Racking off the Trub

I've read in several different places recently about brewers who take the wort off the trub before pitching the yeast. Does anyone practice this? How do you do it? Does it improve your beer quality?

The method, as it appears to me, is (1) brew and chill the wort as usual, (2) rack to carboy, (3) let sit for 30 min to an hour (I presume the carboy is sealed with a sterilized bung), (4) once the trub material has settled, then (5) rack to primary and pitch your yeast.

I presume you wait to take your OG reading until you've racked to the primary right before you pitch? Any thoughts are welcome.

Is this to change the taste? Otherwise it seems like an extra step that wouldn't help much.

I think the idea is that the trub inhibits fermentation and also risks off-flavors. I always strain my wort on the way into the primary. But I still get plenty of trub.

In my experience, trub does not inhibit fermentation or risk off-flavors. Sometimes I filter, sometimes I don't, but I have never noticed any difference in my beer as a result of that decision.

Trub does not affect fermentation.

Break material has been said to actually promote yeast growth. (don't hold me to that)

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. It seems to me a little risky to rack your beer just to eliminate the chance of trub possibly maybe impacting your beer. I will probably just continue straining and live with the .5-.75 inch trub layer per batch.

Seems like an extra step for a minimal payoff, but thats just me talking. We used hopsocks for the first time on our last brew, massive difference in the amount of trub that ended up in primary. Didnt seem to affect the taste much based on the early hydro sample.

It was the first time we've attempted a beer that we'd like to clear, so we took the extra step. We've been brewing colder weather brews for the most part, so learning to brew the lighter stuff now.

Taypo said:

Seems like an extra step for a minimal payoff, but thats just me talking. We used hopsocks for the first time on our last brew, massive difference in the amount of trub that ended up in primary. Didnt seem to affect the taste much based on the early hydro sample.

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I'm not familiar with hopsocks. I presume it's like a grain bag that you are putting the hop pellets in during the boil?

NB has one of these in the kits we've been buying, thats what I'm referring to as a hop sock:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/stirring-straining/muslin-mesh-bag.html

Interesting. Do you still whirlpool and use a strainer even when using the hopsock during boil?

In the FWIW category, I just read the Brew Your Own magazine's hop special. According to one of their authors the water movement during the boil causes hop movement that increases utilization. He posits that hop bags cause less movement and, therefor, hop flavor. I don't have enough brews under my belt to make a good comparison. I'd love to see (taste) a side by side brew with bag vs commando.

I have just poured the wort into the fermenter trying to leave anything at the bottom and also whirlpooling and using an autosiphon to pull the beer from the side and leave the trub behind. In my opinion I have not noticed a difference either way in terms of taste.

To answer the OPs first post, it's not racking into another vessel to let the trub settle out. What I've always understood was less racking to a vessel and letting it rest, but rather doing a whirlpool in the kettle to push all the trub into a cone in the center of the kettle, and then transferring from kettle to primary leaving the trub cone behind. In Brewing Classic Styles, all the recipes are specifically designed as 6 gallons post boil, leaving .5 gallons in the kettle (the trub) and another .5 in primary (the yeast cake).

That said, I just strain when going into primary.

Im about to find out because i did a double batch and one which had significantly no trub and the other which had quite a bit. I usually strain but thats just the hops a single mesh strainer will not strain trub well. Making a pumpkin beer is a good example,somethin like that may be worth racking if you dont have the space. Although i think it would benefit putting it all in.
As far as homebrewing ive read its not significant to avoid the trub, although its different on a bigger scale of brewing.
If i have the head space ill keep the last bit out,if i need the volume i get as much in as i can. It all settles anyway.

I think the idea behind racking off the trub is for when the "filtering" out of the boil kettle is not so clean. If you are getting a lot of hot break and hops debris in your primary, that is not an ideal situation. In this case, letting it settle, and transferring might be a good idea.

If you use an immersion chiller, then you should be able to leave most of the trub in the boil kettle. If you've got a good kettle "filter" system, and you use a plate chiller (like me), then all you will be getting is mostly cold break, which people do believe is a good source of nutrients for the yeast.

How about letting the trub settle in the brewpot for 15 or 20 minutes after cooling/whirlpooling and then using a siphon to transfer to the primary. I've tried it. It wasn't trub-free, but I'll bet I cut it by 75%.