Good substitute for "cheesecloth"?

[billpaustin]

I ordered large amounts of ingredients (50lb of DME to start ), and am wondering what would make a good substitute for the cheesecloth bags to put grain and hops in?

Any kind of painter's filter? Nylon pantyhose?

 

[Yooper]

I never used cheesecloth- the holes are too big.

But what works great, aside from hops bags especially designed for that purpose, are paint strainer bags. I have some 5 gallon size, and some 1 gallon size. They don't last as long as the "hops strainer bags" do (I've had some for 7 years!) but they work good enough and last for at least a couple of brews.

 

[jroot]

If you're handy with a sewing machine or know someone who is then use a common tight meshed material found in any fabric store in the "curtain" section called Voile. I had my wife sew up several hop bags with nylon draw strings. Works great and lasts long time and is strong and rinses clean.

 

[onipar]

I also use the paint strainer bags. I get them from home depot for like 3 bucks I think, and you get two 5 gallon ones in a pack. (Also have the 1 gallon size as mentioned above). I used mine a number of times, for over a year, before having to buy new ones. Of course, it was because I lost them.