New Brewer Question: Wort-to strain or not?

[rene]

Greetings everyone and Happy New Year.

i received a beer brewing kit (TrueBrew) for X-mas and have brewed my first batch (a Newcastle style dark Ale). I've already gotten bitten by the brewing bug and anticipate brewing a variety of beers on a fairly regular basis. I've also purchased a glass carboy and the Charlie Papzian book.

My question is this: in the Papazian book he instructs one to strain the wort before putting it in the fermenter. I didn't do this (the instructions in my recipe kit didn't say so) and haven't seen, in my limited reading of other material, anyone else suggest this.

What do you folks advise? What would be the difference betweeen allowing the material to remain in the wort as it does primary fermentation vs. straining it out? It seems to me that one would get a more flavorful beer by not straining, but what do I know?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Cheers,

Rene

 

[El Pistolero]

For your first brew, it's always best to keep things simple. A lot of people just dump everything in the bucket, with no ill effects. Once you've got a few brews under your belt, you can decide whether or not it's worth it to you to strain it.

 

[usmcruz]

Greetings everyone and Happy New Year.

i received a beer brewing kit (TrueBrew) for X-mas and have brewed my first batch (a Newcastle style dark Ale). I've already gotten bitten by the brewing bug and anticipate brewing a variety of beers on a fairly regular basis. I've also purchased a glass carboy and the Charlie Papzian book.

My question is this: in the Papazian book he instructs one to strain the wort before putting it in the fermenter. I didn't do this (the instructions in my recipe kit didn't say so) and haven't seen, in my limited reading of other material, anyone else suggest this.

What do you folks advise? What would be the difference betweeen allowing the material to remain in the wort as it does primary fermentation vs. straining it out? It seems to me that one would get a more flavorful beer by not straining, but what do I know?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Cheers,

Rene

For the primary fermentation, some breweries like it to sit on the trub for a week. Same thing in your situation. Its not going to affect the flavor much, because after a week it goes to the secondary and you rack it off of that trub leaving it behind. To make a long story short, your ok

 

[anthrobe]

I have yet to strain the trub going into the primary. From what I have learned, you do not want it to sit on there for a extended period of time...say 2-3 weeks. I let mine ferment out in the primary ~7 days and then transfer to secondary. It will be fine.

 

[david_42]

I use a bazooka filter in the kettle & don't sweat the small stuff. The hop leaves also help remove the hot break. If you are using a lot of whole hops for an IPA, not straining will improve the flavor a bit.

Neither way is bad. Keeping it simple at the beginning is simpler AND it lets you say, "Not bad, but what if I did this next time." Keeps you brewing!

 

[rene]

Thank you all for your very helpful (and prompt!) replies.

I actually wasn't *worried* about it being fine, things seem to going along; the hydrometer readings and, most important, tastes that I've had seem fine. I've now transferred to a secondary glass carboy and will soon bottle.

I was more interested in any general advice you may have about the way the hops and other pieces of stuff will affect the flavor. I don't know anything about this brewing stuff, but I figured that if left in, the trub (is that the correct term for the hops and other solids in the wort?) being in the primary fermentation liquid would probably add to the flavor. I was imagining that if I strained it out when putting the liquid into the fermenter, I'd get a less flavorful brew. What parts of this am I getting wrong/right?

thanks again!

 

[SteveM]

I have yet to strain mine. I have been at this about a year - ten batches maybe - and there are lots of people who know a heck of a lot more than me who strain their wort, but my beer comes out great. I use a True Brew kit also, thought I will probably get a secondary to try it out. I leave it in the fermenter for two weeks, then right to bottles. Careful siphoning and time to settle will give you nice clear (ish) beers.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I recently started doing AG and I was amazed at how much more protien trub I have in the bottom of the pot now. My first batch had half a foot of trub! I had problems with a stuck mash so in order to get it running it didn't filter through the grains quite right.

The second batch though, the sparge went great but I still have at least twice the trub as I used to with LME.

 

[rene]

I recently started doing AG a . . . The second batch though, the sparge went great but . . . twice the trub as I used to with LME.

I was wondering, would you be kind enough to tell me what ''AG'' means?

next newbie question, please: how about ''LME''?


and, just to make sure I am understanding this correctly, ''trub'' is the solid material (the sludge) at the bottom and ''sparge'' is the stuff floating around. Or, do I have that backwards? . . . then again, maybe it's all wrong

Rene

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

AG = All Agrain brewing
LME = Liquid malt Extract
DME = Dry Malt Extract

Sparge is using hot water to rinse the grains during lauter (AG brewing)

Trub is the junk on the bottom of your carboy etc.

Check this out, it's a big help for new brewers.
http://www.howtobrew.com/sitemap.html

Happy Brewing!

 

[Treekiller]

SO, I was a little slow typing as usual, I see. I am a real noob, I have yet to brew my first beer, but AG refers to the use of All Grain in the brewing process. (LME) is Liquid Malt Extract, Dry Malt Extract (DME) is produced by heating the liquid extract and spraying it from an atomizer in a heated chamber. Strong air currents keep the droplets suspended until they dry and settle to the floor. DME is identical to LME except for the additional dehydration and lack of hopping. DME is not hopped because hop compounds would be lost during the final dehydration. Yes "trub" is the sediment at the bottom of the fermenter consisting of hot and cold break material, hop bits, and dead yeast. Sparge - To sprinkle. To rinse the grainbed during lautering. Lauter - To strain or separate. Lautering acts to separate the wort from grain via filtering and sparging.

 

[SteveM]

Aha!

<scales fall from eyes>

I infer then that an all grain brewer would find it much more critical to strain then an extract brewer would (I use extracts, mostly liquid). If so, this makes things much clearer for me.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

well, i have a large keg converted to a brew kettle, so all the cold break (spent hops and protein fall-out from the boil) settle below the valve. so, i just open the valve and transfer to my carboy. all the gooky stuff stays in the kettle, for me to clean out.