I thought i was pretty smart...

[jpsherman]

I forgot to grab a grain bag for my first ever steep.

So I figured I would steep commando, then pour into a colander lined with a coffee filter.

Slowest process ever. I poked several small holes in the filter, still......so....slow.

Next time I will remember to get a grain bag.

[Beer-lord]

Many people steep and strain thru a strainer and other than a bit more funk in the kettle, it works.

[jpsherman]

Many people steep and strain thru a strainer and other than a bit more funk in the kettle, it works.

Don't have a strainer, my colander lets pretty much everything through.

Does it matter if husks go into the boil?

[Brewbirds]

We just got 5 gallon paint strainers from the hardware store (came in a bag of two) and they work great. Got to get them cleaned and sterilized first of course but they have done well for all of our steeps and partial mashes so far.

That being said the pot we use as brew kettle has a strainer ( ala pasta) with it so we just lift the bag out after steeping/ mashing and lift the bag bag out to drain for a minute then set the strainer on top of the pot and put the bag on that to drain.

Steeping Grains.JPG (81.2 KiB) Viewed 653 times

I don't see a pic of the strainer part of the pot but I'll look through the files.

Hope this helps.

[Wings_Fan_In_KC]

Nylon paint strainers work excellently. That's what I steep in. They sparge/rinse well too.

[haerbob3]

BB if you are doing a boil why sanitize the bag? I used to do my PM in one then I had a prefect wort for doing a hop boil. If your water is over 150* for an extended time you have effectively killed any nasties living on the bag.