a lot of sediment in primary

liesea · 01-25-2012, 01:07 AM

I just brewed an Amber Kolsch Ale extract recipe from morebeer.com. I did a partial boilk because i only have a 5 gallon kettle. I steeped the gains and hops bags and used the late addition method. the wort has been sitting in the fermentor for about an hour and there is about 2 inches of a lighter sediment at the bottom. I cant get an accurate gravity readiing because the sediment covers the spigot. My kit was supposed to come with a fine mesh bag for the hops and a coarse mesh bag for the grains but it only came with 3 coarse mesh bags. I only used to oz of cascade but could this be what all the sediment is on the bottom. it seams like a lot to be just hops.

maffewl · 01-25-2012, 01:23 AM

Nothing to worry about... it's called the trub. It contains alot more than just hops, such as proteins and other particles that are created during the brewing process. You can use a sanitized turkey baster to retrieve enough wort for a OG reading... however, since it's extract... as long as you hit your target water amounts, it should be close to what is specified in the instructions and I wouldn't worry about it. Now, start planning your next brew and leave that one alone for at least three weeks.

**unionrdr** · 01-25-2012, 05:10 PM

That's why I pour chilled wort & top off water through a fine mesh strainer. catches most of the excess stuff,& helps aerate all pretty well. I get 3-5" of foam this way. then stir roughly 5 minutes straight to mix all better & aerate more.
So basically,less trub at the bottom. I usually get .5" or less in the bottom of the FV. More beer in the bottling bucket that way.