Hop sludge

[thecarrclan]

Just wondering, I bottled my first batch other day and I did not use a hop bag just threw them in like ya see on the brewing TV vids, and when I went to siphon the beer at week 3 I did have a lot of trub on the bottom of the carboy and after the fact I read about hop bagging in muslin bags.
Is the a good method? using hop bags instead of just throwing them into the boil, posters have said this saves beer as well.
I guess there was not to much on bottom of the bucket when I was done bottling my beers but that was the caribou slobber kit and the next one I am doing is the Evil Twin which has ALOT more hops and trub on the bottom of carboy.
I am guessing the best thing to do would be to transfer to secondary on this one since I did not go the hop bag route?
Or do you thing it will be fine if I am careful on the transfer?They have been in primary going on three weeks now.
And O ya the beer tasted killer before even being carbed I cant wait:>)

Thanks
Lonnie

[paultuttle]

I don’t use a bag, I just toss the hops in. After cooling, I create a whirlpool with the spoon, let it sit a few minutes which deposits a large amount of the trub in the center of the pot. When I siphon the wort into the fermenter, I use a funnel with a screen to catch most of the rest of the hop sludge. This has given me many good results. I would say you should be fine, just use one of the many methods to leave the hops behind, such as keeping your siphon tube about an inch above the trub at the bottom of your fermenter. I will say I’m not as experienced as some of the other brewers on here, someone may have a much better answer than mine.

Paul

[jimmie322]

I’ve been brewing for a bit over a year…somewhere around 20 batches I suppose…and I never had a sludge issue in the bottle…yes…lots of sludge went into my fermenter (although I tried to leave most of the heavy stuff in the kettle)…until I made the “Innkeeper”…there was so much stuff in it that it clogged my bottling wand…and I tried not to even get any in my bottling bucket…and the last several bottles from that batch have LOTS of “floaties”! So, as of this weekend (I brewed 2 batches), I’m using a paint strainer over my fermenter when I pour the wort in…I’m optomistic that this will improve the cleanliness of my finished product…

Happy Brewing to you!

:cheers:

[mepnew2brew]

I’m new to homebrew. First batch in secondary now, second batch went into primary yesterday.

I racked from brew pot to fermenter with first batch. What a pain. Racking cane clogged a few times. Second batch (Caribou Slobber), after cooling the wort, I poured it straight from brew pot, through a double mesh strainer into the primary. Poured just about everything through the strainer - left just a bit in the pot with the sludge. Much better than racking.

As you want to aerate the wort, I am not sure why you would rack from brew pot, as opposed to just pouring it into the primary (whether a bucket or carboy with a funnel). I racked my first batch because I didn’t know that you were supposed to aerate the wort before pitching.

I don’t use hop bags in the boil. But, I am going to dry hop batch 1 and will likely use a hop bag for that.

[erockrph]

The paint strainer trick also works in your bottling bucket. Just line your bucket with a sanitized paint strainer bag and rack into it. Then carefully remove the bag along with the majority of your floaties/hops/etc. I dry-hop loose in my primary (no hop bag) so this was a very useful tip for me.

I also use a 2-stage catch system when pouring my wort into the fermenter. I have a coarse-mesh strainer to catch the majority of my hops and bigger pieces. I put this over my carboy funnel which has a very fine-mesh screen. This way my funnel doesn’t back up from the bigger schwag clogging it. This gets out most of the hops and break material from the kettle.

[byrammike]

I like the paint strainer trick… I’ll have to try that when I do my first dry hopping brew.

I’ve just moved to a double mesh strainer and I see the difference in the amount of troob makes it to the fermenter.