No steeping bag

[Thricefreak]

Hey I forgot to buy a steeping bag when I bought the supplies for the batch I am making. I was told I can use cheesecloth and a friend told me to make a bag out of it. I'm not exactly sure what he means when he says that and also we have 3 lbs of grain that we need to steep. Should we even try to make a bag or just cover a colander with the cheese cloth and filter the stuff out after. Thoughts? suggestions?

 

[Nateo]

My wife sewed up a piece of cheesecloth for me to use as a bag. works great. The colander/straining method sounds hard to me. I'd just make a bag.

 

[Thricefreak]

did she layer the cheese cloth to make the holes smaller? I'm just afraid of getting pieces of grain in the wort

 

[Nateo]

No layering, no problem with grain in the wort.

 

[Thricefreak]

Thanks

 

[ajf]

You can also get paint strainer bags from Home Depot or similar.
They work really well for steeping.

-a.

 

[whiskey_pickle]

+1 on the above post...I went to Lowe's and they had 3 packs of "paint strainers" for $5.00, work great and also double for the all-grain BIAB.

 

[MonkeyWrench]

I don't steep mine with a bag at all. I steep in a separate pot than what I boil in (so I can be heating my boil water at the same time), then dump the contents into a mesh strainer. Then I dump the runnings through the grain again, kinda like a vorlauf. This helps deposit the very fine particles back on top of the grain. If you want the very most from your steep, you can take some of your heating water and dump it through the grain as a sparge. By this point, my boil water is usually around 180*.

 

[NewrBrwr]

In a real pinch grab a pair of pantyhose from your lady and cut off one of the feet and a little leg. Use that as a steeping bag. Not ideal but it works!