Filtering the wort

[pre1twa]

Hi

Just made my third home-brew and this time introduced some steeping grains to help get me on the way to all grain brewing.

The bag I had for the grains was from a home-brew shop and consisted of a fine mesh on the bottom with a coarser mesh round the sides/top. As would be expected my pre-crushed grains were relatively dusty and while I did my best to shake the bag (to release the dust) prior to submerging it in the steeping water, undoubtedly, quite a bit of fines/dust material made it in to the water. After the boil had finished, I chilled the wort, poured in to fermenter and aerated before pitching the yeast.

Since brew-day I have been thinking that maybe I should have tried to strain the wort through a fine material (nylon) to remove the fines as I poured it in to the fermenter. Is this generally what people do? If I move to all-grain in the future should I look to filter the wort before or after boiling? Or both?

My second question relates to whether I should try to filter my current beer while bottling with some nylon over the racking cane etc? Or will the fines material settle out during fermentation and not be something I should unduly worried about. FYI I intend to leave in a primary for 4-6 weeks (its quite a big beer) and I don't have the equipment (or desire!) to go to a secondary and/or bottling bucket. I will bottle straight from primary.

Any & all help appreciated!

 

[cornyandy]

Relax, the trub from the grains will be taken down to the bottom of the FV with any dead yeast cells. 4-6 seems a very long time in the primary to me though. What do you other guys think? I've never gone further than 2 weeks. I've never filtered beer at any stage, and although as a real ale drinker a slight bit of opalescence doesn't bother me very few have not become crystal clear. In fact those with a bit of trub in the FV seem to clear even better.

 

[bquiggerz]

I tried to filter my wort today and found out very quickly that it wasn't a good idea. The fine mesh bag I used quickly clogged and it took over an hour to filter 15 litres. Not the best idea, would rather just have more trub in my opinion. I did it after the boil if that makes any difference.

 

[MyQul]

I tried to filter my wort today and found out very quickly that it wasn't a good idea. The fine mesh bag I used quickly clogged and it took over an hour to filter 15 litres. Not the best idea, would rather just have more trub in my opinion. I did it after the boil if that makes any difference.

It too you over an hour to filter 15L! I filter about 17L of wort through a paint strainer and it take about 10 mins max. You right the PS does get blocked but what I do is get a sanitised wooden spoon (me mash paddle) and holding the PS above the FV, repeatedly lower and lift the PS onto the the spoon. In this way the side's of the PS which haven't been clogged up get used to strain out the floury stuff from the wort.

 

[bquiggerz]

Hmm... Seems I'm not good at staining haha, the mesh on my bag is finer than a paint straining bag. I'm planning to get a paint straining bad soon in hopes that speeds the process. Or I'll switch to cheese cloth. It's also worth noting that the grain came from the bottom of three bags so it was easily 30+% floury stuff

 

[MyQul]

Thats a LOT of floury stuff. I usually have maybe 5% floury stuff in my Marris Otter

 

[bquiggerz]

I agree its a lot haha too tight fisted to throw any away

 

[GlentoranMark]

My first ever all grain was like yours, I think it was because I used hop pellets but anyway it was filled with gunk. I tried cold crashing ie. putting in the fridge for a few days. This helped but I went ahead and bottled. 2 weeks in and the beer is still a little hazy but clear enough in the bottles. Just be careful when you bottle and I think it will turn out just fine.

 

[Twostage]

How big is the batch ? As GlentoranMark says putting it in the fridge will drop a lot of the yeast out of suspension to help clear the beer. As will adding finings.

I've done a few small batches recently and bottled straight from the fridge so that the trub stayed at the bottom.

 

[GlentoranMark]

You can also use Gelatin to clear your beer although I haven't tried this method (yet!)

 

[pre1twa]

You can also use Gelatin to clear your beer although I haven't tried this method (yet!)

My understanding is that Gelatin only works in-combination with a cold crash... I don't have the capability to refrigerate my beer unfortunately so are there any other approaches which may improve beer clarity?

 

[bquiggerz]

You could use beer finnings. I have a pouch of it from wilko think it was a quid. Not needed to use it yet but I hear they are good.

