Thread title and picture says it all...
Whirfloc always scares the crap out of me...
- Thread starter PhelanKA7
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HeavyKettleBrewing
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PhelanKA7 said:
Hope you get some beer out of all that.
OP
OP
Hehe, thanks. I've had a few that got trubbed up like this in the past and I have gotten anywhere from 36-45 12oz bottles out of it. It should compact a lot over the course of a week or so but it still always scares the bejesus outta me.
PastorofMuppets
brewing beer leads to happy life
wow thats insane.
That batch is crying out for a good cold crash...
Cheers!
Cheers!
OP
OP
24 hours later...
I expect the trub to go down another inch or so. We'll see
I expect the trub to go down another inch or so. We'll see
twalte
Well-Known Member
Just curious...Is that BIAB? I noticed a lot more trub when I experimented with that.
I know it will compact more with time, but the first day really caught me by surprise.
I know it will compact more with time, but the first day really caught me by surprise.
OP
OP
Nope. Batch sparge.
Plus I'm greedy and I don't fear the trub. I just transfer every last scrap out of the kettle that I can.
F250
Well-Known Member
BrewKnurd
Well-Known Member
I've noticed this too, I wonder why that is?
Rick
I think its all the insoluble bits of grain that get filtered out during lautering/sparging. Much of that stuff ends up in the wort in BIAB.
BeerDeNoel
Member
That is an insane amount of trub. Excuse my morning-after-beer-indulgence brain, but are you thinking that Whirlfloc is the culprit, or are you saying that you don't use Whirlfloc?
BeerDeNoel
Member
That is an insane amount of trub. Excuse my morning-after-beer-indulgence brain 
, but are you thinking that Whirlfloc is the culprit, or are you saying that you don't use Whirlfloc?
, but are you thinking that Whirlfloc is the culprit, or are you saying that you don't use Whirlfloc?That is an excessive amount of break material/trub in the fermenter. My guess is you are not vourlaf'ing properly or enough. you may also not be taking any measures to ensure the break material doesnt end up in your fermenter.
I vourlof until the runnings are perfectly clear before the tube goes into the boil kettle. this is normally around a gallon or so. the
I also do sort of a vourlof when i transfer from kettle to fermenter. after cooling and whirlpooling in the kettle and letting it rest for 10 minutes i start running off into a 1 gallon jug. the majority of what i run off into the jug is break material like you see in the bottom of your fermenter. once i am running clear i put the tube in the fermenter. only clear wort goes into the fermenter.
you can let the 1 gallon jug sit for an hour or two. it will settle and you can decant some clear wort into your fermenter. i usually get 1/4 to 1/2 of usable wort out of the gallon container.
ps. i know i dont know how to spell vorlouf, no need to point it out.
I vourlof until the runnings are perfectly clear before the tube goes into the boil kettle. this is normally around a gallon or so. the
I also do sort of a vourlof when i transfer from kettle to fermenter. after cooling and whirlpooling in the kettle and letting it rest for 10 minutes i start running off into a 1 gallon jug. the majority of what i run off into the jug is break material like you see in the bottom of your fermenter. once i am running clear i put the tube in the fermenter. only clear wort goes into the fermenter.
you can let the 1 gallon jug sit for an hour or two. it will settle and you can decant some clear wort into your fermenter. i usually get 1/4 to 1/2 of usable wort out of the gallon container.
ps. i know i dont know how to spell vorlouf, no need to point it out.
OP
OP
I've had no issues with having a lot of trub. It might be an issue if I ever want to pitch another beer onto a yeast cake but I never do that so it's no big deal.
Oh and it's vorlauf.
Oh and it's vorlauf.
mooshimanx
Well-Known Member
Guys, he's not asking for help, he's just showing how much break material separated out. I understand why he's doing it - its significantly easier to just dump everything in and in reality pretty much every settles out if you wait a couple days until the active ferment is done.
It's kind of neat, if a little bit gross looking.
It's kind of neat, if a little bit gross looking.
FATC1TY
Well-Known Member
That has nothing to do with doing a vorlauf properly at all.
It's what Whirlfloc does. The guy has a far bit of trub from the bottom of his kettle after cooling.
