straining wort into fermenter

[RobDrechsler]

Ok, so what is everyone using for straining? my last batch I had used a mix of whole and pellet hops, so I used a colander, small holes and then a wire strainer inside of it.. did an alright job.. my brother suggested using cheese cloth..

any other suggestions?

[Brewboy]

I don't strain at all. I wirlpool and let the hops and cold break settle out then rack out from over the top of it. I leave about 3/4 of a gallon of wort in the brew kettle and get only a small amount of break material over into the fermenter.

I've tried stainless steel mesh, stainless steel scrubbies over the drain, straining bags in a big funnel over the fermenter. All a major pain in the Arse!

Either boil enough to rack out over the top of it from the kettle or rack it all over let it settel out over night and rack again into another fermenter before pitching or even don't worry and just ferment it all. It will all make beer.

[truckpoetry]

I use hop socks for all my hops additions - even if you are "triple hops brewed" you only increase your cost by $1.50 a batch or so.

Then I don't strain, I just send it through the CF chiller. The last bits of trub generally don't make it past the internal height of the valve on my kettle and if they do, they settle out in the primary before I rack it off.

[NanoBrew]

I use hop sacks all of the time now since I switched to the plate heat exchanger. I use the large nylon paint strainer bags that you can find at Lowes or Home Depot for only a couple of bucks. They can be washed and re-used multiple times.

[ssage21]

I use the funnel I got at HBHQ that has a strainer in it. That with the small paddle to move the trub off the surface once it starts cloging up seems to work pretty well. I still have to rinse it off about three times through the 5 gallon pour.