Trubble?

[JohnnyNicotine]

Hi, last night I brewed my 3rd batch ever (BIAB). After the cold break and draining to the fermenter, I had what seemed to me, a massive amount of trub. I’m going for the clearest beer I can with my inexperience so I drained as much clear wort as I could without getting into the trub. This resulted in losing about a gallon and half of trub and wort in the kettle. My question is, is there a good, inexpensive way to filter the trub before the transfer from the kettle in the future or, should I not even worry about it at this point in my progression and just pour everything in the fermenter and let it do its thing? Thanks!

 

[AlexKay]

Clear wort into the fermenter doesn't mean clearer beer out. You will not have a problem if you transfer everything. If you don't like it, though, you could use a hop spider to reduce some of the hop-related trub, or a a Hop Stopper, which does that and filters some (not all) of the break material as well.

 

[wsmith1625]

I strain the wort through a double mesh strainer when I transfer from the kettle to the fermenter. It only catches the loose hop material while everything else goes into the fermenter. When fermentation is completed, the trub will settle to the bottom and compact for minimal beer loss.

I've tried transferring only the clear wort when I ventured into BIAB and found it very frustrating. I tried whirlpooling and adding a side pickup tube to the kettle but it never went as well as I hoped and added to kettle losses. Plus, there was still loss in the fermenter, so my 5 gallon batches were coming up a gallon short. I finally took the advice of many on this site and poured it all in the fermenter and noticed no difference in my beer quality. Taste and clarity comes out the same. Also, I've always used a half whirfloc tablet at the end of my boils. I believe it helps me produce clearer beer.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/double-mesh-stainless-strainer

 

[JohnnyNicotine]

I strain the wort through a double mesh strainer when I transfer from the kettle to the fermenter. It only catches the loose hop material while everything else goes into the fermenter. When fermentation is completed, the trub will settle to the bottom and compact for minimal beer loss.

I've tried transferring only the clear wort when I ventured into BIAB and found it very frustrating. I tried whirlpooling and adding a side pickup tube to the kettle but it never went as well as I hoped and added to kettle losses. Plus, there was still loss in the fermenter, so my 5 gallon batches were coming up a gallon short. I finally took the advice of many on this site and poured it all in the fermenter and noticed no difference in my beer quality. Taste and clarity comes out the same. Also, I've always used a half whirfloc tablet at the end of my boils. I believe it helps me produce clearer beer.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/double-mesh-stainless-strainer

Awesome. Thank you. My recipe had me add whirflock at the 15 min boil. Do I need another half at the end?

 

[hottpeper13]

When I went to BIAB, to overcome this I increased my recipes to 6 gals which gives me 5-5.25 gal in fermenter. I then pour the rest of the trub into a sanitized pitcher,foil on top and into my 33* lagerator overnite. I end up with 1-2 qts clear wort that I freeze for starters. I haven't used DME since I went all grain.

 

[hotbeer]

You'll find out that the proteins and other stuff in the wort clog up filters and strainers real quick.

You can learn how to get a good hot break and a good cold break plus use some whirlfloc or irish moss and other things to enhance sedimentation and give you clearer wort to put in the FV.

But in the end, I've found that I get very clean beers no matter how filled with crud the wort is that goes in the FV. It all becomes trub on the bottom if you are willing to be patient and wait week or two more for everything to fall to the bottom of the FV.

 

[hottpeper13]

I do a lot of repitching and my SOP's work for that.

 

[JohnnyNicotine]

Thank you

 

[wsmith1625]

Awesome. Thank you. My recipe had me add whirflock at the 15 min boil. Do I need another half at the end?

When adding additions to the boil, you start at 60 and end at 0 or flameout. So the whirlfloc should be added to the last 15 minutes of the boil. The same applies to hop additions. If the recipe calls for hops at 60 minutes, which most do, they should be added when the boil starts, not the end. Also, 5 gallon batches only need 1/2 a whirfloc tablet. Not a big deal, but a money saver going forward.

