Is there anyway to strain trub from being sucked through the dip tube?

I have a boilermaker kettle with a dip tube. I use a wort chiller. When I'm done chilling and transfer to Carboys the dip tube initially picks up the cold break trub off the bottom. I usually dump this but I'd like strain it so I don't dump any precious wort. I'm looking for a cheap alternative to more expensive gear. Thanks for any suggestions.

send it on to the carboy, it'll settle out with the yeast. No need to waste it or kill yourself trying to separate it early.

whirlpool

BigHead33 said:

I have a boilermaker kettle with a dip tube. I use a wort chiller. When I'm done chilling and transfer to Carboys the dip tube initially picks up the cold break trub off the bottom. I usually dump this but I'd like strain it so I don't dump any precious wort. I'm looking for a cheap alternative to more expensive gear. Thanks for any suggestions.

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One thing you can do is to simply whirlpool your wort (and then let it settle for a good 20 minutes!) so the trub (hops and break) settles into a big cone in the center and you will get minimum amounts of cold break and hop material into the fermenter. It will suck some of it through when you get all the way to the bottom, but as noted above, its not a *huge* deal.

Another method I've used for a while is to just run the output into a bottling/fermenting bucket with a sanitized 5 gallon paint strainer on the other end of the hose (you can also use a regular kitchen strainer) and just suck everything up. It will catch the majority of the trub (but certainly not all of it) and then you can use an auto siphon to rack it into the carboy (and even strain it again if you want). It doesn't work nearly as well if you try and do it straight into a narrow necked carboy since the hops and break material will practically fill the bag and make it hard to pull out, hence why I use the intermediate step of a bucket. This does of course mean you have to sanitize and then clean a lot more equipment than you otherwise would, so I'd give a nice vigorous whirlpool a try before that.

Whirlpool + steel wire scrubbie around the dip tube...that should help.

Similar to a couple of the above posters, I whirlpool and let it settle for 20 min then put a sanitized ss strainer in my funnel and transfer through that.

Whirlpooling and waiting for it to settle really helps a lot.

outside92129 said:

send it on to the carboy, it'll settle out with the yeast. No need to waste it or kill yourself trying to separate it early.

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This... ZERO need to filter, whirlpool, etc... The hot/cold break will settle out and can actually be eaten by the yeast. Another brewer did a test (and posted results) where the part of a batch (same exact batch, split) that had the trub left in it actually came out clearer and tasting better than the part he kept it out of. Moral of the story, RDWHAHB and pour it ALL in...

Yeah I know its not really scientific or anything but I whirlpool with a pump setup and do 10 gallon batches. I split it into 2 6 gallon better bottles. The first fermenter is usually really clear and the second fermenter does get a good deal of break material. I do my best to divide my starters as evenly as I can between the two fermenters. But seems like without fail the side with break material starts fermenting first, seems to ferment more violently and finish faster.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I would like to utilize the whirlpool technique but I don't know how to do that if you use a wort chiller. I put my wort chiller in at 15 mins to sanitize it. Once it's in there I am unable to whirlpool the wort. If I wait til the wort is chilled and remove the chiller and whirlpool then will it be as effective?

If you are trying to avoid getting cold break into the fermenter it will be more effective after chilling because cold break forms in the 70-80 degree range pre chilling is only effective for hot break and hops. If you add whirlpool during your chilling the movement will help you chill faster.

I pick up my chiller and use it to start the whirlpool. Once i have it going i set it back in and set the lid on. I find it actually cools faster this way. By the time its down to around 70* i usually have a good cone and barely get any trub sucked into my diptube.

Thanks. How do you actually create the whirlpool? Just use a spoon or mash paddle and swirl the wort around? How long will that last before it dies out? Do you do it more than once?