almost no trub?

Hi all,

A bit confused here. Everything seemed to be going well with my last batch When I put it in the fermenter two weeks ago.

Temperatures and times were all hit spot on. 20 minute whirlpool and chill to 68 in less than 15 minutes. Wort poured clear into fermenter

Fermentation took off like a rocket and held steady for four days - continued at a decent clip for a week after that. OG was 1.071 and current gravity is 1.016.

I have a stainless steel fermenter and took a sample today. It is completely cloudy. I had cold crashed it for two days and put gelatin finings in it last night.

Figuring that racking to a secondary would be no problem, I switched vessels. A glass carboy is a lot easier to see through than stainless.

When I cracked the lid on there were bubbles on top, but just a few. Seemed to be krausen. I siphoned into the carboy. At the bottom of the stainless fermenter, there was almost no trub - like maybe 1/2 cup total. That is a generous estimate.

Is this a concern? Am I simply going to have to leave it in the carboy for a while longer? The smell is spot on and the taste indicates nothing nasty, but this is confusing. Beer still tastes very green of course, but still - should it be further along?

As far as I know it takes longer than that for gelatin to clear the beer. I don't know how much trub (by cups) I get but there is usually less than 1/2 inch in the bottom of my fermenters, sometimes as little as 1/8 inch. If you have transferred to secondary, just wait for it to clear.

My last few batches had quite a bit of trub in the bottom of the carboy. probably 1/2" across the bottom. that is considerably more than 1/2 cup. Pour 1/2 cup into the bottom of a carboy - will be almost nothing by appearance.

Will definitely wait for the gelatin to work. Seems that tweaking, adjusting, and trying to improve your situation once in the fermenter is kind of like quicksand - the faster you move and the harder you try, the worse it gets.

Your whirlpool must have been very effective. Hop debris and break materials remained in the boil kettle. Could have racked some of the yeast to the carboy. My experience has been at least 2 cups of yeast in a five gallon brew.

Was 1.016 FG or estimated as being close to FG. Give the beer plenty of time in the secondary to see if the SG drops further. Less of a problem if you keg, but bottling is different.

Strained wort through sanitized filter bag when pouring in fermenter then added yeast and aerated with O2.

FG was estimated at 1.015 for recipe. Everything was so spot on it was exciting. This is why I am so curius at this point

some beers just wont clear up like others, they are clear at room temp then you get chill haze.

Redlantern said:

Strained wort through sanitized filter bag when pouring in fermenter then added yeast and aerated with O2.

FG was estimated at 1.015 for recipe. Everything was so spot on it was exciting. This is why I am so curius at this point

Click to expand...

This is why you didn't get much trub...

OK - after two days, the gelatin finings are doing the trick it seems.

Lots of little particles are suspended in solution and precipitating at the bottom. Beer is clearing up nicely in the top 3 inches of the carboy.

Went back and looked at my notes - forgot the Wirfloc tablet in the boil. makes a lot more sense now.......

Redlantern said:

OK - after two days, the gelatin finings are doing the trick it seems.

Lots of little particles are suspended in solution and precipitating at the bottom. Beer is clearing up nicely in the top 3 inches of the carboy.

Went back and looked at my notes - forgot the Wirfloc tablet in the boil. makes a lot more sense now.......

Click to expand...

When I cold crash, I put the vessel in the fridge for 24 hrs first. Then on day 2 I add the gel, and then leave it in the fridge for at least 3-4 days more. Racking carefully, I always have super clear beer and no trub in the bottles..