Bottling through fine nylon bag

[DarthCitra]

This might be a dumb question but, if I transfer from carboy to my bottling bucket through a fine nylon bag would that hurt the bottle carbing stage or would my yeast squeeze through while trub and hops are left behind? This is my first time dry hopping with pellet hops so any suggestions on top of this question would be a great help!

 

[poptarts]

Just cold crash and stay off the bottom when you rack, It would need to be super fine to eliminate the yeast.

 

[hokieguy95]

great question. I've been wondering the same thing. Don't want to lose all the yeast when I rack to secondary, but would like less sediment transfer.

 

[plath]

I put a paint strainer bag on the end of my siphon and had no issues. My bottles carbed just fine.

 

[DarthCitra]

I put a paint strainer bag on the end of my siphon and had no issues. My bottles carbed just fine.

how fine is the paint strainer? my nylon bag is pretty darn fine

 

[plath]

Not sure if this helps?
not my picture

 

[Yooper]

You really risk oxidizing (and hence ruining) the beer that way. Careful racking is generally the best way to avoid "stuff" in the bottling bucket, but cold crashing a few days before racking can help to get suspended solids to drop out.

 

[unionrdr]

To generally avoid such things,I strain the wort into the fermenter. Then use muslin hop sacks for dry hopping. I have spigots on my fermenters & give it time to compact on the bottom of primary. Typically 3 weeks. Then carefully tip the bucket to get the last of the beer out to the bottling bucket without the trub or yeast getting sucked up.

 

[seabass07]

You could line the bottling bucket with a sanitary strainer bag. Carefully siphon everything in and pull up the bag. It's only worth it if you have huge amounts of hops in there that haven't settled. But cold crashing and careful siphoning should be plenty.

 

[GCGBrewing]

I actually experimented with this last night. I had it in-line, and it did not work very well. (The hose I use is actually 2 short hoses, which I use a 90 degree elbow to connect together.) The sediment was caught in the mesh, but I only got about a gallon through it before the mesh slowed the transfer to a trickle.

If I try it again, I'll likely boil it first, then attach to the end of the hose in the bottling/transfer bucket. The other issue is keeping it on the hose. The tie on it must be tight enough to stay on the end of the hose, or the slightest movement will cause it to slide right off (I know from a previous attempt).

 

[seabass07]

That's way too complicated. Just line the bucket.

 

[pdietert]

You really risk oxidizing (and hence ruining) the beer that way. Careful racking is generally the best way to avoid "stuff" in the bottling bucket, but cold crashing a few days before racking can help to get suspended solids to drop out.

I second this, You will not filter out any yeast but you WILL oxidize your beer. It may not be apparent for a week or two and you may even be able to finish the batch before it becomes apparent, but it will oxidize and could turn into wet cardboard at any time. Even lining the bucket will it will impart some oxidation. Cold crash and careful racking are your answers.

 

[fuelish]

I second this, You will not filter out any yeast but you WILL oxidize your beer. It may not be apparent for a week or two and you may even be able to finish the batch before it becomes apparent, but it will oxidize and could turn into wet cardboard at any time. Even lining the bucket will it will impart some oxidation. Cold crash and careful racking are your answers.

Someone please explain how a mesh bag, suspended in the wort, is going to lead to oxidation!!!???!!! Not that I've ever used such a method (just siphon carefully above trub), but, c'mon, folks....this ain't rocket science, really. Not to mention, if it's an average beer, it should be consumed while fresh anyway....lotta folks seem to be into way overthinking/worrying about it. No worries here, have never had an oxidized batch. using a strainer bag would be minimal in terms of oxidation. I'll eat my words (and my hat) if anyone has science to back up this silly notion...

 

[pdietert]

Take a mesh bag and imerse it under water and then squeeze it. Those bubbles contain oxygen.

Also this is not wort, it is fermented beer.

Yes, I have had an oxidized batch or two. When you do have one, you will not want another.

 

[pdietert]

Also, air (oxygen) before fermentation, to a certain extent, has little affect but air after fermentation can have huge effects (especially in the long term). Minimizing any air exposure reduces the possibility of oxygenation beer.

 

[seabass07]

Unless you are purging your bottling bucket with co2, lining it with a bag is the least of oxidation concerns.

 

[freisste]

I'm not going to touch on the oxidation subject, just on the filtering out yeast notion.

