How much beer do you leave behind?

I was wondering how much beer people leave behind in their carboy when siphoning into a keg. Am I leaving too much behind? I guess I would rather leave too much in the carboy than end up siphoning a bunch of trub into the keg...but is this about right?

i fill the keg enough to get the lid installed without a bath. then prompty "sample" all remaining beer even if trub is in there to an extent.

So you keep the siphon going, even if you see it sucking trub material into the keg?

sure. i throttle it, but i have a racking cane with stainless spring on end (williams used to sell them, now they have that weird plastic tip) and 4 layers of fine mesh muslin wrapped arround the spring with nichrome wire. so it does filter 90% of the trub anyways. i let a keg settle, carb etc. then pull a pint or two at 30psi to get the trub arround the dip tube. then pour at 12psi.

That seems a tad much for my tastes. Based upon the carboy, it looks like you are transferring from primary to secondary. I would let that go a bit longer.

Interesting. I would think the trub would build up on the screen and kill the siphon.

avidhomebrewer said:

That seems a tad much for my tastes. Based upon the carboy, it looks like you are transferring from primary to secondary. I would let that go a bit longer.

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OK. Next time I rack to the keg I'll let it go a bit longer.

see, you start at the top, and lower the cane as the level goes down. if you put the cane above the sediment, the head hight will draw sediment. but don't worry, it will settle in a week in the keg, it's gotta carb anyways.

If you let your cake compact by leaving it longer, you should be able to set you auto siphon down on it and let it suck almost dry.

I probably leave a couple ounces on the top of the cake and my bottles or kegs only have a dusting of yeast after aging and carbonating.

That's still a good bit of beer in the carboy. I don't stop the siphon until it starts pulling the trub. And what does make it to the keg quickly comes out with the first half pint or so.

Once you chill the keg, the trub will settle and you will have a cloudy pint (or two, tops). Then all the trub transferred is gone and you will have relatively clear beer. I don't sink the siphon all the way to the bottom, but I'm not afraid to suck a little trub.

Eric

I leave no beer on the trub. If you have a nice compact trub and you do not move the siphon tube when you are transfering, the tube makes a nice pocket. Once the pocket is clear it leaves a hole for the beer to enter the siphon leaving the trub undisturbed.

northernlad said:

I leave no beer on the trub. If you have a nice compact trub and you do not move the siphon tube when you are transfering, the tube makes a nice pocket. Once the pocket is clear it leaves a hole for the beer to enter the siphon leaving the trub undisturbed.

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I never thought of that. I'm excited to rack my next beer...looks like I'll get a few extra pints out of it!

northernlad said:

I leave no beer on the trub. If you have a nice compact trub and you do not move the siphon tube when you are transfering, the tube makes a nice pocket. Once the pocket is clear it leaves a hole for the beer to enter the siphon leaving the trub undisturbed.

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I find that after a month in primary my trub/yeastcake is really compacted, so I leave little to no beer behind, then with my diptube in my bottling bucket, and very little gunk racked over from the primary, I tend to get 48 to 54 bottles from a batch. It really all depends on the recipe, and whether or not I dry hopped or there was fruit of something in primary.

Nurmey said:

If you let your cake compact by leaving it longer, you should be able to set you auto siphon down on it and let it suck almost dry.

I probably leave a couple ounces on the top of the cake and my bottles or kegs only have a dusting of yeast after aging and carbonating.

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Revvy said:

I find that after a month in primary my trub/yeastcake is really compacted, so I leave little to no beer behind, then with my diptube in my bottling bucket, and very little gunk racked over from the primary, I tend to get 48 to 54 bottles from a batch. It really all depends on the recipe, and whether or not I dry hopped or there was fruit of something in primary.

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same here. Tilt the carboy by putting one side on a book or 2x4 and start the siphon . I leave a few oz behind at most . I do cold crash every beer though so that really helps compact the cake.

Revvy said:

I find that after a month in primary my trub/yeastcake is really compacted, so I leave little to no beer behind, then with my diptube in my bottling bucket, and very little gunk racked over from the primary, I tend to get 48 to 54 bottles from a batch. It really all depends on the recipe, and whether or not I dry hopped or there was fruit of something in primary.

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In my attempt to recreate your diptube I drilled the bucket hole too low. By the time I get to the end of bottling, I just have to tip it and all I leave behind is about an ounce of dregs.

springer said:

same here. Tilt the carboy by putting one side on a book or 2x4 and start the siphon . I leave a few oz behind at most . I do cold crash every beer though so that really helps compact the cake.

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X2 on tilting the carboy. Gently, gently !!