to run from the spigot into the mouth of the glass carboy. The only problem I had was once the bag got a little too heavy it slipped off the hangers ( it was 3/4 full). That and I had to pour the wort from chest high. This warrants a trip to Lowes to search out a better hanger.

 

[petrolSpice]

Yes hanging the bag works. I had tried JohnSand's way a couple weeks ago with the same frustrations. So today, I rigged a couple of coat hangers to hang the bag in my bottling bucket, then cut a few inches of plastic tubing to run from the spigot into the mouth of the glass carboy. The only problem I had was once the bag got a little too heavy it slipped off the hangers ( it was 3/4 full). That and I had to pour the wort from chest high. This warrants a trip to Lowes to search out a better hanger.

Clever idea using the bottling bucket!

 

[tracyk]

I just use these from US Plastic, which are 5 gallon bucket strainers. The one that I have is the 400 micron. It strains out most of the hot break, then I just pour it into my BMB.

 

[Bradlo]

Thanks petrolSpice. I like to be innovative without it being expensive.

 

[petrolSpice]

Just an update... The paint strainer bag does filter some of the break material. However, it will clog quickly. Using the 5 gallon bag in a separate/intermediate bucket like tracyk suggested would probably work better, however I can see it taking a long time for the bag to completely drain of all the wort.

The Wilser bags are finer than the paint strainer bags and clogged almost instantly.

 

[kh54s10]

Just an update... The paint strainer bag does filter some of the break material. However, it will clog quickly. Using the 5 gallon bag in a separate/intermediate bucket like tracyk suggested would probably work better, however I can see it taking a long time for the bag to completely drain of all the wort.

The Wilser bags are finer than the paint strainer bags and clogged almost instantly.

Save yourself a lot of work and worry. Don't even try to strain out the break material. Leave a quart or maybe even less of the thickest debris in the BK. Pour all the rest into your fermenter. The debris will settle to the bottom.

I don't like spigots in fermenters since there is a likelihood that something contaminating could take hold in there during fermentation.

 

[petrolSpice]

Save yourself a lot of work and worry. Don't even try to strain out the break material. Leave a quart or maybe even less of the thickest debris in the BK. Pour all the rest into your fermenter. The debris will settle to the bottom.

I don't like spigots in fermenters since there is a likelihood that something contaminating could take hold in there during fermentation.

My next attempt will be to whirlpool. I've tried it before with zero success but maybe the beer gods will be on my side this time.

 

[mongoose33]

Save yourself a lot of work and worry. Don't even try to strain out the break material. Leave a quart or maybe even less of the thickest debris in the BK. Pour all the rest into your fermenter. The debris will settle to the bottom.

This is what I do, but I even pour all the stuff left in the bottom of the boil kettle into the fermenter.

I don't like spigots in fermenters since there is a likelihood that something contaminating could take hold in there during fermentation.

I love spigots, but I have the same concern as you, i.e., I need to be dead certain that spigot is clean.


I clean my fermenters on a Mark II Carboy cleaner; once as clean as that can make it, i also use a soft cloth on the inside of the fermenter using PBW solution. While my arm is in there--yes, it's a Big Mouth Bubbler--I unscrew the spigot and soak it in PBW for 20 minutes, work the valve, use a small tubing brush on the inside, and then rinse it in Star-San before I reinstall it on the fermenter.

I think spigots are great but it only took me one time to see a residue in it after normal cleaning to realize I needed to clean it separately and thoroughly.

 

[jonny24]

I used to try a braided hose in the kettle. That always clogged so I would try pouring through a bag. I only had a little hop bag so I always needed help, it was messy and clogged. Now I just dump it all in.

 

[madscientist451]

Yup, me too, used to fuss over the kettle trub, but after reading many opinions on it I tried just dumping the whole thing in. The beer was fine and the process was easier so now that's the way I do it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

This is what I do, but I even pour all the stuff left in the bottom of the boil kettle into the fermenter.







I love spigots, but I have the same concern as you, i.e., I need to be dead certain that spigot is clean.


I unscrew the spigot and soak it in PBW for 20 minutes, work the valve, use a small tubing brush on the inside, and then rinse it in Star-San before I reinstall it on the fermenter.



I think spigots are great but it only took me one time to see a residue in it after normal cleaning to realize I needed to clean it separately and thoroughly.

I thought about how nice it would be to have spigots on fermenters, but the thought of needing to clean the spigot every use turns me off. Easier IMO to just rack or siphon out of the fermenter. Ymmv

 

[mongoose33]

I thought about how nice it would be to have spigots on fermenters, but the thought of needing to clean the spigot every use turns me off. Easier IMO to just rack or siphon out of the fermenter. Ymmv

I didn't see much difference in having to clean a spigot and having to clean--and make sure it's sanitized--an autosiphon and associated tubing and such. And given that I use a closed-loop system of draining the beer into a corny keg and returning the displaced CO2 from the purged keg back to the top of the fermenter, it works very well.

I'm thinking a couple wilserbag hop socks shortened to about, oh, maybe 14" would be good for over my mash tun torpedo screen. Are they pretty easy to clean? As it is, the hop socks I'm using are pretty much toast after they snag on the edges of the torpedo screen.

 

[Morrey]

I use a Wilser hop bag in a spider as my first strainer to prevent trub. Then, when I transfer cooled wort to fermenter, the HD 5G paint strainer bag's elastic stretches over my fermenter pail perfectly. When I pour, siphon or rack wort into the pail, the bag collects a great amount of the break material. I lift the bag upwards, and the bag is typically full of wort due to clogging. Hold the bag over the bucket with one hand, then with other hand, pinch strainer bag material between thumb and forefinger on one side of the bag and lift so the wort finds a clean place of the bag to go thru. I then pick up the other side of the bag and do the same. I am looking for clean (non-clogged) places of the bag for the wort to strain thru. It only takes a minute to do this and the end result is well worth the effort.

In answer to your original question, this method is effective.