I am sure there are probably a few threads about this already but my phone is annoying and I can't search old threads right now so I apologize if this is a repost.

Here is my scenario/question: I am a partial-mash brewer. When transferring from my boil kettle to my fermenter after chilling, I have been separating my hot/cold break by pouring the wort through a very fine mesh strainer, one I specifically bought for this purpose. I do not have a ball valve on my kettle. I have heard numerous things about people using auto-siphons or racking canes to transfer instead of pouring through a strainer. I am wondering what peoples thoughts are on these two methods. I have not used my auto-siphon to transfer yet but my strainer does a pretty good job at keeping the break out of my fermenter, sometimes it collects so much that it slows to a trickle. Your thoughts?

I think the 2nd or 3rd time I tried that I was pretty toasty after a long brew day & ended up overflowing my already stuck funnel/strainer. By the time all was said & done, I had about 3 gallons on the floor. The auto-siphon is cheap, easy & has never made a mess. Honestly, if I didn't have it, I'd skip the step all together & just pour straight in the fermenter like I was decanting a bottle. A little break in the fermenter isn't going to hurt most styles anyhow.

I have been just using the dump thru a strainer method and you are right it gets clogged but that's okay I just empty the strainer into a bucket and go again. If you are doing only 5 gallon batches and have a brew partner its pretty simple to just dump it and much faster too!

heh. I use both. Autosiphon to strainer, cuts down on clogging. Although one would have to wonder if some of those needed proteins and such are missing the fermenter. Anybody notice any differences in head retention?

Weelllll...here's what I do, it's a "belt and suspenders" kind of thing:

1.) Autosiphon with a sanitized stainless steel scrubber ziptied to the end. This siphons the chilled wort thru the scrubber to keep the bulk of the break and hop material out of the fermenting bucket, into the bucket topped with:

2.) A fine mesh stainless steel 10" strainer, the fine mesh one from Northern Brewer (yes I'll shill for you guys too, ya'll do a great job!) This setup does two things for me. First, it holds back any trub, break, or hops that may have gotten past the course strainer, I mean, scrubber, AND it helps to aerate the chilled wort going into the fermentor. Ever notice that most water faucets have a fine screen at the very end? Its called an aerator and its job is to break up the big water drops coming out into very fine drops, as well as aerating the stream. Since I haven't gotten around to the local pet shop to buy a fishtank...oooops, I mean wort aerator, this works well for me to add additional oxygen to the wort before pitching the yeast.

Just make sure to sanitize everything before racking off and life is good. I usually have a good ferment started within 6 to 8 hours after pitching rehydrated dry yeast, and I'm able to harvest and reuse the yeast to pitch into the next batch.

Just my two cents,
Alan

I pour my partial boils, as every drop of precious wort goes towards my OG. If I could do full boils, I'd rack.

I have done the auto siphon and funnel method. I like the funnel method with screen better. Found this site http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... rchresults which I think works great for 6.5 gal. bucket fermenting. Multiple micron strainers may be a plus, and cheap in price.

Cheers