Whoops my carboy is full of trub!

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Dpopkin

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First post=first stress out problem

Hello everyone,
Long time reader, first time poster. Please forgive the rambling post, I am exhausted after todays brewing sesh.

I am on my third batch, but since the other two were very forgiving imperial stouts (no need to worry about clarity!) I am feeling like a first timer all over again.

I upgraded to a 6.5gallon glass carboy, so I am aware of just how badly I screwed up when I brewed today.

I used Ballast Point/Homebrewmart's extract w/specialty grain clone recipe for their own Dorado Double IPA

On their suggestion, I did late addition of DME (including a controversial 40min with only hops and specialty wort). Any thoughts on this by the way?

I used whirlfloc for the first time. Not going to lie, not sure how this will play outl

My big mistake came when I poured my wort into the carboy, because I couldn't use my big strainer/filter I had to use a relatively small funnel and tiny filter. Clogged in less then a second. I ended up pouring EVERYTHING in as I panicked about contamination. As a result I have almost all of my trub in the fermentor. I used a liquid yeast starter and poured in the entire 18 ounces because i didn't want to lose one cell for this high gravity beer. I never had so much trub with my imp stouts!

To cut to the chase, I have a fairly high gravity beer with a carboy that obviously contains several inches of trub. I wasn't planning on secondary fermentation (don't have a 5g carboy) but should I buy one just for this? I don't want to waste all the time and money.

I know I lost my planned clarity, but just how bad could it taste with huge amounts of trub at the bottom of the carboy? This will probably require an update on the status of the fermentation to accurately determine how soon my yeast crap out in this harsh environment I have created for the poor little guys.


Thanks in advance,



David


PS, any advice on sanitizing my giant tubing for the blowoff valve. I plan to attach it as soon as primary starts to take off. Should I attach it before that? I am scared of the whole vacuum thing.
 
Dpopkin said:
First post=first stress out problem

Hello everyone,
Long time reader, first time poster. Please forgive the rambling post, I am exhausted after todays brewing sesh.

I am on my third batch, but since the other two were very forgiving imperial stouts (no need to worry about clarity!) I am feeling like a first timer all over again.

I upgraded to a 6.5gallon glass carboy, so I am aware of just how badly I screwed up when I brewed today.

I used Ballast Point/Homebrewmart's extract w/specialty grain clone recipe for their own Dorado Double IPA

On their suggestion, I did late addition of DME (including a controversial 40min with only hops and specialty wort). Any thoughts on this by the way?

I used whirlfloc for the first time. Not going to lie, not sure how this will play outl

My big mistake came when I poured my wort into the carboy, because I couldn't use my big strainer/filter I had to use a relatively small funnel and tiny filter. Clogged in less then a second. I ended up pouring EVERYTHING in as I panicked about contamination. As a result I have almost all of my trub in the fermentor. I used a liquid yeast starter and poured in the entire 18 ounces because i didn't want to lose one cell for this high gravity beer. I never had so much trub with my imp stouts!

To cut to the chase, I have a fairly high gravity beer with a carboy that obviously contains several inches of trub. I wasn't planning on secondary fermentation (don't have a 5g carboy) but should I buy one just for this? I don't want to waste all the time and money.

I know I lost my planned clarity, but just how bad could it taste with huge amounts of trub at the bottom of the carboy? This will probably require an update on the status of the fermentation to accurately determine how soon my yeast crap out in this harsh environment I have created for the poor little guys.


Thanks in advance,



David


PS, any advice on sanitizing my giant tubing for the blowoff valve. I plan to attach it as soon as primary starts to take off. Should I attach it before that? I am scared of the whole vacuum thing.
Click to expand...



WOW...yoy REALLY need to RDWDAHB!!! Beleive it or not...it all sounds VERY normal to me. First of all, there is almost no need to leave any behind on an extract batch. There is VERY little trub in the pot. Second, now that you have a glass carboy, you can see it working. That huge mess throughout the carboy you are calling trub will be there EVERY batch! That is all the particulates seperating out. They will all fall to the bottom eventually. You are seeing the magic of fermentation. I really like using a secondary for clarifying, but if you leave it in the primary for about 3 weeks, and use a bottling bucket to siphon to before bottling and don't let the beer get too far down before stopping the siphon (or siphon tubing intot he yeast cake), you will get pretty clear beer. Late malt addition = good job. 18 oz yeast with starter = good job. I am not sure what you were reading, but you did fine. I always pour my whole starter in the batch as well. If you are worried about blowoff, put the tube on now and the open end into a glass of water below the carboy. Then when you see the krausen (yes, there will be a layer at the top in a couple of days of more gunk) start to mellow and fall, switch to a regular airlock setup.

For sanitizing tubing, I have a wall paper tray or you can use a drywall tray. This is a great way to sanitize all the small stuff (bottle filler, tubing, auto-siphon, bags, ........)Just dunk and let is soak for a bit.
 
