Bad brew day, need suggestions.

[distantdrumming]

I just finished up my fourth batch and I've had this same issue with all my previous batches...I have an ss brew tech kettle, 15 gal. When I'm transferring to my fermenter the kettle stops draining at about 1.5 gallons. Previously I just dumped the rest in, and...of course, my beers have taken forever to clear. This time I used whirfloc and vowed not to dump in the remnants. So...I got a 4 gal batch when I should have had 5.5...Just frustrated. Any thoughts? Why isn't the valve on the very bottom of the kettle?

 

[Queequeg]

You can either look at adding a pick up or tilt the kettle. I tilt.

As for the trub going it to the fermenter, it won't effect clearing. If your beers are taking a long time to clear, then there is something else responsible.

Yeast selection, grain bill, mash profile, boil, water profile, fermentation temps are more likely candidates than kettle trub

 

[mongoose33]

You need a dip-tube to siphon from the bottom of the inside of the kettle.

On my system I use a short piece of tubing from the ball valve down into the fermenter. That creates a siphon effect such that the dip-tube inside will, even though the liquid is going against gravity, will still drain the kettle until a very little bit is left.

That said, I use Whirlfloc and I usually just dump everything into the fermenter. All that stuff in the fermenter looks horrible at first, but once the yeast takes off, it'll all be roiling around. At the end of fermentation it will all settle into a shallow layer in the bottom of the fermenter.

The proteins the Whirlfloc is binding to will fall out of solution in the fermenter.

 

[Konadog]

Previously I just dumped the rest in, and...of course, my beers have taken forever to clear.

Do you, or have you tried "Cold Crashing" your beer at the end of fermentation. Also, try using gelatin at the end of cold crashing, that should clear things up!

 

[kh54s10]

I also tip my kettle. I bag my hops in a 5 gallon paint strainer bag clipped to the lip of the kettle. I then drain all but a cup or two of the thickest trub. I haven't noticed that dumping everything in or not makes any difference in the time it takes for my beers to clear. They are usually clear by the time I finish my fermentation which is usually 2 weeks.

 

[distantdrumming]

I tip my kettle as well...are you guys saying I should dump the rest in?

 

[madscientist451]

I used to worry about the trub, but after reading through a Brulosophy experiment about the subject, I just dump most of it in and its worked fine. Cold crashing does help clear it.
I don't use hop bags because I feel it affects hop utilization. I guess an experiment and a side by side taste test on that subject would be interesting....

 

[Brulosopher]

I have the same kettles and love them! I also tip without worrying about kettle trub making it to my fermentors...

Here's some data showing it doesn't seem to negatively impact clarity and may actually help:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/

 

[mongoose33]

I have the same kettles and love them! I also tip without worrying about kettle trub making it to my fermentors...

Here's some data showing it doesn't seem to negatively impact clarity and may actually help:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/

A brulosopher sighting!

I think if I were harvesting yeast I might try to keep as much kettle trub out as I could, but in terms of the beer, I don't think it makes any difference as long as you're not going months in the primary.

I first got the notion to try it from the brulosophy exbeeriment.

 

[soccerdad]

Tilt

 

[distantdrumming]

Dude that's crazy It goes against all logic...you would think the less crap in the fermentation, the clearer the beer. Beer apparently doesn't follow the conventions of 'every day common sense'...I just dumped a gallon and half of beer out! So the whirlfloc works in fermentation, not to settle stuff out in the kettle. Oy vey.

 

[mongoose33]

Dude that's crazy It goes against all logic...you would think the less crap in the fermentation, the clearer the beer. Beer apparently doesn't follow the conventions of 'every day common sense'...I just dumped a gallon and half of beer out! So the whirlfloc works in fermentation, not to settle stuff out in the kettle. Oy vey.

You would do well to spend some time reading the brulosophy exbeeriments. Among the things I now do differently or don't worry about are dumping the trub into the fermenter, not worrying quite so much about PH of the mash, decanting versus not decanting a yeast starter, and my favorite exbeeriment because I use it in my classes: Maris Otter vs. 2-Row.

(The MO vs. 2-row was an exbeeriment where the participants could tell a difference between the two, but which they preferred was split exactly 50-50)

What the bulk of the brulosophy exbeeriments also tell me is this: the process of brewing is more robust, more resilient to minor changes in process or ingredients than we might think. It makes it much easier for me to simply RDWHAHB.

So--Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew.

 

[MaryB]

Pickup tube and I tilt, I leave behind maybe 4 cups of hop sludge that escapes the bags and the tiny bit of grain that makes it in from the mash kettle.

