Straining beer question

[scoundrel]

Hi All,

I just finished brewing my first batch and strained it before pitching the yeast. I was wondering, if I were to strain when I move to a secondary and again when moving to the bottling bucket, is it possible that I could strain out all of the yeast and cause flat beer when bottling?

Thank you all!

 

[Yooper]

No. Yeast is microscopic so they'll go right through any strainer.

That said- you don't want to strain any more! After fermentation begins, that has a very real chance of oxidizing your beer, and that will ruin it. You want to rack (siphon) very carefully above the trub and be very careful not to aerate the beer at all once you've had fermentation begin.

 

[pcollins]

+1

No strainer is going to get rid of the yeast unless it's called a .5 micron filter. LOL

Straining is fine going from kettle to primary but after that just rack carefully.

 

[scoundrel]

Awesome! Thanks for the quick response. One other thing. My buddy says he drops a large nylon bag with elastic on it from the local brew store in his bottling bucket, siphons like normal, then slowly pulls the bag up and into a dish to minimize splashing. Is this also a bad idea?

 

[Yooper]

Awesome! Thanks for the quick response. One other thing. My buddy says he drops a large nylon bag with elastic on it from the local brew store in his bottling bucket, siphons like normal, then slowly pulls the bag up and into a dish to minimize splashing. Is this also a bad idea?

Well, not really. But it's sure not necessary, and I've never done that. Either he's bottling too soon or not siphoning very well. By the time I rack to the bottling bucket, only clear beer is siphoned. If there is "stuff" floating around, he's doing something wrong.

I NEVER need to worry about straining my beer. It's crystal clear, and all I do is siphon it as usual. You don't want to suck up trub and stuff, so you siphon from above it. If the beer's not pretty clear already, you just wait until it is before siphoning.

 

[ChshreCat]

When you transfer to secondary, you should leave all the gunk behind in the bottom of the primary, like this:

What little settles out in secondary is the left behind in the bottom when you transfer to your bottling bucket. Just siphon CAREFULLY!

 

[scoundrel]

Then its settled, no straining. Hopefully I can pull it off without sucking up some of the trub. I guess a few mistakes along the way is the best way to learn. Thanks again!

 

[Yooper]

Then its settled, no straining. Hopefully I can pull it off without sucking up some of the trub. I guess a few mistakes along the way is the best way to learn. Thanks again!

Well, the good news is that if you suck up some trub (and you will!), it'll all just settle to the bottom in the bottle anyway. It's not a big deal, so don't worry about it. You want to avoid big chunks, of course, but a little extra yeast won't hurt!

 

[ChshreCat]

Many folks on here don't secondary. They just do a long primary, then go to the bottling bucket. I do a long primary and THEN I go to secondary for another week. This is because I just can't seem to avoid sucking up a bit of the trub from the bottom no matter how hard I try. So, if you let it go in primary for about 3 weeks, it'll be so clear that even if you suck up a little bit of trub, it'll still clear right up for you.

 

[Homercidal]

+1

I only secondary when I'm making something that will be in a fermenter for months. Or for a beer that I am going to Dry-hop.

I have no qualms about using a primary for 4-6 weeks. Just cold crash a couple of days before bottling/kegging.

 

[krelin]

"cold crash"?

 

[ChshreCat]

"cold crash"?

Stick it in the fridge, basically. Cools the yeast down and they drop out of suspension.