 

[McMullan]

Hi

Just made my third home-brew and this time introduced some steeping grains to help get me on the way to all grain brewing.

The bag I had for the grains was from a home-brew shop and consisted of a fine mesh on the bottom with a coarser mesh round the sides/top. As would be expected my pre-crushed grains were relatively dusty and while I did my best to shake the bag (to release the dust) prior to submerging it in the steeping water, undoubtedly, quite a bit of fines/dust material made it in to the water. After the boil had finished, I chilled the wort, poured in to fermenter and aerated before pitching the yeast.

Since brew-day I have been thinking that maybe I should have tried to strain the wort through a fine material (nylon) to remove the fines as I poured it in to the fermenter. Is this generally what people do? If I move to all-grain in the future should I look to filter the wort before or after boiling? Or both?

My second question relates to whether I should try to filter my current beer while bottling with some nylon over the racking cane etc? Or will the fines material settle out during fermentation and not be something I should unduly worried about. FYI I intend to leave in a primary for 4-6 weeks (its quite a big beer) and I don't have the equipment (or desire!) to go to a secondary and/or bottling bucket. I will bottle straight from primary.

Any & all help appreciated!

Trub is good for yeast. Like others have said, relax. How long you can leave it in the primary, depends on how healthy the yeast were. I'd say leave it in the primary for up to 2 weeks then transfer to a secondary and leave it there for 2 weeks. Bottle or keg condition for months, depending on how big the beer is.

 

[pre1twa]

Trub is good for yeast. Like others have said, relax. How long you can leave it in the primary, depends on how healthy the yeast were. I'd say leave it in the primary for up to 2 weeks then transfer to a secondary and leave it there for 2 weeks. Bottle or keg condition for months, depending on how big the beer is.

Don't have a secondary so that's not an option... Anyway, my understanding is that you should only go to a secondary if i) dry hoping ii) carrying out a secondary fermentation... Otherwise the drawbacks of going to a secondary (chance of infection and oxidation of the beer) outweigh the potential benefits.

My reason for going to 4-5 weeks in the primary is that I'm using WLP500 trappist yeast and so I want to give the yeast time to 'clean up' and sediment after fermentation has complete... WLP500 is a poorly flocculating yeast and so will need extra time to sediment out.

 

[McMullan]

Don't have a secondary so that's not an option... Anyway, my understanding is that you should only go to a secondary if i) dry hoping ii) carrying out a secondary fermentation... Otherwise the drawbacks of going to a secondary (chance of infection and oxidation of the beer) outweigh the potential benefits.

My reason for going to 4-5 weeks in the primary is that I'm using WLP500 trappist yeast and so I want to give the yeast time to 'clean up' and sediment after fermentation has complete... WLP500 is a poorly flocculating yeast and so will need extra time to sediment out.

Here's what I'd do then. Leave it in the primary for 4-5 weeks. If you have temperature control, you could chill it for the last week, which would help drop a lot of the yeast, if that's what you want. There's no harm in leaving a beer in the primary for this long, even 6 weeks, IMO. You have to be confident in your processes and yeast. Don't worry about low floc rate, as sedimentation will continue in the bottles. I'm guessing, as it's going to be a big beer, the bottles are going to be stored for months anyway. Experiment with it, have some fun and enjoy a great beer when it's done :thumb:

 

[pre1twa]

Here's what I'd do then. Leave it in the primary for 4-5 weeks. If you have temperature control, you could chill it for the last week, which would help drop a lot of the yeast, if that's what you want. There's no harm in leaving a beer in the primary for this long, even 6 weeks, IMO. You have to be confident in your processes and yeast. Don't worry about low floc rate, as sedimentation will continue in the bottles. I'm guessing, as it's going to be a big beer, the bottles are going to be stored for months anyway. Experiment with it, have some fun and enjoy a great beer when it's done :thumb:

Yes, it is a Belgian Quadrupel, what you have said confirms some of my thinking i.e. the best ingredient for the this beer will be time and patience!

Will report back periodically.