BIAB trub loss

I plan on moving to 3-gallon BIAB batches soon from extract and I'm trying to get my water volumes down. How much trub loss can I expect from my brewpot and the fermenter, typically?

About 1/2 gallon, but you can toss the whole kettle contains into your fermenter.

I do get a lot of trub, probably a gallon of a 6 gallon batch, but it all goes into the fermentor.

I usually get less then .25 gal in a 3 gal batch. Maybe it is because I am using a voile bag and I am also filtering the hops out with another smaller voile bag I place into my fermenter. But really I don't get that much more trub I feel then when I did extract.

Awesome. Thanks all. I did plan on using voile for the grains and hop sock, so this is perfect.

I tend to get a lot of trub from biab and found these bucket filters from us plastics.

http://www.usplastic.com/mobile/item.aspx?itemid=24071#10877

I hope the link works but they are called ez strainers and they fit around the opening of a 5 gallon bucket. I got the 400 micron ones which may be a little too small but I expect to get much less trub into the fermenter and have easier racking. I will use them on my next batch next week.

Not to wake an old thread, but I just completed my third BIAB, all between 2-3 gallons. I just wanted to add my experiences the last couple of weeks in case anyone else comes across this via Google.

I've been learning a lot of water lessons these weeks. My first two batches were a lot smaller than I thought they would be after trub, and boil off has been lower than I expected. Constantly keeping track of numbers.

I made a Tripel yesterday - 1.075 OG, 7.5 lb grain bill in my little 5 gallon brew pot. I was able to get 3.9 gallons pre-boil (dunk sparged with .75 gallon, so not a "true" BIAB I suppose), and boiled down to just over 3. I lost half a gallon to kettle trub, and I can already see I'm going to lose another half G or so to trub in the primary. Next time I'll put the whole contents in the primary and hope it all settles out.

I'm disappointed to lose so much to trub, but I'm enjoying BIAB and it suits my purposes perfectly. I plan now to lose at least .5 a gallon to trub per 3 gallon batch for smaller brews, and even more for big on beers.

Happy to say, the yeast are going crazy. Biggest beer I've ever brewed, and the most wonderful looking ferm I've ever seen. Woohoo!

I'm having similar experiences even using trub mgmt such as whirfloc and whirlpooling. Whirlpooling just isn't working with 3-3.5G of wort. Not enough volumetric mass above the trub to form a cone. At least that's my excuse . I've gotten where if I want 2.5G into bottles I'd better plan for 3G into fermenter. With my 5G brewpot I have to do maxi-BIAB and hold back .5-.75G from boil which I sparge with at mash out temps.

DY


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I screen the wort going into the fermentor and leave about a quart behind in the pot along with most of the cold break proteins and hop particles. My trub loss in the fermentor is around a half a quart for a 2.5 gal batch.

Oginme said:

I screen the wort going into the fermentor and leave about a quart behind in the pot along with most of the cold break proteins and hop particles. My trub loss in the fermentor is around a half a quart for a 2.5 gal batch.

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What size screen do you use? I bought a 400 micron screen and it clogged after 1/2 gallon went through. Not sure if a 200 micron would be too coarse? I have just been dealing with the trub and making larger batches to compensate.

This last batch I lined my bucket fermentor with an exra mesh bag, poured the whole thing in, and then lifted it out and gave it a bit of a squeeze.

It worked, but the final product was a bit cloudy. I'm not sure if it was because of this process, but I will try again and see how it goes.

What size screen do you use? I bought a 400 micron screen and it clogged after 1/2 gallon went through. Not sure if a 200 micron would be too coarse? I have just been dealing with the trub and making larger batches to compensate.

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I've though about using a screen, but I hear a lot of people talking about clogging issues. I'd be interested to see what size screens people use, as well.

It's a pretty fine screen. Just looking at it I'd say it's about a 200 mesh, which puts the opening at around 75 microns. I should have added that I create a whirlpool after chilling and allow the pot to sit covered for 30 to 45 minutes before pouring through the funnel. By planning the brew to leave some wort behind with the trub, I don't need to pour much of the solids into the funnel. Times when I have tried to stretch out an extra half liter out of a brew, I did have the screen blind over. Lesson learned, don't stretch...

I ferment in MR Beer kegs for my BIAB and I have a hop bag that is 4x6", its small enough it fits in the opening. That and some binder clips lets me filter my beer pretty well. I use refilled ozarka bottles for my water, at 3.35q a pop.

I use 3 for my mash, which equals out to 10q and change. I use 1 more for my dunk sparge and that usually nets me 3g pre-boil. Half a gallon is lost to the boil itself, so after filter and everything I usually only loose .5gal. That hop bag is fine enough I can squeeze the beer out without allowing trub into the beer. The "protein ball" is usually a good 4" round all the way.

As others have said, the kettle trub can go right into the fermenter. It does not create any issues for fermentation or off flavors in the final product. The "trub" you are referring to are just break proteins and the hops (or hop residue if you use a hop bag of some sort).
The proteins are really not that solid at the point you are putting your wort into the fermenter, they have just coagulated so they are visible. If you put them into the fermenter they will fall out completely with the yeast leaving your beer completely clear.
For the hops if you don't use a hop sock and are worried about Trub, I highly recommend going this route. There is no adverse impact to the IBUS and it really limits hop residue. There is stil some, but it is very minor.

I do 5 gal batches and I pour all but the last residue laden cup or so of liquid into my fermenters. The beer comes out crystal clear after fermetation and cold crashing.

If you are losing .5 gal in a 3 gallon batch I'd be concerned too but I think you may be confusing trub for this purpose. The hops are trub, the coagulated proteins are much less so as from a % perspective what you are seeing is much more wort than trub. Throwing it out is actually throwing away a large amount of wort.

I throw everything in the pot, I filter out all the hops/protiens. I was gicing the op a way to reduce the amount of crap in the fermenter. I only lose .5g during the boil