Straining the wort

Wontigonk · Nov 14, 2009

Sorry to bombard the forum!

Looking forward to Brewday 2 chez moi tomorrow. Malt extract method, with grains and hops due to go in in bags.

After my first attenpt, the wort looked a bit turbid, so I strained it thougha kitchen seive. I've now bought a fine straining bag.

Should I sterilise the bag (by instinct I would) and whats the best way of using it? I was going to line the brew bin with it as best I can, pour the wort in (having removed the grain and hop bags) and then lift it out, giving it a squeeze at the end to get maxmum yield. Rather than squeezing, am I best trusting to time and Newton?

Any tips gratefully received! I'd rather learn from others than from too much trial and error!

Frisp · Nov 14, 2009

Is this before you boil your wort. if its pre boil no need to sterilise the boiling process will do the deed for you.
If its post boil then then your hop strainer and the bed of hops should catch most of the trub without need for a strainer.
Anything that gets past the hop bed gets dealt with by Newton and time as you say.

Wontigonk · Nov 15, 2009

Thanks Frisp. Its post boil, but as I'm using malt extract and my grain and hops are in bags, boiling in a pan without a hop strainer, I wanted to give Newton a hand. On my first attempt, there seeemd to be quite a bit of solid matter floating in the wort- is trub a generic term?

Does that alter the advice?

evanvine · Nov 15, 2009

Trub is rubbish.
Bits of spent hops, hot break material, bits of grain etc.
Recommend you fit a simple âhop backâ, boil the hops loose and filter through the hop bed.
A simple hop back (hop filter) is a length of 15mm copper tube drilled with as many 1/4â holes as you can get in it.
One end is flattened and the open end is crammed into your boiler outlet

Vossy1 · Nov 15, 2009

ev, a 'hop back' is not the same as a 'hop filter' as you've described, though both effectively do the same job regards filtering.
A hop back is a seperate vessel into which dried hops are placed before hot wort is passed through them/it, thus filtering any detritus from the copper, which could otherwise be carried to the fv, and also allowing hop essential/volatile oils to be imparted to the wort without being boiled away.
A hop filter is placed in the bottom of the copper/kettle and relies on the settled hops from the boil to act as a filter medium. Naturally hop filters can be placed anywhere between copper and fv, or indeed in the fv, or negated by whirlpool, I'm just describing general HB practice.
Hop filters can, and are, used in conjuction with a hop back :thumb:

EDIT....example of a Hop Back