Grain strainer at Woolworths/Safeway

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Wednesday Nov 14, 2007 6:11 pm

Another for Woolworths/Safeways/etc.

A bit under $8 will get you a pretty good wire collinder atm. It isn't the mesh one, so grain husks don't stick in it. It's a thousand times better than my former reject shop special that rusted out.

Kevnlis · Post by **Kevnlis** » Wednesday Nov 14, 2007 9:02 pm

What prompted this?

For about the same kind of money you could make a simple tun from an old esky and a braid.

KEG · Post by **KEG** » Wednesday Nov 14, 2007 9:28 pm

^^ which doesn't suit those who just steep specialty grains in a pot, and would like to use an $8 colander

Kevnlis · Post by **Kevnlis** » Wednesday Nov 14, 2007 9:32 pm

Actually it does, that is how I have always done my grain steeping.

KEG · Post by **KEG** » Wednesday Nov 14, 2007 9:38 pm

i prefer using a stock pot to steep in.. it's very heavy aluminium, it doesn't lose much heat, and can be easily adjusted with a short stint on 'low' on the stove while stirring. i strain the grain off into a mixing bowl/any other container, sparge it a bit, then pour it all back into the stock pot for the boil.

another advantage of the strainer is that you can strain hops out of your wort while putting it into the fermenter if you so choose to. it will also help aerate your wort before pitching yeast.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 6:47 am

I personally cannot be bothered to pull out my lauter tun for straining 500g of grain when I do ME. 1.5kg minimum I would think.

I have a great gas stove with a huge burner on it that is more than enough for partials as well as ME. So the turkey burner stays away unless I am doing AG.

Most of my AG stuff I consider unnecessary for many of my partials, and all my ME brews.

My routine is fairly similar to KEGs by the look of it, and the strainer really is the way to go. It is also useful as a diy hop-back for use on a small scale. Aside from that, the lauter tun works well too.

My previous strainer was ok, but this new one seems much better. I look forward to giving it a go today!

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 10:08 am

I did a 4.5L AG brew on Tuesday night. COuldnt be arsed pulling out the 75L tun so used my 6 can esky which doesnt have a tap. So out came the wire strainer. Worked a treat. I use to to strain the ginger and spices out as well.

Kevnlis · Post by **Kevnlis** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 10:09 am

For those who are using the 6can esky I suggest a black blanket around it and putting it out in the sun to try to counteract some of the heat loss.

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 10:51 am

Now that is has stopped being so damn cold i wont take offence to a QLDer telling me about sunshine......

I do need to use something to help me out with temp losses. Sleeping bag and the sun sounds like a good idea.

ryan · Post by **ryan** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 3:01 pm

drsmurto wrote:I did a 4.5L AG brew on Tuesday night. COuldnt be arsed pulling out the 75L tun so used my 6 can esky which doesnt have a tap. So out came the wire strainer. Worked a treat. I use to to strain the ginger and spices out as well.

4.5l. AG in a 6 can esky? How big was the brew in volume?

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 3:03 pm

4.5L........

EDIT - ok, i see what you are asking.

800g of wheat malt in approx 2L of water. Mashed at 68 for 75mins (lost 8 deg over that time so hopefully it didnt drop below 65 at the 20 min mark). Strained thru wire strainer. Put grain back into esky. Sparged with 2 x 2L of 75C water. Boiled for 60 mins. Ended up with 4L in fermenter so topped up with cooled (preboiled) water.

Timmsy · Post by **Timmsy** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 3:39 pm

I just scored myself a 27ltr esky for my PM. I will pop into woolies 2nite to check out the wire colander. Thanks Chris! Dont think you can go wrong for $8 either way

Ive been told to wrap the esky up in blankets etc or can put a pot in the oven on low heat with the door slightly open. Am gona give the esky trick a shot

Kevnlis · Post by **Kevnlis** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 3:50 pm

You are going to strain an entire mash

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 4:03 pm

Kevnlis wrote:You are going to strain an entire mash

I too am a little miffed as to why you would strain a full volume mash. I think Chris was implying its great for spec grains and mini mashes etc.

For a full mash you should spend a few $$ on a braid/copper etc altho i for one am a fan of the false bottom - Linky

Cheers
DrSmurto

ryan · Post by **ryan** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 5:00 pm

drsmurto wrote:4.5L........

EDIT - ok, i see what you are asking.

800g of wheat malt in approx 2L of water. Mashed at 68 for 75mins (lost 8 deg over that time so hopefully it didnt drop below 65 at the 20 min mark). Strained thru wire strainer. Put grain back into esky. Sparged with 2 x 2L of 75C water. Boiled for 60 mins. Ended up with 4L in fermenter so topped up with cooled (preboiled) water.

Why muck around with 4.5l. brews? Was this an experiment?
11 litres is the smallest I`ll make.

ryan · Post by **ryan** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 5:09 pm

drsmurto wrote:Now that is has stopped being so damn cold i wont take offence to a QLDer telling me about sunshine......

I do need to use something to help me out with temp losses. Sleeping bag and the sun sounds like a good idea.

Doc, you should move to Qld- the sun shines out of everybody`s arse here

ryan · Post by **ryan** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 5:09 pm

well, nearly everybody

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Thursday Nov 15, 2007 8:27 pm

Ah yeah, I was talking small measures of grain when your lauter tun just seems too big. And I like the false bottom variety too.

drsmurto · Post by **drsmurto** » Friday Nov 16, 2007 8:29 am

4.5L is a very small AG i know. I did intend on using extract as its a ginger wheat recipe i am trialling. I am obsessed with making the perfect ginger beer so small scale trials are better as i dont have 20L of crap if i balls something up.

Actually - a 4.5L AG is dead easy. I would think most people have one of those stupid small eskys. Tradies use them for lunches. I work in a building. With a fridge. So that esky is/was useless until i discovered spec grain.

Time wise it is quicker than a full sized AG. Equipment is much smaller so i do it on the stove top. And there is no need for a false bottom cos i can pick up the mash tun and pour it into a pot thru the wire strainer, return grains to tun, sparge. Absolute piece of piss. And cleaning up takes minutes!

Ok, so you only get 6 x 750mL bottles out of it and not going over board with the yeast can be tricky but since i am using champagne yeast for these experiments i got the HBS to weigh out several sachets with the right amount of yeast for 5L. Bobs your uncle.

Come to think of it i dont know why i didnt do this sooner.

You know you want to. So much more fun on the dark side!

DrSmurto

Kevnlis · Post by **Kevnlis** » Friday Nov 16, 2007 9:40 pm

I have been looking into finding fermentors of any size that will fit more efficently into my fridge, more than 1/3 of my fridge is free space with those silly shaped round fermentors in it. I guess 15L would be best to do half batches, I am not sure they go any smaller than 10L so a quarter batch would be silly. I should be able to choke down 11L of even the worst brew with no worries!