Is this a common practice? As cautious as I was, I found I had too many grains in my wort for my liking (first all grain batch). So I carefully siphoned back into an empty cooler, then did it again with a grain bag over the end of the hose. Not a single grain came through.
I’ve done that. Nylon works well too. It’s sort of like the point behind tea bags, so you don’t have any leaves floating around in your tea when you drink it.
No, it’s not common. To me, it’s a stopgap measure indicating that you need to fix the root of the problem.
I typically collect wort and pour it through a double mesh strainer into the boil kettle, but it only ends up with a few husks of grain - pretty negligible, but I want them all out, so I do it as a further filter. As Denny says, you should be using the grain bed as your main filter and a stainless braid as your next filter. Back when I tried the Bazooka tube as the mas tun filter, I experienced more husks, so you might want to try switching your system a bit. I now use a SS dryer lint filter attached by worm clamp to a copper elbow with a silicone sleeve that is cut at a 45 degree angle as my wort pick up in the mash tun of my cooler. On my larger keg conversion MT, I use a false bottom. Also remember to Vorlauf sufficiently. Good luck!
:cheers:
Also forgot to mention - try starting the runoff slowly, then open it up more when you are getting clearer runnings!
Thanks, there was probably less than a teaspoon of grains in the wort after filtering through the grain bed. I wasn’t sure how much was acceptable, so I did this to remove all grains.
A little isn’t going to hurt. Besides, it all drops out in fermentation anyway. As long as it’s not too much going in the kettle, I wouldn’t worry.
Ditch the muslin and go with a voile material. I mash in a bag and have done so since starting all grain. Voile is very fine - you will not have any grain material in your kettle unless there’s a hole. You can do a few bags from a voile curtain.
I wouldn’t worry at all about that small amount.
I don’t know, I was happily brewing along and only vorlaufing (sp) a cup or so of wort before filling my kettle. Did not know I had a problem till I entered several beers in a competition and most of the judges made mention of astringenies in my beers. I have been much more careful lately and I do think they have gotten better.
[quote=“560sdl”]I have been much more careful lately and I do think they have gotten better.[/quote]If your mash and kettle pH is correct, you shouldn’t have to worry about astringency from grain. Are you checking and adjusting pH?
Only as far as using Bru’n Water for each batch. I am starting with 100% RO water and building from there. I have some PH strips but have never had any luck with them. I do have a PH meter but have not set up and used it yet (after more than a year) after reading about peoples hassles with them. Maybe I should go there.