This goes for anyone worried about filtering yeast out of beer and not having enough to bottle carb:

IT WON'T HAPPEN! You absolutely will NOT filter yeast out by accident. Even if you purposely tried to filter it out, a little would likely get through. It takes some relatively specialized equipment to even try. The filters are so fine, you have to use CO2 to pressurize the beer to get through. I say again - you CANNOT accidentally remove yeast from beer.

Sorry for all the capitalization.

 

[unionrdr]

I agree. Yeast cells are just that-microscopic fungi that will easily get through the bag when pulling it out.

 

[DarthCitra]

I agree. Yeast cells are just that-microscopic fungi that will easily get through the bag when pulling it out.

Reminds me how my daughter was conceived! LOL pulling out and still got through!

 

[unionrdr]

You do your pulloutti's before pulling the trigger!...

 

[pdietert]

I'm not going to touch on the oxidation subject, just on the filtering out yeast notion.

This goes for anyone worried about filtering yeast out of beer and not having enough to bottle carb:

IT WON'T HAPPEN! You absolutely will NOT filter yeast out by accident. Even if you purposely tried to filter it out, a little would likely get through. It takes some relatively specialized equipment to even try. The filters are so fine, you have to use CO2 to pressurize the beer to get through. I say again - you CANNOT accidentally remove yeast from beer.

Sorry for all the capitalization.

Agreed, yeast is microscopic. Depending on the flocculation level it will coagulate into clumps (or larger) but you are not going to filter any reasonable amount with a mesh bag. You would need a beer filtration system with a 0.5 micron filter to get 99.99% of yeast.

 

[fnord]

I 'filter' out dry hops by using a nylon bag over my racking cane. I don't see how this could cause oxidation. On the output end, sure, until fully submerged you are creating a lot of extra surface area for air contact.

 

[sweetcell]

I 'filter' out dry hops by using a nylon bag over my racking cane. I don't see how this could cause oxidation. On the output end, sure, until fully submerged you are creating a lot of extra surface area for air contact.

+1. this is how you do it: mesh bag over the racking cane or auto-siphon. the bag is in the carboy, so beer needs to pass through the bag before it's sucked up out of the carboy. hops & other gunk are left behind in the carboy and the beer isn't oxidized, because it's forced through the mesh under liquid so air isn't incorporated.

i find that cold-crashing is still required with this method. if you still have a ton of stuff, like whole leaf hops, in suspension you could eventually clog the intake of your racking cane.

 

[glugglug]

You really risk oxidizing (and hence ruining) the beer that way. Careful racking is generally the best way to avoid "stuff" in the bottling bucket, but cold crashing a few days before racking can help to get suspended solids to drop out.

This is what I was going to say. I usually move racking cane down as the beer is drained, staying just below the surface to keep syphon. Fwiw, I rarely secondary any more. Only on wheat beers when I want to add fruit. The more you mess with it, the more you risk infection. The nylon will create bubbles that can oxidize the beer.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Just cold crash and stay off the bottom when you rack, It would need to be super fine to eliminate the yeast.

Even better just make 5.5 gallon batches so you can leave a bit behind and still get your quota

 

[DarthCitra]

Even better just make 5.5 gallon batches so you can leave a bit behind and still get your quota

I wish i had a big enough kettle. im only working with a 4gallon kettle and a 5 gal big mouth fermenter

 

[dsaavedra]

I just recently bottled an APA batch that was my first all grain and first time dry hopping and first time using a bucket. Bottling day was a mess, worst one I've had yet.

I didn't use a bag for dry hopping and they hops never dropped out, so there were hop particles ALL THROUGHOUT my beer, constantly getting sucked up through the siphon. I did however put a hop bag on the end of my siphon hose, which I was careful to keep submerged at all times. I don't think there was enough agitation to warrant oxidation but I'll let you know in a week when I try the first beer.

I also ended up sucking up a bunch of trub/yeast out of the bucket because I'm not used to buckets and had a hard time gauging how far down the end of my autosiphon was. This beer came out cloudy as hell (although no hop particles!) but it's been a few days since bottling and there is already like 1/8" of sediment in the bottom of the bottles, more than I've ever had before, but I can only assume that it means all that suspended yeast and junk is settling out.

This was an experimental batch anyway and it was one hell of a learning experience. Hopefully the beer doesn't taste half bad. My samples were all pretty good but there was something minor and unappealing about them, I'm hoping that carbonation will fix this.

In the future I will dry hop using a bag to avoid the mess of suspended hop particles.

 

[unionrdr]

I usually tip the primary bucket gently to get the last bit of clear beer out. when the racking tube starts sucking up yeast & trub,I stop.