After boil is done....?

Alrighty, here goes, probably the dumbest question you will deal with today....

After you are done boiling and the wort has cooled it's time to transfer to your primary. So do you A) Just use a funnel and dump everything into the fermenter? or do you B) Siphon from the brew pot to the primary, leaving as much trub behind as possible?

I've brewed two batches now and have used the siphon method but i'm guessing that's not the preffered way of doing it.

Mantis said:

Alrighty, here goes, probably the dumbest question you will deal with today....

After you are done boiling and the wort has cooled it's time to transfer to your primary. So do you A) Just use a funnel and dump everything into the fermenter? or do you B) Siphon from the brew pot to the primary, leaving as much trub behind as possible?

I've brewed two batches now and have used the siphon method but i'm guessing that's not the preffered way of doing it.

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The siphon method is fine. Pouring your wort through a strainer is also fine. More advanced brew systems often pump liquor/wort/beer as the method of transfer. The method of transfer is not as important as making sure that you manage the sanitation process dilegently with whichever method you choose. And most importantly, enjoy a homebrew while you do it.

After my debacle yesterday I'll advise you wait until the wort significantly cools before transferring. If you're using HDPE buckets, then it's no problem but if you're using glass carboys or Better Bottles, cool the wort!!!!!

mikefranciotti said:

After my debacle yesterday I'll advise you wait until the wort significantly cools before transferring. If you're using HDPE buckets, then it's no problem but if you're using glass carboys or Better Bottles, cool the wort!!!!!

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The OP seems to have indicated that the wort was cooled prior to transfer.

Well I use a immersian chiller and when it is cool I use my sanitized auto shipon and rack it....before that, EIther I just dumped everything in, without straining, just pour it in the bucket or in the funnel....Or I would use a big strainer that fit in the funnel for a carboy, or a sanitized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag in the bucket...

Many people don't bother straining at all..sometimes I don't bother....It really doesn't matter...anything will settle.

In other words, there is no wrong way to do it, or better way, or way that will make the best beer...they all work...the choice is what will work the best for you.

Like I said, now that I use an immersion chiller, both on the stove or on my turkey fryer, I get the wort cold enough to autosiphon it over.

Awesome, thanks for the help guys!

I autosiphon every batch out of the kettle, into the carboy. I use a venturi tube at the end of the siphon hose (in the carboy) to try to aerate the wort as it passes through. Sort of a two-for-one deal. There is a thread on here about it if you're interested--I think it's called "cheap aeration gadget" or something to that effect. It generally works well for me.

If I have a LOT of hop sediment in the kettle, I'll do the same thing, but put a funnel with a strainer (sanitized of course) into the neck of the carboy, then siphon into the funnel to try to collect some of the trub as it passes through.

I usually just dump and let everything settle out in the primary. However, I just made a pale ale that I wanted to see how much I could get it to clear up so I let the wort sit for 30 minutes then siphoned into my primary leaving the trub and hot break behind. I haven't served the beer yet to see how much it cleared up, but when I went to wash the yeast, I noticed that it was significantly cleaner. There was much less trub to worry about and the washed yeast looks much better than my previous attempts. I think I'll be using this technique in the future.

Munsoned said:

. . .try to aerate the wort as it passes through.

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Definately don't forget to aerate well!