Dealing with Trub when Kegging

[thegooddrink]

No matter how hard I try, I can never get rid of ALL my trub, especially if I dry hopped without putting the hops in a bag. Even still, there is an amount of yeast trub no matter what. I've just kegged my first beer and, alas, it's clogged my keg. I can deal with it, but it's going to be a pain. I ask advice for getting the offending junk out of my beer. I've seen funnels that have screens and I assume that's what they're made for but I try to keep oxygen out of my beer and I fear that would just infuse it with oxygen too fast. Any suggestions besides the expensive filtration systems I've seen?

 

[Hammy71]

Do a search for 'cold crashing'. This will help alot. I've never had a keg get 'clogged' and my racking abilities leave a lot to be desired.

 

[thegooddrink]

BAM! i knew i would find a good answer here. See, I'm fairly new to homebrewing and had NO idea that "cold crashing" existed. I don't think there's a great deal of sediment in there, and I really don't want to have to rack it again. Is there any harm in trying to cold crash in the keg and see how it goes then if it fails, rack it, clean it, re-keg or do i just need to go ahead and re-rack?

 

[shelly_belly]

I picked up a bunch of kegs cheap so I cut about one & one half inches off of one of the diptubes. I'll rack from the primary into this keg with some gelatin added and put it in the keezer at 29F for about 3 days. Then I push it into another keg. All of the beer I've done this way has come out crystal clear. I lose about a litre of beer this way but that litre usually looks pretty gross. I've tried it with and without gelatin and I'm going to stick with the gelatin.

 

[Yooper]

I don't do much at all. I wait for a couple of weeks when fermentation is finished, and the keg the beer. I rack above the trub, and then put the keg in the kegerator. After a couple of days, I pull off about 3 ounces, and all of the trub/yeast sludge comes out then. After that, I have clear beer. I don't cut my diptube or anything.

When I kegged an IPA today, I did try to rack carefully to avoid sucking up too many loose leaf hops but I'm sure a few got through. I've never had my diptube clogged with hops debris, or anything else.

I guess my only advice is to leave the beer in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks before racking. It helps if you can move the beer a day in advance to let it resettle, and rack from the top down. If you start the siphon in the middle of the beer, and gradually lower the racking cane as the level of the beer lowers, you shouldn't have any problems. I never have, and I've kegged a LOT of beers.

 

[WortMonger]

I am soooo wanting to try gelatin. I wish they made a little packet I could rig with a magnet to add when ready inside one of my pressurized ferments. That would be sooo cool. I haven't had many troubles after cold crashing my primary (keg all sealed up). I usually run off about a pint to taste while I am transferring. This pint usually contains all the trub that is going to transfer, and I get almost crystal beer after that. What does come over I get out in the first pint or two of my kegerator, which bothers me none.

 

[thegooddrink]

I don't do much at all. I wait for a couple of weeks when fermentation is finished, and the keg the beer. I rack above the trub, and then put the keg in the kegerator. After a couple of days, I pull off about 3 ounces, and all of the trub/yeast sludge comes out then. After that, I have clear beer. I don't cut my diptube or anything.

When I kegged an IPA today, I did try to rack carefully to avoid sucking up too many loose leaf hops but I'm sure a few got through. I've never had my diptube clogged with hops debris, or anything else.

I guess my only advice is to leave the beer in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks before racking. It helps if you can move the beer a day in advance to let it resettle, and rack from the top down. If you start the siphon in the middle of the beer, and gradually lower the racking cane as the level of the beer lowers, you shouldn't have any problems. I never have, and I've kegged a LOT of beers.

Normally, I can start racking from the middle and I don't get much dry hop trub, but this is a special case. This is a Pliny the Elder clone and there was a boatload of hops for the dry hop. I think I'm going to let it sit until next weekend and see what happens. If it still clogs I'll do something about it.

 

[hammer1]

i use a standard paint strainer you can get from lowes or home depot , sanitize it first and put it over your auto siphon. i have been doing it this way for years

 

[TeufelBrew]

I let most batches sit in primary for 3-6 weeks. When I rack, the trub is really dense and very little transfers to the keg. Like Yooper, I leave it for a couple of days in the kegerator to cool and carb. First pour of a few ounces is cloudy, but the rest of the keg is pure bliss.

 

[danger831]

I have been raking after cold crash though a diy filter made out of a sterile silk material