Strange Looking Trub

I racked to my secondary today and seen a very strange trub. This was the first time that i used Irish Moss in my boil and i think that this may be why. The Trub had this Balled-Up looking, kind of co-agulated, pebbley, cottage cheese consistancy. Clearly Balled-Up form. Sorry No Pic's But underneath there was a very clear Yeast-Cake. A very small portion was floating, and when i was siphoning the odd ball of this stuff would start to go towards the inlet of the tube.

Anyhow...When i was pouring out into my primary from my kettle I was using a nylon paint filter to catch the Hops. About 3/4 of the way through the transfer the filter got so clogged that I had to shake the heck out of it to get the rest of the wort out. This shaking of the filter let lots of hop scum into the primary.

So I was wondering if that the Irish Moss actually has the ability to ball up the excessive hops inthe primary? Or Is this Strange looking stuff on top of the yeast cake my be a concern for some kind of contamination?

Some yeast flocculates more than others. Sounds normal for many yeast strains.

Are you planning on washing your yeast to use again? I'd use about 3/4 gal of water and shake the crap out of it and let the trub settle. Do a search on this site for "washing".

Jason Halter said:

Anyhow...When i was pouring out into my primary from my kettle I was using a nylon paint filter to catch the Hops.

Click to expand...

Instead of bothering with an external strainer, you might want to try this https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=1355&c=1&userid=5325 I saw it elsewhere on this forum and it works great. No troubles with sanitizing a strainer cause it's in the boil and no hassles with pouring carefully thru something that will clog anyway. It's just a large PVC coupling with some threaded rod, a large hose clamp and an extra large nylon hop bag. I don't have any problems with hop utilization and when the boil is done, I just let it drain as start my rack to primary through my CFC. One thing, if you build this, just use a dremel or small router to challel a groove in the PVC where the clamp sits. When the PVC gets hot, it tends to warp a bit and I can see the clamp sliding off unless it sits in a small channel. If you want some better pics, let me know and I will take a few.

Trub varies. I've had tar-like trubs, cottage cheese, mud. The way the yeast flocculates makes a big difference. I have a tiny sieve I'll use while racking to the keg.

Cottage cheese trub, tar trub, yeasty trub, hoppy trub... Why do we have to divide ourselves along trubal lines, can't we all just get along?

Particularly when we can start an arguement with one word...


bleach.

*runs away*