How do you....

[Pirate Ale]

Keep the hop pellet and trub in the bottom of the kettle when you rack to primary?
I always lose almost 3/4 - 1 gallon of wort by trying to keep as much hop residue out of primary. Is it necessary to keep the primary this clear? Any tips on getting the most wort out? I have an immersion chiller, and I do whirlpool stir the wort after it has cooled, but I still can't seem to get a neat pile of trub in the center of the kettle.

 

[jezter6]

Because I primary in a bucket (and it can work for carboys, just a bit more work), I put the siphon hose on a strainer over the bucket and let that strain out any crap. It also helps splash the wort to help aerate.

When I do it in a carboy, I usually put a hop bag over the end of the hose to catch any crap, but you usually have to change it often as it fills up with debris and causes the flow to slow down.

 

[MriswitH]

Honestly, I usually just toss it in the primary and let my yeasties take care of it. When it drops into the trub, then I siphon off of that into my secondary or keg.

If you're that concerned about it, they make a screen that you can use that is finally braided mesh that typically is used for cooking which you can find in a Kmart or similar. It is roughly the size of a bucket, so you can throw it on the top of your primary and dump your wort on top of that; from what i've heard, it does a good job of sifting out the junk.

 

[BrewDey]

I'm not really sure how necessary it is to strain everything out going into the primary (heard various reports) as long as your careful to not rack it all into your secondary.

On a recent, very hoppy APA, I added 5oz. of Cascade pellets over the last 15 min. of the boil. It was an extract batch, and I only boiled about 2 gallons of wort...it was thick already, and very thick with all those hops. So much that I couldn't get a siphon started to save my life...so viscosity is something to take into account. I ended up just dumping it all in the primary-racked to secondary and it cleared up great.

 

[bradsul]

I use a full tablet of irish moss at 10 minutes left in the boil. I then whirlpool and I end up with a nice jelly-like cone of hops and break material in the center of my kettle. I also include an extra 2L in my batch (normal batch is 23L, I do 25L) which accounts for the fact that my syphon into my CFC breaks with that much left in the kettle. Once my fermenter is tucked away, I separate out this leftover wort with a strainer and use it for future starters.

 

[Soulive]

Sometimes I throw it all in. When I wanna strain, I slip my stainless braid over the end of my autosiphon and then some cheese cloth over the end of my siphon tubing. Its worked for me very well...

 

[Evan!]

I have one of these with a mesh strainer insert. Instead of whirlpooling, I dump my cooled wort into my sanitized SS MLT. The false bottom helps to strain out the large stuff (leaf hops, etc.), and I position the spigot directly above my carboy with the funnel-strainer in the neck. I just drain it into the carboy that way...helps with aeration, and I catch the vast majority of the solids. When it comes to racking to secondary, I don't worry that much. I just put the tip of my autosiphon on the top surface of the trub. It has one of those redirection tips which allows the end of the siphon to go slightly into the trub without sucking any of it up. Towards the end of the siphoning, I tilt the carboy to pool the liquid one one side.

If I've been dryhopping, I'll tie a nylon mesh bag to the end of my siphon hose so that any larger solids don't make it into the next vessel.

 

[rdwj]

I have a hopstopper

 

[TexLaw]

I don't rack to the primary. I dump it in through one of those big funnels. I leave some wort in the kettle, yes, but I also target my batch size accordingly. I used to use one of those filters, but it was a bigger hassle than help.

I know some guys that get the screamin' willies when I mention dumping kettle trub into the primary, but it ain't their beer. It's mine.


TL

 

[Got Trub?]

My recipes are all designed to end up with 6g of wort in the ketttle at the end and I siphon 5 g of crystal clear wort to my primary after whirlpooling. Easy, no mess no fuss no equipement no sanitation etc, RDWHAHB.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I have one of these with a mesh strainer insert.

I have one of those as well, but the strainer insert is nothing but a major PITA. I put this inside of the 8" funnel and unless I'm really hopping the heck out of something I get almost all of the leftovers without having to stop to rinse out the strainer. I used that little strainer insert once. After I had to stop and rinse the thing off every 10 seconds I threw it away.

 

[Blender]

I siphon until I hit the trub. Then I pour the remaining 1-2 gallons of wort into a 2.5 gallon plastic bucket lined with a grain bag. Lift the grain bag and drain out the wort to finish filling the feremnter.

 

[Kevin Dean]

My first batch I poured right into the bucket, hops sludge and all, and by the time I kegged it (racking carefully to) it was very sediment free.

I still didn't like the sludge so I bought a hop bag. Toss my pellets in, drop the bag in and when I'm done, pull the bag out and all my "sludge" is gone. Doesn't get much simpler than that, I'd imagine, shy of ignoring the sludge all together.