I always have poured my wort through a strainer when going into the primary and just assumed it was a common practice. I was reading through the reviews of the 115th Hopburst IPA on the NB site and some people were complaining that hops remained in the bottle and many other suggesting that the wort be strained…is there any reason not to do this everytime? Like I said I always have and just assumed it was a common practice becuase I always sort out a lot of hops in my strainer.
I use a paint strainer inside my ale pail to strain out hops, break material, etc. Been doing this for the last 5-6 years with good success. Every batch gets this treatment, as it just seems like the right thing to do, (keeping as much non-wort material out of the fermenter as possible).
bklmt2000
I do it most of the time, but sometimes I don’t. Actually I don’t for most IPAs hahaha. I think it’s a good practice to get rid of large crud like hops and some of the break. If I don’t, I just let it settle down and try not to suck up the hops when I rack, which is something that some people don’t do as per the reviews you mentioned.
Also I like to think it helps with aeration.
I whirlpool instead. Some trub will inevitably make it into the fermenter, but if you’re careful with the transfer to the keg or bottling bucket, there’s no reason why any of it should end up in the glass.
+1 same method here.
I just dump it all in, no worries.
What is whirlpooling?
I use a Blichmann HopBlocker which allows you to basically take the wort from the bottom up starting about three inches from the bottom. What this means is that all the crap is left on the bottom and you get only (mostly) clear wort into the fermenter. Once the boil is complete, I give the wort about an hour or two for all the crap to settle to the bottom and then drain into the fermenter.
If you can’t do this, I recommend allowing all the crap to settle to the bottom after chilling, and then siphoning from the top down, leaving all the crap on the bottom.
I have a spigot in my kettle. I let the wort flow out of that and into one of those two-layer strainers that NB sells. Most of the crud stays behind because the spigot is 1/2" above the floor of the kettle, strainer gets the rest…really small bits just fall through though. I like the strainer more to aerate really.
I have always used a strainer, but have started to put my hops in muslin bags.
I use muslin bags for pellet hops. Works every time
One concern I’ve read and heard about strainers is that metal strainers have to be sanitized in boiling water (or wort), since solutions can’t get in all the tights spots.
I’ve always used a metal strainer, and sanitized in either bleach or star san. No problems in 13 years.
I too just let it sit in a bucket of StarSan for a while before using and it seems to work just fine.
I have been straining with a metal strainer, but the thing gets totally gobbed up with hops and stops draining. Then I am sitting there with a strainer full of wort in one hand and the kettle in the other and no sanitary way to get things moving again. I’m just pouring from the kettle through the strainer into the funnel of the primary. I feel there must be a better way.
I have the same problem when using a lot of pellet hops. This is never an issue with whole hops.
This is the reason why I don’t even bother straining when brewing an IPA. Just pour it all in, it’ll settle down in 2-4 week and then just carefully rack off the sediment.
I use a plate chiller, which means I HAVE to strain out big chunks that might clog the chiller. I found that a combination of whirlpooling and using a stainless steel braid connected to the intake of my kettle drain generally does the trick. Occasionally if I use a lot of pellet hops or if I get a really good hot break with a pils heavy malt bill the braid can clog. Still trying to figure out a solution for that.
I have a valve on my brew kettle, put hops in a bag, and bottle. I always strain through a nylon bucket cover strainer splashing in to the fermenting bucket. It seems to work well. I tip the bk to get most of the wort out. Hate to leave good stuff behind.
I have a bazooka (screen mesh) in my boil keggle and in my mash tun, so I screen every time I transfer water, wort or beer. This works with leaf hops only, pellets can clog the screen.
I strain with one of these:
I also whirlpool with a pump so that leaves most of break in the middle of the pot. The strainer does a good job of aerating the wort too.
