Straining wort ?

[rginsbur]

Hey All,


I'm brewing a session ipa tonight, partial mash. I've always wondered, should I strain the wort before I put it in the primary fermentor? I was always afraid that taking out the hops and other stuff would decrease flavor but I'm looking to increase the clarity and decrease the sediment in my final product. I always strain when going into the secondary but I've never tried it in a primary. Any other suggestions to decrease sediment would also be helpful.


Thanks!

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Some of us do, some don't. I typically do by sanitizing a huge sieve that I have and filtering though that into the primary. I think this helps with aeration as well.

My last beer I decided not to just for kicks. I can't really tell a flavor difference, but the beer is a bit hazier than usual. I don't know that filtering can explain that though...

 

[Smellyglove]

If you let the kettle settle for about an hour or three, you should be able to drain pretty clear wort.

I usually WP and let it settle between 2-4 hours (I usually go make dinner and watch a movie or something after boil) and when I go down into the brewery i can transfer wort clear as cheap apple juice to the fermentor.

 

[RM-MN]

If you dump everything into the fermenter it will clear just as well as if you strained everything out. You really won't gain anything by straining.

 

[Lbm]

IMHO, I wouldn't strain into secondary, as you don't want to aerate after fermentation.

I used to strain into primary, but I don't bother anymore.

 

[GreenSpyder]

I multi-fold a cheesecloth bag (my old BIAB), give it a Star San dunk, and strain the cooled wort through it from my BK into my conical. When I harvest my yeast, there is virtually no trub, almost pure yeast, and I don't have to wash it.

 

[GreenSpyder]

A quick follow up...
Using the technique just above, I'm posting a photo of what came off the bottom of my fermenter after 10 days. This was everything, not cleaned up, and it was my Maine Coon IPA, so lots of hops went into this. I like this, since I don't have to wash the yeast, which some say is not a good thing.

 

[Nerosync]

If you dump everything into the fermenter it will clear just as well as if you strained everything out. You really won't gain anything by straining.

I disagree, I strain my wort when moving from my kettle to my fermenter. Not only does it help to get some of the larger particulates out, but it also helps aerate the wort and in some cases depending upon how fast I transfer it causes it to foam up quite a bit due to aeration. I would think that straining after fermentation has occured and begun to slow when transferring to a secondary would have ill effects such as oxidation when everything I have read explains how you should cause the least amount of agitation/aeration as possible.

 

[VonAle]

I stopped straining to shorten my brewday AND to keep those prescious FO hops in contact even longer.
I have not noticed any detectable difference in flavor or clarity.
The only difference that I have noticed is the decreased volume into the bottling bucket.The yeast cake for my IPA's is like 2-3 inches thick.