Do you strain wort when pouring into primary?

[richbrew99]

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.
Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

That's exactly what I do, paint strainers from Home Depot. They're washable and cheap.

 

[JoeyChopps]

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.

Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

I do a similar set up every now and again but I use panty hose its a little slower to rack but it catches lots of junk

 

[dfc]

Like others, I also use a paint strainer. Into the primary and also into the keg. Probably overkill but I do it anyway.

I would be concerned about oxidation by using a strainer into the keg.

 

[Palefire]

I do it only when I'm planning on washing the yeast. Leaving the hops and break material out of the fermenter makes yeast washing much, much easier.

Otherwise, eh, just let it roll.

 

[JefeTheVol]

I would be concerned about oxidation by using a strainer into the keg.

Why would that cause oxidation? The flow of beer is relatively undisturbed as it passes through the strainer(ie it doesnt bubble or foam). As long as your transfer tube is at the bottom of the receiving vessel no extra oxygen is being introduced. And as soon as its under the fluid level, no worries(about 1/4 gallon). I have used this method almost on every one of my rackings and never had oxidation problems.

I can see how the strainer would oxidize if you let the beer splash into the receiving vessel, but that would happen anyway via that method, sans filter.
-jefe-

 

[dfc]

Why would that cause oxidation? The flow of beer is relatively undisturbed as it passes through the strainer(ie it doesnt bubble or foam). As long as your transfer tube is at the bottom of the receiving vessel no extra oxygen is being introduced. And as soon as its under the fluid level, no worries(about 1/4 gallon). I have used this method almost on every one of my rackings and never had oxidation problems.

I can see how the strainer would oxidize if you let the beer splash into the receiving vessel, but that would happen anyway via that method, sans filter.
-jefe-

Maybe I'm just seeing problems where there are none, but it seems like pulling the bag out would introduce oxygen since you'd be pulling some of the beer out with it which would then drip back into the keg.

It's tough to argue with experience though. I'll take your word on it.

 

[smata67]

I like to let everything settle into the bottom of the primary and when I either, transfer to secondary or transfer to the keg, I wrap a paint strainer bag around the end of the vinyl tube and attach it with a a rubber band. It works great to keep the bigger hop particles out of the keg and helps keep the keg's dip tube clear.

Heres a picture of my "tube mittens" and this doesnt seem to aerate the beer at all.

View attachment 29211

I wonder if one of those bulb type strainers that you insert into the top the downspout in gutters could be modified to make a good frame for the bag when using this approach? Could also be used at the bottom of an autosyphon. Much easier to disinfect and clean than a large strainer. Maybe I'll try this on my next batch.

 

[ed_brews_now]

I should have taken pictures. I don't strain. I Use whirfloc, then I use the immersion chiller then whirpool, cover all in the boil kettle. I wait about 1/2 hour, I siphon off the very clear liquid and get barely any trub in primary. I aerate and pitch yeast. Then I pour the trub from kettle into a sanitized pitcher and cover. There is still a lot of salvageable wort. The whirlfloc'd trub in sanitized pitcher settles out even more after about another hour. I pour this salvaged wort back into the primary.
Never had an infection. and then only thing in the trub in the primary is yeast settling out.

 

[richbrew99]

Why would that cause oxidation? The flow of beer is relatively undisturbed as it passes through the strainer(ie it doesnt bubble or foam). As long as your transfer tube is at the bottom of the receiving vessel no extra oxygen is being introduced. And as soon as its under the fluid level, no worries(about 1/4 gallon). I have used this method almost on every one of my rackings and never had oxidation problems.

I can see how the strainer would oxidize if you let the beer splash into the receiving vessel, but that would happen anyway via that method, sans filter.
-jefe-

thank you for helping me out by explaining. I do have the line down into to the bottom of the keg and if you pull it out swiftly enough you don't get much dripping action. For my purposes, it works for me.

 

[JefeTheVol]

I wonder if one of those bulb type strainers that you insert into the top the downspout in gutters could be modified to make a good frame for the bag when using this approach? Could also be used at the bottom of an autosyphon. Much easier to disinfect and clean than a large strainer. Maybe I'll try this on my next batch.

Im not so sure that kind of filter covering the vinyl would work very well. The benefit of the "tube mittens" is that it has about 4X6 inches of filter space while the filter you showed in your attachment has about 1x1 inches. A filter that small will more than likely fill with trub and your flow will diminish to a trickle.

The trick with the paint strainer is that most of the bag is away from the end of the transfer tubing; and thus a larger filter.
-Jefe-

 

[Vance71975]

Does anyone strain their wort when pouring into the primary fermenter? I'm wondering if it's worth it so I don't get so much junk at the bottom of my primary. If you do, how do you do it?

I just bottled a batch of beer and I went from my primary to a bottling bucket. This was the first time I didn't use a secondary. I ended up sucking up some of the junk and it ended up plugging up my bottling wand when I was filling bottles. It was a big pain.

If I did do this, do you think this would affect the IBU if I'm straining out some of the hops? I use pelleted hops.

Thanks
Todd

I have a bag that is very fine mesh, it is designed for wine making to easily separate the grape skins i think, i put that over my fermenter, and dump my wort in hops,trub and all, then just life out the bag and let it strain, works great for me.