Things went wrong

[Trail]

Did an Ordinary Bitter tonight. Started at 6:30 PM, finished... maybe 12:15 AM. Things were fine until I started my new wort chiller at 10:30, at which point the horror started and hose-water sprayed into my brew. Threw it back on the burner and heated it back up to re-sterilize it, fixed my couplings as best I could - because the awful Lowe's hose fitting was apparently broken from the store - and managed to get the wort chilled to pitch temps.

So, okay. Added forty minutes there, but I should have been fine. Whirlpooled, let it sit for thirty more. And here's where the confusing stuff started:

The bottom third of the wort was trub.

It looked fine as it started to appear, and it was generally shaped as a cone. But the further down I went, the tip of the cone just melted down into the rest of the wort until it was all sludge. I stopped racking and sacrificed the goo in order to save the rest of the batch.

Why the hell did that happen? Did heating the wort back up destroy its ability to be whirlpooled? I don't get it, but I need to fix this so I don't end up throwing out gallons of my next batch.

Sorry for, uh, getting emotional there. It's hard to deal with screwing up 5+ hours of work.

 

[ClayHenry]

Did you use whirfloc or anything like that? If so, they can leave a lot of material at the bottom that you can't whirlpool. I just put it all into the fermenter and it compacts at the bottom by the time it is done fermenting.

 

[shawnbou]

I try to keep as much trub out of the primary as possible using whirlpooling and a strainer, but I have found that despite my best efforts, some trub is unavoidable. My beers turn out great, so I don't worry about it much anymore.

Brew Your Own magazine and Basic Brewing Radio did a collaborative experiment recently (listen to the results in the podcast here: http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio) testing the effects of trub in the fermenter, and the results were pretty much split down the middle. If I recall correctly, there were minor differences in flavor between filtering out as much trub as possible and just dumping it all in, but neither was conclusively ruled "better".

Bottom line: getting a little goo in your next batch won't ruin it. Do the best you can and don't sweat it too much.

 

[Buschbrew]

Its hard to tell what happened without seeing it in person. However i think about the last batch of pumkin ale I brewed. I added the pumkin into the boil and what a huge mess. With time though the primary settled out by the time fermentation was done. The beer further cleared in secondary. Its a mess in the primary but Ive never had it be a issue with, taste, clarity, body, or anything else.

By the way, my first chiller did the same damn thing to me!

 

[Trail]

Motherf...

Yeah, I used Whirlfloc. For some reason I read that it was supposed to help make things clump up and drop out after the boil, and expected that it would do that. Super pissed I dumped the gunk, now.

I went a little nuts. Up until that happened, things were going so well - I hit my mash efficiency, desired pre-boil efficiency, didn't have a boilover... frig. What's left had better make good beer!

 

[BeerDoctor5]

I used a Whirfloc tablet for the first time on Saturday. I noticed a lot more trub that usual and it wasn't as compact as I was anticipating. I tried not to get much into the fermentor and left about half a gallon in the kettle. I got 5 into the fermentor but probably won't get to bottle five gallons

I missed my gravity and volume by a substantial margin in my first all grain. Worried a lot about trub etc. However, the small amount (36 bottles) I was able to get bottled turned out phenomenal so I wouldn't worry much about it. RDWHAHB! I'm sure your beer will be great

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I don't use whirlflock, and I don't whirlpool. I drop the cooled wort through a sanitized stainless steel strainer into the fermenter. It pulls out most of the hops muck and it aerates the wort. Might want to try that, assuming your kettle has a valve you can use.

 

[Trail]

I'm hoping so! It definitely smelled great going into the fermenter. Sometimes I forget how amazing Goldings are.

Lag time on this S-04 dry yeast is making me crazy, though. All of the Wyeast smack-packs I've pitched have been up and running in an hour or so but this stuff is taking its time, even though I hydrated first.

 

[Trail]

I don't use whirlflock, and I don't whirlpool. I drop the cooled wort through a sanitized stainless steel strainer into the fermenter. It pulls out most of the hops muck and it aerates the wort. Might want to try that, assuming your kettle has a valve you can use.

I did that on my last three batches and found that no matter how careful I was I ended up with crud in the carboy. I don't have a valve, so I was pouring - definitely hard to get right.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

What were you using for a strainer? I use a stainless steel seive like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Better-Homes-and-Gardens-Strainer/16451299 and it usually picks out the hops sludge that results from pellets. Might also try a paint strainer bag like for BIAB.

 

[biestie]

I use whirlfloc, I whirlpool, I've got a side pickup on my kettle, and sometimes almost all of the trub ends up in a nice cone in the center, sometimes half of it goes into the fermenter. Whatever the case...





I DRINK IT, and haven't noticed ill effects in either case.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I haven't used whirlfloc ever, but I may try that soon... I don't whirlool, I just pour into my Ale Pail with a sanitized paint strainer bag, yank out the bag with all the hops/break material and call it good. The beer has turned out great so far, but that method probably won't work well for carboys.

 

[Trail]

sometimes half of it goes into the fermenter. Whatever the case...
I DRINK IT, and haven't noticed ill effects in either case.

