Letting the wort "settle" after cooling?

[beerisyummy]

I made my first beer with the BrewZilla Gen4 the other day. Before, using a BIAB set up, I always let the wort settle for 30-45 min after cooling & before draining out to the fermentor. Seems to me I can skip this step with the BZ - it drains right from the middle and the false bottom is going to "catch" a lot of the trub anyway on the way out. Seems pretty obvious, but am I missing something?

 

[JohnSand]

I haven't tried that in my Gen 3. If you don't get a reply here, you might try the Brewzilla thread.

 

[mashdar]

I just let it all go to the fermentor. I know some worry about bittering and flavor from hot break and hops, but I haven't been able to tell. Might be a bigger deal with super clean lagers?

You could always settle and rack out of a first container, or even rlsettle and rack from bzg4.

 

[Sammy86]

I have a gen 3…I let the boil settle 5 minutes or so before whirlpool and then throw everything that’s left from the CFC into the fermenter.

 

[whattabrau]

The first step is to figure out if you want the trub or not, and you can go far down the rabbit hole with that question. There are some reasons why it's a good thing, and other reasons why it isn't.

I recently got a kettle with a trub damn, so I get much clearer wort going into the fermentor. I noticed a drop in fermentation intensity. I don't yet have enough data to conclude if clearer wort into the fermentor is a good thing for the beer itself or not. I do get cleaner yeast when I top-crop.

This paper touches on the subject. While it's mostly about the clarity of the wort after lautering, it does point out that leaving the hot+cold break in the kettle evens out the difference between clear and turbid sweet wort, so I think it's largely applicable to the kettle trub dilemma. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2006.tb00716.x

 

[SanPancho]

i dont want to spark the trub debate, i'll just say that i think beers are better without it. i mostly brew lagers. ymmv.

but i've actually been thinking about ways to leave it behind given the new gen4 design with center drain. i concluded two fairly simple options--
i can cut a hole and mount a ball valve about 1/2-3/4 inch above false bottom plate to get crystal clear wort. (2.5-3gal batches)
or i can get a little self priming pump with enough suction to lift over the top of the kettle wall and into fermenter. (probably using floating dip tube setup, maybe even with filter)

havent gone down this road yet as for now i've got a conical so dumping is easy. but i'm selling that conical so time to come up with a solution pretty soon.

 

[whattabrau]

but i've actually been thinking about ways to leave it behind given the new gen4 design with center drain. i concluded two fairly simple options--

Can't you dump the initial trubby wort or is there too much of it?

i can cut a hole and mount a ball valve about 1/2-3/4 inch above false bottom plate to get crystal clear wort. (2.5-3gal batches)

I'd do some experimenting first to see how much of the trub is actually on top of the false bottom when you start the transfer. Maybe save the trub and fill the kettle with [sugar-] water to get an idea. You probably can't fit an elaborate filter/diptube system on the inside, so there would be pretty direct suction. (just food for thought. maybe stupid food, but at least food)

 

[SanPancho]

i guess it depends on what you've done prior to KO. i usually let it sit for a good while, 20-30 minutes often. most of the trub is on the plate, but definitely not all of it. some is definitely under the plate and settles down the hole into your plumbing underneath.

boss, i didnt just pull "1/2 -3/4" out of my cornhole. that's what i've seen repeatedly for my system and brews. hence the note that i brew 2.5 to 3gal batches, i.e. this is for MY system, ymmv.

which leads to a reason i havent done the "cut a hole and add a valve" solution- once you install it, it cant be moved. i do 5gal brews sometimes, and would probably suck in alot of trub. im leaning towards the pump solution, but been lazy and havent pulled trigger.

i dont think using a pump with a float would be an issue. if you used a filter, towards the very end it would just rest on the false plate, but it'd still be filtering. as long as it wasnt clogged up and the pump had enough suction there'd be no issue.

without the filter, you'd just need to keep your eyes on it as the wort level got down towards the trub. if you kept the float to the outside near the kettle wall i'd guess you'd be able to get a decent visual of its position/depth.

i should just bite the bullet and order a damn pump off amazon. talk is cheap, but actually trying it out would give us answers/results.

 

[Bobby_M]

I contend that it depends on what you ferment in. If you use a conical ferment with a dump port, just send the wort in there and leave whatever trub behind in the kettle that happens to remain. Let it settle in the CF for about an hour, dump, then oxygenate and pitch the yeast. If you use a bucket or carboy fermenter with no way to dump trub, let it settle in the boiler and try to get primarily clean wort in the transfer. I'm in the latter boat and I let my wort settle for 30-60 minutes post chill.

 

[ItsReck1]

You would still want it to settle with a light whirlpool action and then stop to let it settle and cone up in the center. If you dont it will likely cog eventually unless you are using hop spiders for heavy hopped beers and what not. I do that personally to avoid any issues, but to each their own.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I let it settle for a while after chilling, then pour it in to my bucket.
I brew my batches about a liter bigger than what I get in to the FV for this reason, so I can leave the last bit behind in the kettle, I'd say about half of the trub stays behind and the other half ends up in my FV.

I used to filter my wort with one of those nylon mesh thingys for making jam etc, but haven't noticed any differences in clarity etc, as some other said I did notice my fermentation took of a bit quicker and went with more intensity.