dumping trub on an IPA - too soon?

The owner of MiniBrew, the company that makes the plastic conicals, suggested that I dump trub from the bottom valve just prior to pitching. I did this on an IPA and, surpisingly, did actually get some of the junk out. I didn't think it had sat long enough to separate but I guess it did.
Anyways, do you think dumping that soon is counterproductive to IPA as you are probably removing some of the hops? Do they continue to add flavor and aroma if you leave them in for a while?
I didn't get much hop aroma in the final beer but I also didn't dry hop it. I'm not sure which caused that; maybe both.

n8huntsman said:

The owner of MiniBrew, the company that makes the plastic conicals, suggested that I dump trub from the bottom valve just prior to pitching. I did this on an IPA and, surpisingly, did actually get some of the junk out. I didn't think it had sat long enough to separate but I guess it did.
Anyways, do you think dumping that soon is counterproductive to IPA as you are probably removing some of the hops? Do they continue to add flavor and aroma if you leave them in for a while?
I didn't get much hop aroma in the final beer but I also didn't dry hop it. I'm not sure which caused that; maybe both.

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No, once the hops are boiled, they are "used up" so to speak, and you get nothing out of them from leaving them in the fermenter. Dumping the trub is fine.

I can't see how dumping trub before pitching matters one way or the other.

The point of a conical fermenter is that undesirable material collects in the bottom of the cone, exposing less surface area to the fermenting beer.

It's might be .2% more optimal to dump the trub before pitching. But then there's further debate because how long do you wait to dump the trub? 15 minutes? 1 hour? Half a day? The longer you wait for things to settle out, the more trub you'll dump, but the greater the risk of infection.

The little bit of hops that makes it into the bottom of your conical won't add much aroma or flavor, even it was late-addition.

w/r/t the hops aroma, maybe you didn't add enough finishing hops? Or maybe you should dry hop.

Anyway, on my conicals, I usually do a yeast dump about 3-4 days into fermentation, and another one at 7-10 days. I make plenty of IPA's and they come out great.

SagamoreAle said:

Anyway, on my conicals, I usually do a yeast dump about 3-4 days into fermentation, and another one at 7-10 days. I make plenty of IPA's and they come out great.

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I'll give that a try. I think I'm gonna try a Pliny clone.

SagamoreAle said:

The longer you wait for things to settle out, the more trub you'll dump, but the greater the risk of infection.

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infection from what, the yeast or trub?

eastoak said:

infection from what, the yeast or trub?

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Infection from leaving the wort without pitching yeast.

But back to the OP, it depends on your process. I don't like a ton of trub and hop matter in the fermenter but at the same time some trub is useful for fermentation. You could always try it both ways to see what comes out better.

Here is a nuance on doing yeast dumps:

My conical terminated in a 2" FPT fitting. I added a 2" PVC ball valve which terminated into a capped-off pvc coupling.

I leave the ball valve open, and all the trub/inactive yeast collects in the valve and coupling. When I want to do a yeast dump, I close the valve, remove the coupling, replace with another sanitized coupling, and re-open the ball valve.

This makes it easier to manage the yeast turd as it comes out the bottom valve. It also allows you to easily collect yeast for ranching if you're into that.