 

[MaplePaddle]

I had the exact same problem. The problem is you loose the siphon. Add a small diameter silicon tube to the ball valve and it will drain all the way without tilting.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1492053072.564694.jpg

 

[distantdrumming]

What!? Not worrying about ph...no gypsum, no calcium chloride? Dump it all in fermentation. This is crazy talk. None the less, why didn't they put the damn drain on the bottom so I don't have to dump it all out in the end? It's got a little stop thingy to keep crap from getting out...what's that all about if I'm gonna dump it all in at the end?

 

[mongoose33]

What!? Not worrying about ph...no gypsum, no calcium chloride? Dump it all in fermentation. This is crazy talk. None the less, why didn't they put the damn drain on the bottom so I don't have to dump it all out in the end? It's got a little stop thingy to keep crap from getting out...what's that all about if I'm gonna dump it all in at the end?

Some people think it matters.

Just get a big ol' torch and cut that little stop thingy out of there.

One thing I've discovered as I've gone down this path is that a lot of things that were gospel when I started turned out to be false religion.

We're suggesting you consider the new religion, the religion of trub in the fermenter. And when we suggest you consider converting, we don't mean starch into sugar...we mean trub into the fermenter!

 

[Sbe2]

Is brulosophy a major?

If so, I would have a 4.0 GPA, although there may be no statistical significance to that...

 

[jaspass]

I thought the SS Brew Tech comes with a dip tube. Their website indicates a "3 piece ball valve with trub dam pick-up tube". I've not seen one of these in person, but your posts make it sound like there is no dip tube. Do you have that pick-up tube, and are you saying it rests at a level where 1.5 gallons still remains below the pick-up tube?

 

[distantdrumming]

Here's a pic

 

[Queequeg]

As for the trub no trub issue, we have to consider that even in principle trub in a fermenter doesn't effect clarity.

 

[distantdrumming]

Yes, I've just read the brulosophy articles and even listened to the podcast. I'm no longer going to be as concerned about trub. Thank you all for enlightening me However I still have the problem of my kettle not draining at the 1.5 gal mark. What's that about?

 

[mongoose33]

Yes, I've just read the brulosophy articles and even listened to the podcast. I'm no longer going to be as concerned about trub. Thank you all for enlightening me However I still have the problem of my kettle not draining at the 1.5 gal mark. What's that about?

Based on your pic, you do have a dip tube. Do you run any kind of tubing out of your ball valve? You should have some sort of barb on the ball valve to which you attach a piece of approx. 12" tubing. That tubing should hang down into the fermenter, which then creates a siphon.

If you're just running the wort out of the barb w/o tubing or if you have no barb, there's no siphon, and you'll leave the wort in the kettle at a level at the top of the dip tube.

Here's what the barb for my ball valve looks like:



Here's what it looks like attached to the boil kettle:



If you don't have tubing attached to the barb, your wort will drain out until it reaches the level of the barb, then that's it. I'll bet dollars to donuts that's why it's not draining.

Second explanation would be that there's a leak somehow in the dip tube, though that seems unlikely.

 

[distantdrumming]

I do use a bard and tubing. However, I have a little make shift venturi attached to the tubing for aeration. Maybe that's my problem?

 

[mongoose33]

I do use a bard and tubing. However, I have a little make shift venturi attached to the tubing for aeration. Maybe that's my problem?

I think it's likely. While the level of the wort is higher than the ball valve, it's simply draining by gravity. Once it drops to the level of the ball valve, no more gravity, now it has to be siphon. If you're drawing air, you're going to break that siphon.

 

[distantdrumming]

Ah hah! Thanks guys.

 

[BeerAddikt]

As MaplePaddle eluded to, using a smaller diameter tubing connected to your barbs seems to make a world of difference when you transfer IMHO. Even though most barbs will accept several sizes, the larger tubing causes me MAJOR issues. I switched from 3/8" to 5/16" for transferring from my Brew Bucket or racking to my bottling bucket if using a carboy, and although it's harder to remove it works much better in my experience.

 

[Sdiddy84]

A brulosopher sighting!



I think if I were harvesting yeast I might try to keep as much kettle trub out as I could, but in terms of the beer, I don't think it makes any difference as long as you're not going months in the primary.



I first got the notion to try it from the brulosophy exbeeriment.

I think you mean washing or rinsing yeast. Kettle trub has nothing to do with harvesting since that is done before pitching.

 

[MaryB]

I use no tubing, let it splash into the fermenter. Tilting keeps up the siphon flow until I decide to stop it by setting the kettle back down.

 

[mongoose33]

I think you mean washing or rinsing yeast. Kettle trub has nothing to do with harvesting since that is done before pitching.

No, I mean after fermentation.