TrubTrapper anyone?

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It's a nice idea but if you whirlpool and let the trub settle you are probably gonna get the same results
 
Seems like a waste of money. You have to whirlpool to make it work. If you whirlpool properly then you get a nice dense cone of trub in the center of the kettle, in which case you don't need a filter. The only benefit I can see is that instead of leaving a half gallon in the kettle you might he able to get another quarter gallon out before you start sacking up some trub.
 
In the example picture the "trapper" looks to encompass roughly half the total area of the kettle.
If you put that in there pre-whirlpooling, won't a substantial amount of debris end up on the outside - and in the fermentor?

Cheers!
 
A little trub never hurt any of my fermenters. Use the money for something good
 
I have no need for something like that. I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag clipped to the lip of my BK. Each addition is just added in the bag. Very little trub in the kettle. What there is goes into the fermenter except for about 4 ounces of the thickest.

I collect just over 5 gallons into the fermenter and get at least 5 gallons finished.

Total cost $2 and I have retired only 2 of them in 5 years. Both because I didn't clean them well.
 
A $2 5 gallon paint strainer bag catches most of the trub. Most have an elastic band you can stretch around the opening of 6.5G fermenter buckets. I bet I've strained 30 or more 5.5G batches with the same bag. Wash it out and air dry....ready to reuse.
 
Sorry KH54s10, we were posting at the same time. Ironic we both posted about the same idea. Great minds thinking alike....ya know! LOL
 
Looks like they pulled that out of a Chevy 350 and removed the filter paper media.

I really dont understand it... whirlpooling creates a cone of trub in the center of the kettle, then you drain off the edge. I would think that by adding this, you would end up with a small cone in the center of this thing, and also around the outside edge. I see this as a "Trub Divider", not a Trub Trapper.
 
Looks to me like the only way that trub trap would work is if you whirl pooled the wort w/o the trap in place, then gently lowered it down over the trub cone. Other than that, with the trap already in place, I believe an appreciable amount of the trub would settle outside the trap and be sucked right through the dip tube defeating the purpose.
 
^Right^ - exactly what I said earlier. If you give the thing all the credit in the world there's still going to be a rather large amount of trub in the fermentor.

I already get a healthy amount of trub in the fermentor - I don't need to buy anything special for that! :D

Cheers!
 
Awesome! Thanks for the great comments and ideas! I've been way too busy to get back to this post for a while, but I am sure happy to get all these responses. as for paint strainers and such, I have been reluctant to add any more plastic to my process, but that is just me. I love stainless, though the cost is sometimes a limiting factor for me.
 
In the example picture the "trapper" looks to encompass roughly half the total area of the kettle.
If you put that in there pre-whirlpooling, won't a substantial amount of debris end up on the outside - and in the fermentor?

Cheers!

I was thinking that too. How are you supposed to get all the trub inside the ring? They really don't have any instructions on how to use it
 
I am sure it works like an over-sized trub dam which is common both in homebrew gear (SS Brew Tech has a little tiny one) and in larger commercial gear (Stout).

The idea is that you want to give your cone a way to settle into shape without having your dip tube vacuum it all back into the pump. You will pump the wort back in above the level of the trub dam, the centripetal force will encourage the particulates to move to the center as they settle towards the bottom.

Trub-dam.jpg
 
Looks to me like the only way that trub trap would work is if you whirl pooled the wort w/o the trap in place, then gently lowered it down over the trub cone. Other than that, with the trap already in place, I believe an appreciable amount of the trub would settle outside the trap and be sucked right through the dip tube defeating the purpose.

you would think so but no. I bought one and it works as advertised. the trub will collect on the inside of the device and with the pick up tube (sold separately) sucks out clean wort.
 
Two gotchas I ran into:
1) Doesn't work with my false bottom
2) It would be hard to use my immersion chiller since it's a couple of inches high

So mine is still sitting sealed in the package listed on Amazon
 
you would think so but no. I bought one and it works as advertised. the trub will collect on the inside of the device and with the pick up tube (sold separately) sucks out clean wort.

I'm glad you responded. Please tell a bit more about your evaluation....

I have a Blichmann kettle with a dip tube. You mentioned a dip tube sold separately. My kettle has a dip tube in place, is this what you mean?

Thanks for any info!
 
I just ordered one and will write a review when I get it. I'm looking for a middle of the road solution. I don't have a pump so getting a good whirlpool takes a bit of effort. Plus it's something that has to be done serially. What I mean is, I have an IC cooler. So I swish and stir the crap out of the wert to cool it, effectively mixing the trub up, then I'd need to whirlpool it for a few minutes, then let it settle again. The total time from flame out to fermentation chamber adds up to almost an hour and a half. I'm only running 3/8 valves so I'm limited there. I don't have a problem with trub in the fermenter, id just like to minimize it some. For me, this seems a good option. I figure i'll drop it in at the 10 min mark, drop in my IC cooler, any late addition hops, flame out, cool, and let the trub fall where it may. the trub that falls inside the trapper will stay, and the trub that falls outside the trapper will go with the wert. My reason for trying to limit trub is purely volume related. I've done some high IBU IPA's where the trub layer reaches almost to the gallon mark of my fermenter. This put the total level at the 6 gallon mark in my 6.5 gallon fermenter. even with a blow off tube, I had a pretty big mess, and lost some beer in the fermentation process.

For me, If I don't have as much trub in the carryover to the fermenter, than Im ok dropping the dry hops right in there. If there is a lot of trub, than I rack it over to a secondary before dry hopping. No science behind this. just my personal preference. And I don't get too many complaints on my beer. So either I have some really nice neighbors, or it works for me.

Bottom line for me, I think this will help me reach a middle ground between zero trub transfer, and "just dump it all in". without costing me any time or adding steps to my brew day.
 
After my initial post, I had sort of decided that a TrubTrapper wouldn't be all that helpful for my setup. Now though, I think it would work well. I do not have a spigot; I siphon with beer tubing. Recently I bought a hops basket, and started whirlpool hopping. I chill the wort down to about 180-175F and then spin the hops basket around the inside of the kettle to create a whirlpool. When the temp drops to 150-145F, I repeat the whirlpool, then slowly raise the basket out of the kettle. This leaves a neat cone of trub in the center of the kettle. At this point, a sanitized TrubTrapper carefully centered and lowered into the kettle should contain nearly all the trub.

I'm anxious to hear your results.
 
@brewtime and @hartlesj,

Any updates on how the trubtrapper performs? I whirlpool after chilling to pitching temps and I can get a nice cone of hops to form but the hot/cold break is so light that it immediately spreads out from the cone. When I siphon into the fermenter, I can watch the break material moving toward the siphon while the hop cone sits pretty well undisturbed. It'd be nice to get more wort into the fermenter without filling it with trub instead. Bottom line is does this thing work as advertised? Any pictures of it in operation?

Thanks in advance,
PlinyTheMiddleAged
 
@brewtime and @hartlesj,

Any updates on how the trubtrapper performs? I whirlpool after chilling to pitching temps and I can get a nice cone of hops to form but the hot/cold break is so light that it immediately spreads out from the cone. When I siphon into the fermenter, I can watch the break material moving toward the siphon while the hop cone sits pretty well undisturbed. It'd be nice to get more wort into the fermenter without filling it with trub instead. Bottom line is does this thing work as advertised? Any pictures of it in operation?

Thanks in advance,
PlinyTheMiddleAged

I have a similar (if not the same) experience.
 

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