First Extract Brew

[perryni]

I have just finished my first extract brew and it's now in the fermentor. I have a couple of questions though.

I have a hop strainer on my boiler tap but bits were still getting through so I put a sieve underneath the tap to catch the debris, this worked but my wort is still cloudy, is this ok?

2nd question.
I am thinking of not bothering with the tap next time and just pouring the wort from the boiler into the fermentor through a muslin or something like that, is this ok?

Cheers
Nick

 

[jonnymorris]

Sounds like my first extract though I didn't have a tap. Will/can you cool it with a chiller before pouring? This might avoid hot side aeration which a lot of US home brewers go on about but few UK brewers seem so concerned about. This aside I would have thought safety was your only concern.

Regarding your hops... are you using leaf or pellets? The latter break up a lot more and might explain why you've bits coming through your filter.

Finally, it may be cloudy now but will clear.

 

[perryni]

Thanks for the reply

I do have a chiller so I wouldn't be pouring boiling liquid. I was using hop leafs but I had to keep stirring the wort to stop the tap from be blocked even though I had a hop strainer fitted.

So I think next time I will get a muslin and just pour it into my fermenter after I have cooled it. I just need to work out how to sterilise the muslin!

 

[thejesmonddingo]

As long as it's cotton muslin,just boil it for 10 mins,anything that can survive that deserves to kill you :lol:
Ian
P.S. What sort of hop stariner do you use, I get very little getting into the FV

 

[perryni]

It's just a copper pipe with holes in it