Question about primary

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tjstromquist

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I just transfered my honey nut brown to the secondary and noticed quite a bit (about an inch) of sludge on the bottom of the primary. Is it normal to have this much? Should I be mixing up the primary during fermentation? Questioning this because my last batch of Dry irish stout didn't quite have the full flavor I expected (still quite good though).
 
Yes, it's normal. There's no need to "mix it up" (which is to rouse the yeast) as long as it's fermenting properly. If it's really slow and your yeast keep wanting to drop out on you, then you can give it a swirl here and there to keep it going.
 
That's perfectly normal, and it's called the trub. It's the spent yeast cells that have expired after turning your sweet liquid into the alcohol beverage you hold so dear... :drunk:

You don't want to be mixing anything up too much during fermentation (for fear of introducing oxygen to your wort), this is unless your fermentation is a bit sluggish / stuck (i.e. due to low temps etc). In this case you can gently stir the wort, by sitting the fermenter on your lap and rocking / rotating it gently.

I get varying amount of trub depending on the type of yeast I use, so nothing strange there.
 
It's normal. The trub can be 1/4 inch to 1 1/2 inches. Leave it behind when you rack to the secondary.
 
Agree with posts, however, good boil will result in good hot break...make sure you filter though strainer on transfer to primary. Tilt primary with a block so trub sits at one end of primary and then tilt opposite to transfer to secondary. Cleaner secondary will result and I would also tilt secondary for racking to keg or bottles...again cleaner. Either way...trub, no trub, you'll be fine, don't worry!!!
 
My buddy and me brewed a Chocolate Mint Stout a while back that had an insane amount of ingredients (this was his baby! ) and it had close to 2 inches of trub in the primary and still close to 3/4 in secondary before bottling!

I think you're fine.
 
My Pumpkinweizen had about 2-3" of trub in the bottom of the bucket. I was shocked by how much was left in there. I took pictures, but SWMBO made me delete them because they were nasty.
 
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