Accommodating wort volume to compensate break material

[bigken462]

Yesterday I ventured outside and experienced a few firsts. I used a propane burner for brewing for the first time and incorporated Whirfloc into the recipe for the first time. This was my 5th batch and first full boil.

I used a 28 quart standard size turkey fryer.

I brewed a Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale clone.

Ingredients were:

16ounces of Weyermann Care Hell – 15 minute steep

6aau of Warrior for bittering – 30 minute boil

6.6lbs of LME extract – 10 minute boil – 10 minute boil

1 ounce of Cascade for flavor – 10 minute boil

I will be dry hopping next week with 2 more ounces of Cascade for 2 weeks.

The boil itself went without a problem. I was actually impressed with how much easier it was to use a kettle big enough to do a full boil. At 10 minutes, I tossed in a Whirfloc tablet and finished.

After I was done cooling, I gave the wort a good hard stir, put the lid on and waited about 15 minutes before starting my siphon. On previous boils, I always prepared a strainer to catch the hop sludge, but I figured this time I would not need it since I was using the Whirfloc tablets. Looking back, I should have just stopped and went to get the thing. Grrrr

I had a very good cold break and when I pulled a sample it was very clear. I was very happy with the results. My gravity was just a lil high so I figured I would add some water later to bring my volume of wort up to 5.5 gallons to give me more breathing room next week when I transfer onto the dry hops.

The problem was that by the time the wort reached the break material, I still had a good bit of beer left. I would guess it was a gallon to a gallon and half. Rather than sacrificing the beer, I reluctantly siphoned the rest of it into the carboy. My heart ached as I seen that perfectly clear beer turn to crude oil.

The batch related this message is on the left.

My worry is, that by the time I rack off this trub next week, and then the trub from the dry hopping that I’ll be loosing about a gallon or more of beer.

It has settled some this morning, but obviously as the yeasties kick into action, it's going to be a rolling mess for a few days. It's been just under 24 hours and they are already gearing up for a full meal.

So my questions are:

How do I prevent this next time? If I were doing AG, I guess I could just make more wort to accommodate loosing the beer caught up in the break/trub material. But since I’m doing extracts, I can’t just up the volume since it would cause me to undershoot my target gravity.

I see my mistakes, but I don’t know how to correct them.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[brewkinger]

Why not just rack it all from the kettle into the fermenter?
It's all going to settle out anyway and will not alter taste.
The only time I am willing to sacrifice wort/beer is when I bottle and leave less than a quart in the bucket.

 

[bigken462]

That's what I did this time, but it just looks like there is so much more compared to my other batches. Maybe it was there all along, but i'm just seeing it more since I used the Whirlfloc. Normally I have a strainer nearby to catch it, but let it catch me off guard this time.