That's been my policy up until now, but this is my first light beer and I REALLY wanted it to be crystal clear for some reason. If I had it to do over I would have racked more of the gooey stuff, but it's hard to think straight at midnight after chiller failure.

 

[forstmeister]

That's been my policy up until now, but this is my first light beer and I REALLY wanted it to be crystal clear for some reason. If I had it to do over I would have racked more of the gooey stuff, but it's hard to think straight at midnight after chiller failure.

If you utilize a secondary fermenter and transfer carefully from primary to secondary and from secondary to bottling bucket, most of the trub should be gone by the time you bottle. I always use an autosiphon from vessel to vessel since I don't have a valve on my kettle (yet) and I use carboys for fermenting.

 

[Trail]

I only secondary'd on my first batch. Consensus, such as it is here, is that it's unnecessary and I don't want to risk the wrath of HBT. I think I'll stick a leg of pantyhose over my racking cane when I bottle, though.

 

[JonnyJumpUp]

I only secondary'd on my first batch. Consensus, such as it is here, is that it's unnecessary and I don't want to risk the wrath of HBT. I think I'll stick a leg of pantyhose over my racking cane when I bottle, though.

I taste the yeast more if I don't secondary but most people say they don't notice a difference. Also I agree about not worrying about the trub too much. It will settle out in the ferementor and provide some necassary nutrients to for the yeast. If you take the trouble to remove trub you may want to consider tossing in a tbsp of nutrient.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

What were you using for a strainer? I use a stainless steel seive like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Better-Homes-and-Gardens-Strainer/16451299 and it usually picks out the hops sludge that results from pellets. Might also try a paint strainer bag like for BIAB.

I use a similar strainer but mine is a bit larger. It also works well for aerating wort. I stick the screen part into the wort and shake back and forth. Creates a thick froth in minutes.

 

[ScoRas]

I have had the same thing happen in my last 2 batches using whirlfloc (one extract, one AG). My previous batch did not include whirlfloc and there was not nearly as much of that "low density" trub.

I erred on the side of pouring it all into my fermenter through the strainer. To be honest, the trub on the bottom of the fv doesn't look that thick.

 

[Stauffbier]

Kerin, it's possible that it had a little to do with the chiller problem. If not cooled rapidly enough your beer can still have a lot of break material suspended in the wort. In your case since chilling was cut short then you re-heated and then chilled again, it could have something to do with that. I do use whirlfloc and it drops the trub nice and low in the kettle. With that said I also brew 6 gallon batches so I can leave 1/2 gallon of trub filled wort behind when I rack to the primary. Was this a typical AG batch or BIAB?

 

[Trail]

Kerin, it's possible that it had a little to do with the chiller problem. If not cooled rapidly enough your beer can still have a lot of break material suspended in the wort. In your case since chilling was cut short then you re-heated and then chilled again, it could have something to do with that. I do use whirlfloc and it drops the trub nice and low in the kettle. With that said I also brew 6 gallon batches so I can leave 1/2 gallon of trub filled wort behind when I rack to the primary. Was this a typical AG batch or BIAB?

Hey again, Stauffbier. Gonna answer your questions and such one by one:

1 - I cooled it from the second (near) boil down to 70 or so in about ten minutes. Dunno if that matters.
2 - I did use a whole whirlfloc instead of half.
3 - This was a 6.5 gallon batch, initially. I think I got 4 to 4.5 gal into the carboy.
4 - BIAB.

 

[Stauffbier]

Hey again, Stauffbier. Gonna answer your questions and such one by one:

1 - I cooled it from the second (near) boil down to 70 or so in about ten minutes. Dunno if that matters.
2 - I did use a whole whirlfloc instead of half.
3 - This was a 6.5 gallon batch, initially. I think I got 4 to 4.5 gal into the carboy.
4 - BIAB.

1) It's good that you chilled it quick the second time, but I wonder if the first chill attempt and re-heating again didn't cause the proteins to stay suspended. Just a personal thought/theory..
2) I've done both without issues.
3) & 4) I've had your very same problem a couple times when I did BIAB. You get more break material in BIAB then all grain. With all grain you "vourloff" which basically filters out all of the junk that a brew bag won't.

I presume you're no longer splitting the boil between two kettles?

 

[Trail]

Correct. I picked up a 10-gal for $30 and a Bayou Classic burner because the two-vessel "method" was insanely overcomplicated and too much work, etc.

Re: 1): Yeah, I don't know either. I don't know for sure, but I think that I only got as far as 150 degrees or so on the first chill before I realized that things had gone hazardously poorly.

 

[Stauffbier]

Well, now that you have that 10 gal kettle get yourself a cooler and make a MLT! You won't regret it! Meanwhile, I wouldn't worry too much about this batch. It might be less than you wanted, but it will likely be very good!

 

[Trail]

I'm thinking about it. I'll probably do a couple more BIAB batches before I decide either way. Until I get back to the UK I'm stuck in a mobile home, and space for all my brew supplies is really becoming an issue!