Traub/Yeast slurry

How much do you guys get?

I split a batch into two carboys, and lost over half a gallon to each when it finally came time to rack off!

It burns my balls to make 6 gallons of beautiful wort, and then a few weeks later I have under 5 gallons of beer!

That sounds about right to me, sometimes more if I was heavy with the dry hops

Safa said:

How much do you guys get?

I split a batch into two carboys, and lost over half a gallon to each when it finally came time to rack off!

It burns my balls to make 6 gallons of beautiful wort, and then a few weeks later I have under 5 gallons of beer!

Click to expand...

It sounds realistic, especially if you don't separate the hot and cold break & hop debris going into the fermentor. I usually plan to have 6.25 gallons in my kettle after boiling, 5.5 goes into the fermentor, and 5 gets bottled. I have to adjust my recipe to account for the losses.

Racking off? Be careful, you'll go blind. Burning your balls is the least of your worries.

Just bottled 4.25 gallons of a big barleywine the other day. 10 gal pre boil. 2 hours of boiling and a half lb of hops later and I have 5.5 gal of wort in the bucket. A month later and I have 5 gallons of beer in a carboy to age. At that point I could have bottled and ended up with as much beer but I added a bunch of hops and lost another .75 gallons. I could have pushed it and got more but I would have ended up with a bunch of yeast and a little hop gunk in the bottling bucket. If the sample was any indication, it should turn out a sweet, sweet beer.

Thanks very much guys, at least I know I'm not going nuts.

A question though, DWhitwell, how do you separate hot break, just by spooning it off? I just started using fermcap (small kettle, means I can boil more), so I suppose I'm just screwed?

As for cold break, after cooling, I whirlpool for a minute or so, let it settle for about 10 minutes and then siphon off, trying my best to keep the siphon far away from the mount of traub in the middle of the kettle. Should I try something else?

Safa said:

Thanks very much guys, at least I know I'm not going nuts.

A question though, DWhitwell, how do you separate hot break, just by spooning it off? I just started using fermcap (small kettle, means I can boil more), so I suppose I'm just screwed?

As for cold break, after cooling, I whirlpool for a minute or so, let it settle for about 10 minutes and then siphon off, trying my best to keep the siphon far away from the mount of traub in the middle of the kettle. Should I try something else?

Click to expand...

No, you've got it. The hot and cold break both settle to the bottom. I usually let the whirlpool settle for 30 minutes so it compacts a bit more, and then my kettle drains right from the side, leaving the cone of gunk (a technical term) in the middle. My last batch had a huge hop bill, so I ended up with more gunk in the fermentor than I like, and I'm looking at how I might put a screen/shield in to help leave more gunk behind.

I know it feels kinda sucky seeing all that yummy wort mixed in with the break material and leaving it behind, but for just a few pennies and a little planning, you can brew enough extra to feel okay leaving it behind.

Got it, thanks again.

Agree about the few extra pennies, I just need to start planning around the losses now!

adjusting your water volumes while formulating the recipe solves these post boil problems.

Safa said:

How much do you guys get?

I split a batch into two carboys, and lost over half a gallon to each when it finally came time to rack off!

It burns my balls to make 6 gallons of beautiful wort, and then a few weeks later I have under 5 gallons of beer!

Click to expand...

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The BrewDemon conical system allows traub to collect in the bottom of the cone far enough from the spigot to prevent the traub from being siphoned into the mix when racking. Dunno if someone's already mentioned that here. It's a different kind of a concept for the traditional carboy. Thought I'd toss this idea into the pool of responses you've already received.