Do you filter your wort?

[schweaty]

I've been reading and researching on primary fermentation since thats where I'm at in my first brew. I read that leaving alot of trub is good and bad because it makes up for lack of wort oxygenation. It's aparently bad because it produces high levels of fusel alcohols leading to harshness.

My first beer, Yoopers DFH 60 Minute IPA, had quite a bit of hops and I used pellets. Will the hops settling on the bottom make the beer more bitter or does it not matter after the boil? I didn't filter anything out and just dumped it from my boil pot to the primary, topped off with water (foamed out of the top) and rocked it, pitched yeast and volia! I did, however, get intense krausen the next morning and there were signs of fermentation 5 hours after pitching. I used a liquid yeast starter on a stirplate (underpitched according to Mister Malty, should have been 1200 ml and mine was only 800).

Anyhow, I'm just curious about some of your perspectives on the filtering of trub. Next time I might try and siphon the wort out and get the cone in the middle of my boil.

 

[truckmann]

I put my hops in a nylon bag to keep them separated from the wort, but that is mostly to keep them from clogging my plate chiller. I don't see you hurting anything major by leaving it all in there when it goes into the primary.

 

[phissionkorps]

I always leave it all in there. Racking to secondary gets (almost) all the stuff out afterwards anyway.

 

[WheeledGoat]

At Target, I found an expandable strainer/colander that fits over the lip of my primary buckets perfectly! Don't even have to bother SWMBO to hold it. This thing makes straining the wort so easy, even a caveman could do it.

It's a KitchenAid 22" Expandable Colander - the link here says it's unavailable, but there's a bunch at my local Target.

I love that it's deep enough to accomodate lots of trub and not clog, so I can usually pour my whole 5+ gallons at one time without having to stop and scoop stuff out.

It fits right down into this wort chiller (Item #7869) I got from northernbrewer.com so I can sanitize everything right in the bucket I'm going to use for my primary.

(Sorry for the images being so big - this was the first time I put images in a post. I'll keep it down next time).

 

[EvilTOJ]

Does not approve of your methods.

 

[FishinDave07]

At Target, I found an expandable strainer/colander that fits over the lip of my primary buckets perfectly! Don't even have to bother SWMBO to hold it. This thing makes straining the wort so easy, even a caveman could do it.

Hmm...that looks tempting.

 

[Brew-Happy]

WheeledGoat,

Have you noticed a difference in fermentation level since you added the strainer??

The reason I ask, straining the wort through the fine mesh has to aerate the wort really well. Have you seen anything related to the aeration level?

Just curious.

 

[zoebisch01]

I use whole hops and a strainer. I pretty much end up with hardly any trub, only fine particles that get through. The strainer is my aerator, it is an old aluminum conical strainer used for processing but the holes are rather few-and-far-between unlike a mesh strainer. At any rate the combination yields both a cleaned up and fully aerated wort as the holes act like a couple hundred mini-jets when I pour the wort in.

 

[Yooper]

I only had 1 1/2 ounces of pellet hops in the brew I did yesterday, so I didn't bother to strain at all. It all went in the fermenter.

When I do something with a lot of hops, though, sometimes I strain so that I actually have 5.25 gallons of wort into the fermenter, and not so much sludge. Even if I don't, the sludge settles down into a nice compact layer on the bottom anyway.

I've NEVER heard that leaving hops debris and hot and cold break would interfere with oxygenation of the wort. On the contrary, I've heard that cold break (the coagulated proteins) are nutritive for the yeast.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I have an 8" round SS strainer that I run all of my wort though as it goes into primary.

 

[david_42]

If having a false bottom or using a bazooka is filtering, I filter. Since I have a real filter for polishing finished brews, I think of the bazooka as a strainer.

 

[TexLaw]

I usually strain if I have leaf hops or a bunch of pellet hops, but that's about it. I've never heard that kettle trub produces fusels.


TL

 

[ScoutMan]

I use a homemade bazooka screen when transfering from the kettle to the fermenter, so I too "filter" so to speak.

 

[WheeledGoat]

WheeledGoat,

Have you noticed a difference in fermentation level since you added the strainer??

The reason I ask, straining the wort through the fine mesh has to aerate the wort really well. Have you seen anything related to the aeration level?

Just curious.

Actually, I aerate like a mofo anyway... After I get down to <150F, I use a spoon to stir the heck out of my wort while the wort chiller is still going. I figure it helps things cool down faster and aerates at the same time. I usually have a good, frothy head on my wort from stirring it by the time it's down to 80F and I pour it through the strainer into my primary...