Significant volume loss to trub

[SatiricalPuma]

I brewed my first beer from a Brewer's Best IPA kit 10 days ago, and when I poured the wort to the primary, all of the hops and trub came along, too. This is something I'll try to avoid in the future, though from browsing these forums, it seems most think it's ok to dump everything in, as it settles out eventually.

Well, I went to rack to a secondary today (gravity hadnt changed in 3 days) and encountered a problem I hadn't considered: I had brought filled the primary to 5 gallons but hadn't taken into account that there was a significant layer of trub at the bottom. Therefore, I ended up with roughly 4 and a third gallons of beer in the secondary, which seems very low.

To all you brewers who dump all of the trub (or at least some) into the primary, do you bring the volume to more than 5 gallons to account for the layer of trub? And how much beer do you usually lose to the trub?

And, most importantly, will my beer be fine? It smells great, looks healthy.

Thanks!

 

[eastoak]

i account for volume losses when formulating the recipe.

 

[eltorrente]

You'll actually lose more total volume if you leave the trub behind in the kettle, because it isn't compacted into a "cake" at the bottom - like it is when it's in the fermenter.

 

[Calichusetts]

This is normal...figure in that you will lose at least 10% and up to 25% depending on the recipe and your technique. I lose 15-20% which is about what happened to you here.

 

[RM-MN]

The longer you leave your beer in the primary fermenter, the more the trub layer will compact. There isn't much rush to secondary your beer, many of us don't even bother to secondary. If you don't know of the reason to move your beer to secondary, don't do it. You'll still make beer that is good and clear and you will lose less of it to the trub layer and the loss from moving it.

 

[SatiricalPuma]

Thanks a ton, guys. I guess my question then is...it's not simply a matter of adding more clean water and bringing the primary volume to 5.5ish gallons, right? That would bring the OG down...so I actually have to use an amount of ingredients adjusted for a 5.5 gallon batch?

 

[jfk69]

I drain my wort through a strainer to eliminate a lot of that going into the fermenter. I bring it up to the desired level without all that trub and wind up with the desired amount at the end.

 

[Hello]

Adding additional water will likely change the OG. I do not account for trub when I add my wort, top off to 5 gallons and ferment. I do not ever get 5 gallons of beer to bottle. I never gave it any thought because the directions say to add wort and top off to 5 gallons then aerate.

 

[NervousDad]

I always calculate my batches for 6 gallons, between what's left in the brew kettle and what's left in the primary it gives me a full keg. You can account for the extra gallon with some more DME.

 

[kh54s10]

I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the boil kettle to contain the hops. I clip it to the rim of the kettle with a spring clamp. I lose very little volume to trub.

 

[solbes]

I transfer between 5.5 and 6 gallons to primary to account for trub loss. It was generally a loss of just over .5 gallons when I was extract. That went up to a full gallon of loss when I started AG Brew in a Bag batches, but I'm back down to 0.5 -.75 gallon loss when using a fine voile bag.

I pour 99% of what was in the kettle into my primary. I leave behind maybe a cup or pint that is 50% hops. I've tried whirlpooling twice to separate some of the break material. Seemed to make no difference at all outside of the extra time it took.

 

[eltorrente]

As others have said, it's best to just calculate your recipes to account for losses in the first place. One thing that really helps with this is Beer Smith. It makes everything much easier.

My equipment setup has a loss from the kettle at .125 gallons, since I don't filter any trub, and only get a small loss inside of my counter-flow chiller. I use .3 gallons of loss from my fermenter.

I calculate all of my recipes for 5.3 gallon batches, and it works pretty well. Sometimes I lose slightly more when kegging/bottling, based on the beer I'm making, but I'm always close at least.

After bottling/transferring out of the fermenter, I recommend pouring all the trub and remaining liquid out of the fermenter into a container and measuring exactly how much was left behind. Do this a few times and you'll get a good average on how much to expect to lose, then just add that number to your initial recipe calculation.

 

[SatiricalPuma]

Thank you all very much for being so helpful! I guess I will either adjust my recipe taking volume loss into account (I'm doing a non-kit extract batch this weekend) or simply expect less beer. I'm a bit worried about the added headspace in the secondary due to the lower volume but hey I made beer in the correct gravity range on my first try...Sláinte!

 

[solbes]

I'm a bit worried about the added headspace in the secondary due to the lower volume but hey I made beer in the correct gravity range on my first try...Sláinte!

I was too at first, but it has not been an issue for me. More of an issue in winemaking as you absolutely want to minimize headspace there after active fermentation ends.