Trub in Primary...Pro or Con?

I've always left my trub in my kettle with the thought that it would either have no impact on my fermentation or have some slight negative effects on the finished beer. Some guys who dump everything from their kettle into their primary were trying to make the argument that the break material in the trub contains beneficial proteins to help feed the yeast.
I figure that hot break is coagulated, long-chain proteins and therefore not accessible to yeast. Am I missing something, can trub be beneficial to yeast in primary? or were they just blowing smoke? Did I miss something in brewing101? Thanks in advance.

I think it's a con because it results in more material for breakdown (especially hop debris). But I think it would only be discernible in a side-by-side taste test. So it is only a very slight con.

OP, you need to better define "trub". Are we talking hot break, cold break, hop debris, or all three?

Many people dump cold break into their fermenter and, in blind taste tests, most people tend to prefer the beer fermented on the cold break.

No, these guys are dumping everything from kettle into fermenter. I use a counter-flow chiller, so I do ferment on cold break...but they were specifically talking about hot break.

IMO trub (assuming all the junk in the kettle) can only hurt you. Yes cold break material is beneficial, but I already use nutrients and would much prefer to control the levels than rely on cold break to provide my magical nutrients (not really magical but you get the idea).

Hot break and hop sludge are a definite negative. The break down of vegital material gives beer a dirty taste by my anecdotal evidence, and hot break is just nasty crap that isn't helping anything.

When I want to, I can borrow a large, conical fine-mesh sieve from work for when I transfer to my primary after chilling; it removes just about everything that's not in solution with the wort and also helps quite a bit with aeration (and squeezing every last bit of delicious wort from my trub). Whether or not that is a good thing, however, completely depends on the style of beer you are making.

I'm under the impression that most of my trub is hop pellet bits and hot/cold break. While the hop bits are nice to keep in for the case of, say, an IPA (to help remove every last bit of bitter goodness), and the proteinaceous trub would be good for a Belgian that will likely be sitting on it for a long time (more body, right?), you probably wouldn't want it there for anything that is meant to be clear or light-bodied.

I'm sure I'm just working with some faulty assumptions, though, because I'm not exactly experienced enough to know these things on my own.

You sound better informed than me eigenmusic

I have a CFC, so I leave the hops and hot break in the kettle.
The cold break ends up in the fermenter.

My understanding is that the yeast can use a little bit of protein.
Too much trub can cause off flavors, but aggresive filtering is also detrimental.

Hot trub

Cold Trub

You decide. That is all.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Hot trub

Cold Trub

You decide. That is all.

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Well, I prefer lukewarm trub. Too hot it burns my mouth, and too cold it tastes like gazpacho. That said,

It is widely believed that removing all cold trub not only has no benefit, but actually might slow fermentation and harm the finished beer, reportedly giving it an onion-like flavor. Stroh Brewing Co. reported slower fermentation, higher acetate ester levels, and lower yeast growth and viability after removing all cold trub from test batches (6). Further experiments showed another effect of the complete elimination of trub: the absence of nucleation sites during fermentation resulted in a supersaturation of carbon dioxide in the wort; high levels dissolved carbon dioxide inhibit fermentation. Stroh's work revealed the importance of having at least some wort solids present to act as carbon dioxide nucleation sites.

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lamarguy said:

Well, I prefer lukewarm trub. Too hot it burns my mouth, and too cold it tastes like gazpacho. That said,

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I prefer mine with saltines.

From the article:

Although some controversy surrounds this subject, I believe that removing some cold trub, like removing hot trub, might provide benefits to the finished beer from certain breweries. Unlike hot trub removal, however, complete removal of cold trub is neither possible nor desirable. The effects of cold trub removal are subtle and may not be noticeable for several generations. It may be detrimental to some beers, especially those made from high-gravity worts. Cold trub removal might promote quick, clean fermentations by enhancing yeast viability. It also can extend the shelf life of beer by removing oxidation catalysts and haze-forming constituents.

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I leave the hop gunk, hot break, and as much cold break as possible in the kettle but I usually get a good 1/2" of cold break in the fermentor anyway.

Hop gunk stays behind, though...

I try to remove most of the trub, but I have had batches with poor cold breaks and everything, including hop material and all break protiens ended up in the primary. I've read that some break material is actually healthy for yeast, but has a possibility of creating off flavors with fermentation and even aging, as well as reducing stability during storage. Having said that, I have never seen any research or citations on the subject that correspond to any of the information.