He also got a decent cold break, which is in there. No real sense in trying to strain it all. I keep most of the hops out, simply because I have a screen for it in the kettle, and because it's easier to clean my fermenters, and for no reason other than that.
He said he pours it all in there anyways. That explains it all, and he was just pointing out how crazy it looks with whirlfloc in there when it starts to make all the proteins clump and fall out.
diptherunner
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Same idea. Looks fine now.
I'm the opposite; nothing but clear wort into my fermenter. Don't suppose it matters much; sometimes I'm not sure whether I am going to repitch or not.
aiptasia
Well-Known Member
I think it's a testament to how well whirlfloc works at pulling all of that gunk out of our beers. Very cool.
twalte
Well-Known Member
That is amazing...I am moving to whirlfloc. I have been trying to use up my Irish Moss.
Take that beer, shake it up and keg it....that would be close to my first attempt at kegged beer. That was rough.
Take that beer, shake it up and keg it....that would be close to my first attempt at kegged beer. That was rough.
OP
OP
Here we are at 2.5 days. Probably got about another inch worth of compacting left to go...
That material can dissolve back into the beer and cause haze issues / poor stability and increased staling.
However, unless you're putting it on shop shelves you don't have anything to worry about because you'll probably have drunk it before it degrades.
However, unless you're putting it on shop shelves you don't have anything to worry about because you'll probably have drunk it before it degrades.
OP
OP
Giving it a good cold crash @ 40-46F for 3-4 weeks takes care of all those issues despite the trub.
PhelanKA7 said:
Well, it doesn't take care of them, but it makes it good enough.
If cold crashing beer for 3 weeks was good enough, you'd never see hazy beer on shop shelves and shelf life would be much greater.
OP
OP
Beers do not have an indefinite shelf life... Got that. I'm not sure what that has to do with trub.
If you are just going to dump everything in the fermenter, what is the point of a kettle finning? Isn't the idea of using whirlfloc to leave all the trub in the whirlpool? If you are just going to dump all the trub into the carboy, why bother with it? The trub will settle out by the end of fermentation with or without a kettle fining?
...and I'm not judging, I'm just asking. I have had the same internal debate with myself and have decided to not bother with kettle fining on the last three batches and just dump the entire volume of wort through a screen to filter out the hops. I can't really see a difference but it doesn't mean there isn't. Am I missing something? are there any other benefits to kettle fining?
OP
OP
well...the sugar is going to be fermented out and I have had clear beers that I had forgotten to add the whirlfloc. Maybe it takes a lot longer, or maybe it got fined out when I added gelatin to the keg.
...I'm downloading the BBR kettle fining experiment now...
OP
OP
christpuncher123
Well-Known Member
What's the sense of using whirfloc if your going to add all the trub anyway? The beer will clear by itself without it!
bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
Same here. Some people in my homebrew club think I'm crazy. I think they're wasting a lot of beer and nutrients.
OP
OP
I explained that earlier...
twalte
Well-Known Member
PhelanKA7
I think I toss too much good wort...going your route next time (WITH whirlfloc).
I think I toss too much good wort...going your route next time (WITH whirlfloc).
the audio is here http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-brew-your-own-experiments
scroll down to June 10, 2010 - BYO-BBR Irish Moss Experiment
I also found my nov 2010 BYO issue with it and here are results
SPOILER ALERT!
Clarity: Fined beer was initially clearer but differences faded with time
Foam: Untreated tended to have better foam
Flavor: Differences between beer, what is better is dependant on style
Bitterness: No differences
Mouthfeel: Fining may diminish mouth feel
Gravity: No effect on OG or FG
...what I used to do is use whirlfloc and then carefully siphon clean wort of into a fermenter. I would then take all the messy wort and trub and dump it into a couple 1 gal cider jugs, cap and then put in the fridge. After a couple days, the trub would have settled to the bottom and I would siphon the clean wort off of the top into either another cider jug or 2L pop bottle to sour (either ferment with bottle dregs or inoculate with a gravity sample off of one of the roeselare ferments I have going). ...but thats a lot of work and some days I'm not in the mood.
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