[flars]

I strain through a fine mesh bag that is resting in a funnel with a built in strainer.  Harvested yeast is much cleaner.

[hmbrewing]

I don't strain....use a hop spider and whatever makes it in after that is just fine. Some will actually argue that the trub ADDS to the hop character. Who knows how true that is.

[Joe Sr.]

I haven't strained my wort in years. No worries. Beer drips bright and tastes great.

No harm in straining if you want to but I think it's unnecessary and always found it to be a pita.


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[Statsmats]

Read an interesting article about trub vs. no trub here: http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/.  There is some evidence that leaving trub doesn't necessarily "damage" the beer and can actually improve the beer.

My original concern about straining my Tripel was not warranted...bottled today and plenty of orange in the flavor...maybe not quite a Chimay Tripel (was drinking this while bottling mine...trying to channel good Belgian energy    ) but was plenty tasty.

Yes...I also agree with Joe Sr. that straining is a PITA.

In the future, I think I'll pass on the straining unless warranted by some unusual circumstance.

Cheers!

[Hooper]

+1 strain = more oxygen and clearer beer
+1 leave the cold crash trup out of fermenter = tighter, smaller, cleaner yeast cake and clearer beer

[Stevie]

A quick whirlpool and slow drain from the ball valve yields perfect results IMO. As the kettle drains I can open it a bit more, but I rarely go past half way. I only get a touch of gunk towards the end.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

Since I hate to waste even the last drop, after the beer level drops so far below the valve with the bottling wand that I cannot get any more brew out even when the bottling bucket is tilted, I simply pour what remains through a funnel and get about two or three 12-oz bottles with lots  of sediment in it.

In drinking those, I suppose I strain what's left in my glass through my teeth. Don't sweat the small stuff!

[pete b]

I actually recently stopped straining wort. I started out racking then switched to straining. Recently I had an infection and one possible culprit is the strainer. I can't remember how well I sanitized but a strainer is relatively difficult to sanitize because even if you soak it its hard to get every bit off when you clean it and when soaking bubbles can form between holes preventing contact with the sanitizer.
So my conclusion is that the point at which you pour cooled wort into a fermenter is in the window of time its most susceptible to infetion: its not hot, it doesn't have a large colony of actively fermenting yeast, and there's no alcohol. Furthermore the strainer is the hardest thing in my brewery to clean and sanitize, probably followed by the racking cane. So now I whirlpool, wait a couple minutes, and leave behind a quart or two of the thickest sludge.

[YooperBrew]

I use a hop spider as well and have a bazooka screen in the kettle since I use a CFC to chill, works well and prevents clogs

I use a hops spider if I have a mix of hops, as pellet hops don't clog up my CFC but they do clog up my bazooka tube.  so I use a bazooka (no spider) if I have only whole hops, and I use a lot of homegrown dried hops.  If I'm not using the bazooka tube, I'll use a hops spider.

I hope that makes sense!

Because I have a CFC, all of my cold break ends up in the fermenter and I don't even try to strain.

[bboy9000]

I wouldn't worry about straining  unless you have an IIIIPA.

Seriously though, I used to pour all of it into the fermentation bucket and now I siphon.  My beer is better but I doubt that is the reason.  Yeast management and fermentation temperature and techniques make more difference on the final product than trub from hops and break material.  I've considered using a hop spider but only to avoid getting a clogged auto siphon when transferring from brew kettle to fermentation vessel.  Nothing to do with beer clarity or quality.

[Black Sands Brewery & Supply]

When I started home brewing this year, I started using a strainer to both clean up the wort going into the primary and also aerate the wort. Generally, I would run the cooled wort from the kettle to the primary bucket through the strainer.

As I have gained more experience, have started using oxygen to aerate and am brewing a bit more complicated extract beers, I am wondering if I should:

1) stop straining
2) continue straining
3) use the strainer on certain types of beer

These thoughts occurred as I was making a Belgian Tripel and ended up straining the orange peels I had just added at flame out...now wondering if this screwed up the flavors. Then when I made my second batch for the day, an FBS clone with cocoa nibs, I didn't strain as I wanted to leave the primary on the nibs.

Any thoughts out there on straining?

IMO straining/clearing is worth it. The less crap that goes into the primary the better.

Straining out the orange peels is a good thing IMO you can always add more dried peels in a secondary if you want more desired orange flavor.

IMO - i'd strain out the nibs that went into the boil and add more back in a secondary to achieve desired chocolate flavor. Its really preference but i feel its easier to control adjunct flavors when adding them in secondary.

I Highly recommend using Whirl Flock in the boil if you are not. Chill the wort then whirlpool for 1-2 mins and let it rest for 10-15 min then transfer into primary.

We have a kettle valve and using flock w/ a whirlpool and rest technique allows us to put super clean/clear wort into primary even without a strainer.

[makemorebeer]

Not to bring up the past but After Reading through this page there appear to be many methods to transfer wort from the BK to the Primary.  I've been at this for nearly two years doing mostly BIAB with extracts adding hops and other ingrediants directly to the wort.  that being said I've always strained mine but recently noticed my strainers got some rusty buildup.  I brew in a 5gal stainless pot from Walmart, and typically just pour through my strainer.  what's everyone's preference on how to transfer to primary.

[Joe Sr.]

How I transfer depends on the kettle I'm using.  If it has a valve, I'll use the valve and tubing.  If not, I'll pour it.

The kettles I have without a valve I only use for stove-top brewing (small batch or concentrated boil).  If I do an outdoor brew, full boil and/or 10 gallon, it always gets transferred via the valve.  Depending on the kettle, though, I'll transfer a stove top brew via valve.

If your strainer has rust, get a different strainer.  I wouldn't use that one any longer.  Or ditch the strainer.

[pete b]

Strainers strike me as not the easiest piece of equipment to clean and sanitize and wort cooled to 60-70 degrees seems like one of the most vulnerable times for infection in the brewing process.

[santoch]

I just siphon it over, and don't worry too much about trub.  In fact, some recent work has shown that having more trub results in a clearer finished product.  (2 caveats - this was a small number of experiments, and this was a reasonable amount of trub, not 8 inches of it in a 5 gallon batch.)
My point is there's no reason to go nuts clearing out trub at homebrew scale.  It might matter in large batches (ie, when you have several feet of wort pressing down on it), but not at typical homebrew scale.