 

[JohnnyNicotine]

Nice! Thanks

 

[Kickass]

I don’t worry about trub. I’m especially not going to dump 1.5 gallons of a 5.5 gallon batch. Most of the time it all goes into the fermenter.

Time will help clear beer after it’s done fermenting, so will gelatin! I don’t have the desired to let my beers sit three months to clear so I cold crash and gelatin fine most styles. Personal preference will dictate. Regardless, trub into the fermenter doesn’t mean your doomed with a murky beer.

 

[Broken Crow]

Like others have already said; A ton of trub in your fermenter is fine.. sometimes over-filtering can detract from the taste depending on what you're going for..; That said, most of my brews go through an oversized 'pillow-filter' I made from stainless 420 mesh in the bottom of my keggle when I only had smaller glass carboys and was concerned with the volume taken by the trub.

 

[Kickass]

Additionally, there’s some data out there that suggests trub actually contains nutrients which facilitate a faster, healthier fermentation.

 

[Beermeister32]

Increase your batch size from 5 gallons to 6 gallons. Let the wort settle in the kettle while you do your chill down. Transfer the first 5 gallons of more clear wort into the carboy and the final 1 gallon of more trubby wort into a 1 gallon jug.

Ferment them both, the 1 gallon trubby batch usually finishes quicker, sometimes good, usually hop sharper. Makes about 5 bottles of beer, good for experiments, sours or general weird beer drinking.

 

[JohnnyNicotine]

Nice. Thanks

 

[Jack of All Trades]

Don’t be afraid of the trub into the fermenter. I always dump everything into fermenter.
Nice and clear after cold crash and gelatin.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Clear wort into the fermenter doesn't mean clearer beer out. You will not have a problem if you transfer everything. If you don't like it, though, you could use a hop spider to reduce some of the hop-related trub, or a a Hop Stopper, which does that and filters some (not all) of the break material as well.

Yes, and in fact I have been finding that clear wort into the fermenter leads to beers that take a long time to clear up in the keg. I recently moved to a kettle with a ball valve which means I have been transferring less trub into my fermenter (vs prior process where I would dump all the wort through a strainer to remove most of the hop debris). I have been seeing a chill haze that takes a month or so to drop clear (though I have only run a couple batches through that kettle so far).

The first time using that kettle I had some transfer issues, resulting in an unplanned minimal-trub vs lots-of-trub experiment. It was not a perfectly executed experiment, but the batch with lots of trub fermented faster, had cleaner fermentation character, and drop clear MUCH faster.

 

[hotbeer]

Yes, and in fact I have been finding that clear wort into the fermenter leads to beers that take a long time to clear up in the keg. I recently moved to a kettle with a ball valve which means I have been transferring less trub into my fermenter (vs prior process where I would dump all the wort through a strainer to remove most of the hop debris). I have been seeing a chill haze that takes a month or so to drop clear (though I have only run a couple batches through that kettle so far).

Of course this is anectdotal at best, but my last batch of beer was one of the cleanest beers I ever put into the FV. Yet it has a chill haze that won't go away completely. I had other issues with mis-weighed malts and hop substitutions and too many hops at 0 minutes that might be contributions to the problem.

But it seems to apply to bottled beer too, not just kegged.

 

[JohnnyNicotine]

Yes, and in fact I have been finding that clear wort into the fermenter leads to beers that take a long time to clear up in the keg. I recently moved to a kettle with a ball valve which means I have been transferring less trub into my fermenter (vs prior process where I would dump all the wort through a strainer to remove most of the hop debris). I have been seeing a chill haze that takes a month or so to drop clear (though I have only run a couple batches through that kettle so far).

The first time using that kettle I had some transfer issues, resulting in an unplanned minimal-trub vs lots-of-trub experiment. It was not a perfectly executed experiment, but the batch with lots of trub fermented faster, had cleaner fermentation character, and drop clear MUCH faster.

I just watched this video yesterday actually. Thank you