Paint strainer transfer to primary

[arborman]

So, I have been using a 5 gallon paint strainer while transferring from my boil kettle to my FV on the last 4 brews. It seems to work very well, but I do have some questions:

First, the strainer bags hold the finest materials, so the contents left in the strainer bag become very wort logged.. to the point where I have to squeeze the wort out of the bag to top off my volumes. Its starting to feel risky to do this, since I have to wring out the strainer bag with my hands. I am contemplating dropping this technique on my next batch, and just wanted some feedback from the forum on this.

I recently put in a pick up tube into my kettle, which doesn't make any sense while I still use the paint strainer method... The tube is basically a u shaped piece of copper, so it picks up from the side of the kettle... I am thinking that on my next batch, I will cool the wort while stirring, and let it settle, hopefully leaving most of the trub/hops away from the sides, and then just go out of the kettle thru the pick up straight into the FV, with no strainer. This method will also seem to be a bit easier, time wise... Currently, I have to drain into a bucket with the strainer, then pour the bucket into my Spiedel fermentor. So, I can eliminate one step, and the cleaning out of the bucket and paint strainer.

What do you guys think about this scenario? I think I am gonna give this a shot... Guess I better see what volume is left in my kettle on a dry run with water before I do a real batch, then make that adjustment in Beersmith.

I guess I am just trying to simplify my brew day, and have less to clean up and less chance of contaminating my wort before I even give it a chance to ferment

 

[MicroBrewMaster]

When I do my ipas and they call for a pound or so of hops I also use this 5 gallon paint bags, mine never get that clogged that I have to ring it out though, I just pull it out and just all that hop residue is left, I have never had any issues with this process. I do this after fermentation before it goes in the keg

 

[Toy4Rick]

I too find the bottom gets very clogged so I grab the bottom and lift up and it flows great up the side of the bag, when that slows I pull up to a different side until I'm done. Never had an issue of getting it all out and no need to squeeze

Good luck
Rick

 

[arborman]

Do you guys ever worry about having your hands all over your wort? I think that's my biggest concern right now, even though I haven't had an issue yet with infection

 

[freisste]

I don't worry about my hands more than any other item that touches the wort. Is it is sanitized, I am pretty ok with it.

 

[BansheeRider]

I normally have my fermenter filled with some StarSan, while sanitizing my bucket I make sure my hands are sanitized. This way I don't have to worry about squeezing the wort out of the strainer bag with my hands. Just make sure you are using the proper ratio for your StarSan solution, I've read it can have some affects on your skin.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I used to notice the same problem when using paint strainer bags. I started trying to mitigate this by pinching the side of the bag and tip to the side, then do it on another side to allow it to filter more. I had one of those headaches with pictures 3-4 brews ago and used my cheap a** plastic mash paddle that came with my original beermaking kit (which I still havent replaced) and scraped the hop mess away from the inner wall of the bag (like you do when making scrambled eggs). It allowed a new layer of hop gunk/trub to build up and I then repeated. Ended up with pretty crumbly leavings with minimal waste.