I'm leaving a LOT of beer in the brew kettle--help

BetterSense · 10-01-2011, 10:06 PM

When I siphon my beer out of the boil kettle, I end up leaving a whole bunch in the bottom of the kettle, like 1 or 2 gallons, because it's mixed with cloudy stuff. That cuts down my yield a bunch. I brew 5 gallons and only 3 make it to the fermenter.

I'm doing all-grain BIAB. After I boil, I cool my wort with an ice bath. Since I have a thin aluminum kettle, it only takes 35 minutes or so for the beer to get down to 68F. I whirlpool the beer at first but I don't stir it while it cools. The thing is, after I cool my beer, it separates really well, with the clear wort separate from the clouds of stuff--is there a name for it? I siphon away all the clear wort, but I'm left with at least a 3 inches of beer at the bottom that is totally cloudy. If I leave it sit for a while it settles some more and I could get another inch or so of clear beer off the top, but there's no way I could get my siphon started without stirring it up again. What other people do?

**eastoak** · 10-01-2011, 10:08 PM

dump the whole thing in the fermenter.

BetterSense · 10-01-2011, 10:15 PM

Do people really do that? I'm willing to try it. My separated wort is like crystal clear and I like that; I'll have to get over the nice crystal clear part, but will by final beer be cloudier if I let all that stuff into the fermenter?

**AnOldUR** · 10-01-2011, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterSense

. . . but there's no way I could get my siphon started without stirring it up again. What other people do?

Bargain Fittings. The best 30 bucks you'll spend.

BetterSense · 10-01-2011, 10:50 PM

That's not going to help me at all.

I'm trying to explain.

Due to my stand-chilling technique, my beer separates into crystal clear bits and cloudy bits. I siphon away all the crystal clear sweet wort but when I leave behind the cloudy stuff, I leave a lot of beer behind with it.

I don't know what other people do. Apparently, people don't worry about getting the cloudy stuff in the fermenter? Do you just dump it all in and figure it settles out in the fermenter? Can you filter it?

**jetmac** · 10-01-2011, 10:50 PM

It's called trub. Don't be scared to let most of it enter your carboy, it will settle in the bottom of your carboy as your wort ferments. The yeast do need to munch on some of it. 2 gallons seems like alot. You might want to not have such an aggressive boil and add enough water to end up with 5.5 to 6 gal in your kettle. Then you can leave a little bit in your kettle.

**jetmac** · 10-01-2011, 10:55 PM

I have added a tube to the inside of my kettle that extends out from the drain bung towards the middle of the kettle and turns down to within 1/8" to 1/16" from the bottom of the kettle. I have a 10 gallon kettle and I open the drain and let it flow until it stops, leaving behind combination liquid and trub at about 1/8" and however wide my kettle is.

mcaple1 · 10-01-2011, 11:25 PM

put it all in....if your worried about hop bits, etc from getting in, just use a fine strainer....but otherwise dont get carried away with siphoning only crystal clear wort....its all good.

BetterSense · 10-02-2011, 12:37 AM

Quote:

put it all in....if your worried about hop bits, etc from getting in, just use a fine strainer....but otherwise dont get carried away with siphoning only crystal clear wort....its all good.

Ok, I guess I've been making a lot of effort to do something that doesn't matter that much. I swear that in the past when I haven't been wiling to lose so much and sucked up that cloudy stuff, the beers haven't ended up as clear in the end, but maybe it's my imagination. It will definitely be nice to get an extra gallon of beer out of each batch.

Quote:

I have a 10 gallon kettle and I open the drain and let it flow until it stops, leaving behind combination liquid and trub at about 1/8" and however wide my kettle is.

If I did that I would definitely be getting practically all the stuff I've been avoiding because it's at least an inch or two thick layer at the bottom. I have been wondering about people who have immersion chillers, because if I put an immersion chiller in my beer it would definitely stir everything all back up again and there would be no wait to avoid it anyway.

gclunde · 10-02-2011, 12:58 AM

If you aren't already doing so, just make sure you are using whirlfloc/irish moss in the final 10-15 minutes and then dump it all into the fermenter once cooled (+1 on using a strainer to filter at particles out). FYI, the trub contains a lot of nutrients that the yeast will use.

FWIW, I've always had crystal clear beers in the 30+ batches I've done this way.