Holy sediment

So I bottled up my oatmeal stout extract kit that I got from Midwest. It was in the fermenter for 28 days and used Safale 04 yeast. There was a ton of loss from trub in the fermenter and in my bottling bucket. So now the sediment in the bottles is around a 1/4 in thick and in a few almost 1/2 thick. Is that normal? Will it pack down? When I bottled my red ale I had just a slight dusting of sediment at the bottom, but I also did a secondary with that one. So the end result 39 12oz bottles and 1 champagne bottle full. Seems like alot of loss being with the red ale I did I had almost 50 12oz bottles.

Wow.. Were you reckless when racking into the bottling bucket, or was all that just still suspended in the solution?

Yeah it sounds like you had your racking cane right on the bottom of the bottling bucket, but then again that would have probably only impacted a few bottles initially. Perhaps the beer didn't have time to settle after racking from the fermenter to the bottling bucket?

Once I started using one of the clips to hold the siphon to the side of the bucket when racking over to the bottling bucket I saw a big difference in the amount of trub at the bottom of the bucket after bottling. Very minimal amount in the bottles as well. Of course a little bit in the bottom of the bottles is always a good thing!

I kept it off the bottom and left quite a bit in the bucket so that I wasn't racking all that into the bottling bucket. Even the bottling bucket had a lot in the bottom so I left beer in there so that it would not transfer to the bottles. I have a clip so that it stays off the bottom and my bottling bucket has a spigot and ran the beer thru there when I bottled. And I let it sit for about an hour after I transferred to the bottling bucket. I also strained out the hops when it went in the fermentor and used a whirfloc tablet .The beer tasted good and smelled good so I guess I went right sonewhere

If I see that kind of sediment in my fermenter I will rack to a brite tank. It usually means I had trouble getting it cleanly out of the kettle. I had one beer I racked twice. It is very easy to rack beer from one carboy to another using CO2 and never expose it to air/O2.

This is a routine practice in my wine making so I have a good system and it makes for a very clear product.

helibrewer said:

If I see that kind of sediment in my fermenter I will rack to a brite tank. It usually means I had trouble getting it cleanly out of the kettle. I had one beer I racked twice. It is very easy to rack beer from one carboy to another using CO2 and never expose it to air/O2.

This is a routine practice in my wine making so I have a good system and it makes for a very clear product.

Click to expand...

Care to share your system?

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess ill try a secondary on my next stout and see if that makes a difference

jbaysurfer said:

Care to share your system?

Click to expand...

I purge the receiving carboy with CO2 until a lighter extinguishes at the lip...slow flow, takes about 5 min.

On the sending carboy I place an orange carboy cap with a racking cane in one port and my CO2 connected to the other....then I use the CO2 to push to beer into the receiving carboy...beer is always under CO2 and I can rack as often as I need/want to without fears of oxidation.

If you are a proponent of do-it-all-in-the-primary, you can skip all this

Actually Helibrew..I'm more of a proponent of conditioning and dry hopping in a clear tank..so that's very helpful. Thanks for sharing it.

2 followup questions:
1) How much Co2 do you burn through when you do this (roughly)?
2)How do you attach your c02 to carboy hood? Just a hose clamp..or some other sort of fitting?

jbaysurfer said:

Actually Helibrew..I'm more of a proponent of conditioning and dry hopping in a clear tank..so that's very helpful. Thanks for sharing it.

2 followup questions:
1) How much Co2 do you burn through when you do this (roughly)?

Click to expand...

I haven't payed detailed attention but maybe 200psi??

2)How do you attach your c02 to carboy hood? Just a hose clamp..or some other sort of fitting?

Click to expand...

I just push 3/8" vinyl tubing over the nipple, no clamps...you have to kind of hold the hood on though, it will pop off if the CO2 is up too high. I have about 12' of tubing on my CO2 bottle so I don't have to lug it around too much.

helibrewer said:

I haven't payed detailed attention but maybe 200psi??



I just push 3/8" vinyl tubing over the nipple, no clamps...you have to kind of hold the hood on though, it will pop off if the CO2 is up too high. I have about 12' of tubing on my CO2 bottle so I don't have to lug it around too much.

Click to expand...

Smart. I am low on c02 line so I have one tank in my kegerator and another "utility" type tank for this sort of thing...and. But I have about 3' of line of my utility tank so I have to carry it all over the garage.

Thanks for your responses!

Anytime that you use a grain or malt with a lot of starch you will see more Trub. Just leave them in the fermenter(s) a litle longer and be super careful when racking off.

I tested one bottle and after being in the fridge for a day the sediment packed down very nicely and had no real issues with pouring out sediment into the glass. Thanks for all the input everyone!