Will Whirlfloc trub settle out as well as normal trub?

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mthelm85

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I just used Whirlfloc for the first time yesterday and, like others who have used it, I was shocked to see the amount of spongy-looking trub in my carboy. It's fermenting like crazy right now so there are chunks floating around everywhere but, before transferring to my carboy, I transferred a little bit of the wort into the Erlenmeyer flask that I did my starter in to take gravity measurements from time to time and every time I pick it up the spongy trub at the bottom immediately starts floating around. It seems to be very buoyant; more so than what I'm used to with normal trub. My concern obviously is that when I am ready to rack this beer for bottling and I pull my carboy up out of my chest freezer it's all going to get mixed around since this trub seems to be really easily shaken up.

Any feedback from you guys who use Whirlfloc? After fermentation will it eventually compact at the bottom of my carboy like always or have you found that this "Whirlfloc trub," as I've dubbed it, is more easily shaken up and extra care needs to be taken when racking? I'll probably set my carboy on my kitchen counter a day in advance just as an insurance policy but this stuff is so easily shaken up (at least right now) that I'm concerned the vacuum created by the siphoning tube might be enough to stir it all up when racking.
 
Yep, it'll compact down nice and tight and leave clear beer behind. It works to coagulate proteins, clumping them together so they are heavier than the wort. Then they'll fall to the bottom once fermentation slows/stops and doesn't stir the beer any more.
 
Yep, it'll compact down nice and tight and leave clear beer behind. It works to coagulate proteins, clumping them together so they are heavier than the wort. Then they'll fall to the bottom once fermentation slows/stops and doesn't stir the beer any more.

Thanks for the responae. I can already tell the difference so, as long as all goes well, I'll be using Whirfloc from now on.
 
I just started using Whirfloc. I add a half tablet (5g batch) with 5 minutes left in the boil. After chilling I remove the IC and hop bags and give the wort a good stir (simple whirlpool), I then let the kettle sit undisturbed for about 20 minutes. I have my dip tube set to leave behind just about all of the trub that has settled while still getting about 5.25 gallons into the carboy. There is almost no trub that makes it into the carboy - very happy with this product.
 
I just bottled my first beer that used Whirlfloc this past Friday. I had similar concerns at first, after noticing how much stuff had settled out to the bottom at the end of boil and during cooling. I added 1/2 tab with 10 minutes left in the boil, pulled my hop-bag at flame-out (gave it a good squeeze to get as much rich hop-juice as possible), and chilled in my sink.

After all that, I just dumped the entire contents of the brew pot into my primary. I left everything in primary for 2 weeks and then bottled. I had 5.25g total fermenting.

All the trub had compacted into a nice thick layer at the bottom, and was minimally disturbed by my racking to a bottling bucket. I moved my fermenter to the kitchen counter about an hour before bottling, nothing crazy. I use an auto-sipon with the little black rubber tip that makes it pretty easy to get all the beer right down to the top of the trub.

In the end I got less beer than I used to. Last batch I had 5.25g but didn't use whirlfloc, I got 55 12oz bottles. This batch at 5.25g with whirlfloc, I got 48 12oz bottles. The beer looks waaaaaay better already as far as clarity is concerned.

So basically, no I wouldn't worry about any "whirlfloc trub" floating around causing problems at bottling/racking, but you will probably have less beer (but nice and clear) in bottles at the end.
 
I just bottled my first beer that used Whirlfloc this past Friday. I had similar concerns at first, after noticing how much stuff had settled out to the bottom at the end of boil and during cooling. I added 1/2 tab with 10 minutes left in the boil, pulled my hop-bag at flame-out (gave it a good squeeze to get as much rich hop-juice as possible), and chilled in my sink.

After all that, I just dumped the entire contents of the brew pot into my primary. I left everything in primary for 2 weeks and then bottled. I had 5.25g total fermenting.

All the trub had compacted into a nice thick layer at the bottom, and was minimally disturbed by my racking to a bottling bucket. I moved my fermenter to the kitchen counter about an hour before bottling, nothing crazy. I use an auto-sipon with the little black rubber tip that makes it pretty easy to get all the beer right down to the top of the trub.

In the end I got less beer than I used to. Last batch I had 5.25g but didn't use whirlfloc, I got 55 12oz bottles. This batch at 5.25g with whirlfloc, I got 48 12oz bottles. The beer looks waaaaaay better already as far as clarity is concerned.

So basically, no I wouldn't worry about any "whirlfloc trub" floating around causing problems at bottling/racking, but you will probably have less beer (but nice and clear) in bottles at the end.

Yeah, I'm okay with less beer. I prefer quality over quantity. My beers are usually fairly clear but definitely not as clear as a commercial beer and the Whirlfloc tabs are so inexpensive that I decided to go ahead and give them a shot. I'm hoping to get a super-clear beer that I can enter into competition. I'm happy with everything else about my beers so if I can get them consistently clear then I think I will have finally mastered the art of home brewing English and American-style beers. Next challenge is to perfect my Belgians and brew beers comparable to those from Westmalle!
 
I thought my math seemed a little off because while I had less beer, it didn't seem like I had 7 bottles worth of trub/contaminated beer leftover. I used a bunch of 22oz bottles for the second batch and goofed on my arithmetic.

Non whirlfloc = 55 x 12oz = 660oz
Whirlfloc = 28 x 12oz + 13 x 22oz = 622oz

So 38oz less beer, or a little over 3 bottles. This is much closer to what I observed being left behind too. The main point before still stands, I did get less beer, albeit very clear, but it wasn't as bad as I initially let on. :drunk:
 
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