What all do put in my fermenter?

[BeerLoverHere]

When doing AG, after the boil/hop additions and wort chiller, how much sediment do I put in the fermenter? I don't have a valve on my brew kettle and use a pitcher w/funnel to fill my 6.5g carboy. Should I pour everything in including all the sediment? Should I leave the last 1/2 gallon of gunk out? Should I not stir everything together again after using the wort chiller before filling my carboy? Any help is appreciated. Thx in advance fellas!!

 

[Shooter]

I used to just dump the entire kettle contents into the fermenter. Over the three weeks in primary, it all settled out and I never really had any issues.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I dump it all into my bucket fermenters lined with a paint strainer, then squeeze all the liquid out. I do this after dipping my hands in sanitizer, and it removes a lot of break matter and hap junk.

 

[Gameface]

If your fermentor is a carboy and you use a funnel you could get a screen that fits in the neck of the funnel to help filter gunk out. You could also get a siphon and stop it once you start getting a lot of the sediment from the kettle.

I've worried about that and not worried about it and I can't tell a difference in the finished product.

 

[vlucchetti]

I've always just dumped everything into the fermenter and it settles out both there and in the secondary.. I have a brew kettle with a ball valve, false bottom and bazooka on order, so future brews will be better filtered before getting into the fermenter. Will see if there is a big difference.

 

[a6ladd]

I like to leave as much of the cold break behind in the kettle as possible. To do this I chill my wort to the appropriate temp and begin to stir. Vigorously. This will create a whirlpool and after 20 minutes or so I find that most of the cold break has settled in a cone in the center of the kettle. After it's settled sufficiently I take my auto-siphon and siphon my wort from the sides of my kettle. I usually leave .25 gallons of wort/trub behind. This really helps with producing a clear final product. I also add a whirlfloc at 15 minutes to help out

 

[helibrewer]

I like to leave as much of the cold break behind in the kettle as possible. To do this I chill my wort to the appropriate temp and begin to stir. Vigorously. This will create a whirlpool and after 20 minutes or so I find that most of the cold break has settled in a cone in the center of the kettle. After it's settled sufficiently I take my auto-siphon and siphon my wort from the sides of my kettle. I usually leave .25 gallons of wort/trub behind. This really helps with producing a clear final product. I also add a whirlfloc at 15 minutes to help out

^^^ This. After listening to Palmer and Jamil talk about leaving as much trub behind as you can, I started whirlpooling and pumping off the top from kettle to fermentor. Works great and I only have about 1/2" of trub in the fermentor.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I use a sanitized paint strainer bag lining my fermentor, dump it all in and pull out the strainer removing all the trub. Current batch is my first time using whirlfloc as well and with the clarity on this one even going into the fermentor I won't brew again without it. Many people claim there is no problem leaving the trub in the fermentor, but I would rather leave more room for beer personally.

 

[b_andersson]

I put a juice strainer on top of the bucket. Its getting rid of the most trub and aerate at the same time.

 

[BeerLoverHere]

I like the juice strainer idea as it'll allow some things through, while filtering out larger trub. I've not tried that nor have I used my siphon. I'll try both in the future. Thanks for commenting everyone. After reading various articles and forums, I wondered what everyone else did when it came to filling the fermenter as there are conflicting opinions.

 

[StanJohnson]

I line my fermentor bucket with a sanitized 5 gallon paint strainer bag. I then place a sanitized wire mesh strainer on top of the bucket and pour my cooled wort through it. The "dual straining" gets out a lot of the trub.

 

[kh54s10]

I drain most of the kettle into the fermenter, leaving just the thickest of the trub behind.

I also started bagging my hops so there is not too much trub to begin with.