I've been thinking....

[JonGrafto]

I've been thinking about unique things to do on brewday and wanted to run this by the community and get their thoughts on it...

I have brewed multiple AG batches and always use Whirlfloc at the end of my boil. As I cool, I notice a lot of sediment and cold break material while whirlpooling. I dont have a good way to strain this and the hop material out, so what if I did this:

If I took the wort and dumped it back into my 10G Mash Tun Cooler and ran it over the spent grains, let it settle for 10 minutes and then drained it again?

I suppose I would pick up a little bit more sugars, but wouldn't it also filter out the cold break and hop material?

Just a thought... Please let me know if anyone has done this or what the pros/cons of doing this would be...

 

[BargainFittings]

Well you would effectively inoculate the beer with bacteria from the mash.
You would also pick up starch and protein that you would not necessarily want in the finished product.

I imagine it would make beer but not necessarily good or consistent beer you would want to drink.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I've done something similar. I've used a hopback/grant, filled with rice hulls. I sanitize the hulls by recirculating the wort through teh grant at near boiling temps which also helps strain hop debris and hot break. since I use a plate chiller this is a BIG plus. And since I am not concerned about cold break in teh fermenter I can cool the bulk down to respectable temp for a single pass to lagering pitch temps (if desired) into the fermenter.

 

[JonGrafto]

Well you would effectively inoculate the beer with bacteria from the mash.
You would also pick up starch and protein that you would not necessarily want in the finished product.

I imagine it would make beer but not necessarily good or consistent beer you would want to drink.

I guess one could circulate the wort before coolilng through the spent grains to fillter, then bring it back to a boil for about 15 minutes, then cool down. It would filter out the hop material but still leave the cold break and also kill off any nasties picked up when recirculated.

I don't know, I am just thinking out loud....

 

[DPBISME]

I bought one of these for my Hop additions....

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ROGNQO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

A few times I have used half of it to catch the Trub and Hops when transfering from the brew kettle to the fermentor.

But I would practice that "Whirlpool and give it time to settle...

Also, You ideas only problem is it the Mash might not be pasturized...but I think it should be if you you are using an insulated cooler.

170 degrees is hot enought to kill a lot of stuff over the course of an hour...

Look up Pasturization Times and you will see that it takes Temp and Duration....

 

[JonGrafto]

I bought one of these for my Hop additions....

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ROGNQO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

A few times I have used half of it to catch the Trub and Hops when transfering from the brew kettle to the fermentor.

But I would practice that "Whirlpool and give it time to settle...

Also, You ideas only problem is it the Mash might not be pasturized...but I think it should be if you you are using an insulated cooler.

170 degrees is hot enought to kill a lot of stuff over the course of an hour...

Look up Pasturization Times and you will see that it takes Temp and Duration....

I am using a 10 Gallon IGLOO Cooler... Hmmm.. Now you have me thinking..

 

[julioardz]

I have to agree with the first reply. You would likely pick up contaminants from the mash. A better idea is to whirlpool and siphon the wort from the edge of your brew kettle. You could also use a grain bag or something similar to filter out all that unwanted material. If you ferment in a bucket, line it with a sanitized grain bag, dump the wort in, then pull the grain bag out.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. I have filtered it out and I have also dumped everything into my fermenting bucket. I don't notice any difference in the taste or clarity of my beer, and in the end, there's still a lot of trub to clean up afterwards no matter what. Trying to filter all that stuff out only adds an extra step to the process that, to me, has no benefit. However, I do use a muslin bag for my hops. It lets me control exactly how long my hops boil and I can easily remove all the hop material from the wort/beer. Cold break and irish moss during fermentation is no big deal to me.

 

[JonGrafto]

I did find this that is typically used in milk pasteurization:

Temperature:145ºF
Time:30 minutes
Pasteurization Type: Vat Pasteurization

 

[JeepDiver]

The trub isn't really going to hurt anything, it will just settle to the bottom of the fermenter. It will do a lot less damage to your beer, than running it through the grain bed

 

[DPBISME]

The trub isn't really going to hurt anything, it will just settle to the bottom of the fermenter. It will do a lot less damage to your beer, than running it through the grain bed

...our like this brewer and others have said.... don't worry about it.

Once the yeast get going they quickly cover it and though I am no expert in liquids... I would think the "kettle stuff" once coverd by an inch or more of dead yeast is not much of a worry.

DPB