Yeah, you will be alright. That trub will fall after fermentation is over and it seems to compact some too. How are your fermentation temps. Keep them between 65-70 if you can. Don't rack it to early, let it go for 10 days. I would use a secondary as it helps clarify the brew.
 
I think you are right about my need to RDWDAHB!!! Thanks for validating my starter/late malt additon, I feel better already. You know you are stressed when you anxiously refresh to see if anyone has responded.

As far as the trub/sediment, I think it is mostly hops as it was quite green. I used pellets and I hear they make for a mess. I am not so much referring to general sediment in suspension; I am more concerned about 4 inches of solid looking stuff at the bottom. I guess it should settle to less though right? I will try and get a picture up soon.

Thanks for your help!

David
 
I use muslin bags every time to keep hop trub out. 4" is a lot but what could have gotten into there that should not be there? It is all good, my friend.
 
Here are some crude pics of what I am talking about.

Also, I am going to guess it is normal when using a starter to see a few airlock burps in the first few hours which die down before the real fireworks begin? I had some bubbling very rapidly which seems to have diminished in the past three hours.

CIMG1742.jpg




Thanks,


David
 
Looks like everything is going fine. Just give it some time to work.

At least it looks like your able to keep the temperture where you want it. I live about 5 blocks from homebrewmart and my carboy is in a Keg Tub full of water to keep it around 68 degrees.
 
cpbergie said:
Looks like everything is going fine. Just give it some time to work.

At least it looks like your able to keep the temperture where you want it. I live about 5 blocks from homebrewmart and my carboy is in a Keg Tub full of water to keep it around 68 degrees.
Click to expand...


I am officially embarrassed at my overreaction.

Incidentally, my temp is ok because some of the rooms in my house are right on the slope of Mt Soledad and the temp is quite steady.


Thanks again,

D
 
Hey D. If you need to borrow a 5 gallon carboy, I've got two that I don't really use yet, so you're welcome to borrow one. I live in North Park.
 
Thanks! I might take you up on that. I'll let you know. It would certainly entitle you to a bomber! Hopefully this is a selling point :p fingers crossed.


D
 
haha. If it turns out, I'd take one. If not, no worries. I have 5 carboys and I've only been brewing for like 2 months, so I think I am very much in overkill mode at this point.

Just send me a message if/when you need it!
 
Looks like a great beer. With a double IPA that you dumped the hops into the fermenter you will have more trub on the bottom of the fermenter than you would with other styles of beer. I'm guessing you used alot of hops, in addition the high gravity of the wort will result in a greater amount of yeast.
No worries though, your beer will still be fairly clear at bottling if you are careful to leave the trub. It will clear even more while conditioning. A secondary would probably help the clarity but is not necessary. I like using a secondary so I can leave most of the trub in the primary and only have a little bit to worry about during bottling.
Enjoy your beer.
Craig
 
Dpopkin said:
I am officially embarrassed at my overreaction.

Incidentally, my temp is ok because some of the rooms in my house are right on the slope of Mt Soledad and the temp is quite steady.


Thanks again,

D
Click to expand...

Hey D!

Looking good! No worries on the over-reaction. It happens to all of us until we're comfortable with the process (and even then beer will do some strange things that no book or site could prepare you for, which are totally okay.)
 
I am overjoyed to announce the bubbling really started to rock out by 12 hours or so. I made the switch to blowoff tube just in time for the party.

How often do people switch out their blowoff hose solution (sanitized)? I have no idea how long idophor does its thing.

Now I get to relax, plan the next batch, and decide when to dry hop this baby.


Thanks again for all the support,

D
 
No need to change solution unless you are getting some kind of a vacuum. It should be a steady positive pressure, so nothing will go up. Just make sure it does not clog.
 
Well I ran into another problem...

When dry hopping time came, I opened my hop plug bag and discovered the plugs didn't fit into the carboy. I was using plugs for dry hopping on the rec. of homebrewmart but i assumed i could just drop them in. Well I didn't think clearly in my panic and mushed them into the carboy. The plugs fell apart and huge amounts are sitting on the surface, dry and I presume ineffective. Furthermore, I lost a lot to my bathtub :( . Should I try and swirl? That would cause bad oxidation right?

Thanks in advance,


D
 
Swirling won't cause oxidation so long as you don't let oxygen in. It's still fermenting right? Then you're still producing CO2. The amount of O2 you let in while dry hopping should be gone in a little bit of time. Then go ahead and give it a swirley if you'd like... :mug:
 
Dpop,

I wouldn't bother. I just dryhopped with some pellets last Thursday. They always float on the top, then do this cool elevator thing where they ride up and down in the carboy. I've only ever gotten amazing results with this method. No worries!
 
Thanks for your input,

It is good to hear they do their aromatic duty even when they are not submersed, hey maybe thats why it is called dry hopping? huh. probably should have thought of that one.


D
 

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