Whenever I transfer my wort from the kettle to the fermentor or my beer from the fermentor to a keg or bottling bucket I also see it as an opportunity to clean it too. Reducing the amount of trub your finished beer contains before packaging it goes a long way in preventing the formation of chill haze, floaties and off flavors. Trub consists of yeast, proteins, hop debris and other solids left over from the beer making process that are no longer wanted or needed in your finished beer. If left unchecked trub can ruin the appearance and taste of an otherwise perfect glass of beer.
Enjoy Your Beer Cold, Clear And Colorful
The first step in removing unwanted yeast, proteins, hop debris and other solids is to use a fining agent like WhirlFloc in the boil kettle. Fining agents are added to the boil kettle about 5 minutes before flame out where they encourage smaller particles to stick together forming larger heavier clumps. The heavier clumps of debris then fall out of suspension sinking to the bottom of the kettle which in turn helps clean up the wort. The idea is to transfer the clean clear wort from the kettle without dragging any of the kettle trub along with it.
Never Worry About Chill Haze Or Floaties Again
Whirlpooling the wort as it cools in the kettle will cause the trub to collect in a tight compact pile at the center of the kettle bottom. As the turbulence of the wort slows down inside the kettle and the wort cools more and more debris will sink to the bottom of the kettle. Waiting 20 minutes for the wort in the kettle to settle down and clear before transferring it will give you the best results and the least amount of fermentor trub too.
Know Your Volumes
It's important to know how much wort will be lost to your kettle's trub layer before you calculate your preboil volume. If for example your kettle's trub loss is a .5 gallon and you plan to package 5 gallons of beer you want to make sure that your post boil volume has been sized accordingly. You will also want to add to that the amount of fermentor trub loss too. If you plan on packaging 5 gallons of beer add to that a quart for fermentor trub loss, you'll have to fill your fermentor with 5.25 gallons of wort. Your total post boil volume will then be 5 gallons to package, plus .5 gallon kettle trub loss, plus .25 gallons for fermentor trub loss or 5.75 gallons.
Nobody Wants To See Floaties In Their Beer
What Is Cold Crashing?
I'm not really sure how the term 'cold crash' originally became part of the home brewing vocabulary though. I understand that the 'cold' part of the terminology refers to dropping the beer's temperature down to only a few degrees above freezing. I guess the 'crash' part of the terminology refers to having to do so as quickly as possible. The physics behind cold crashing is what causes the yeast, proteins and other solids that are otherwise suspended in your beer, to clump together, become heavier and eventually fall out of suspension. All those unwanted particles then sink to the bottom of the fermentor where they form a compact layer of trub leaving the beer above it clean and clear.
7 Tips For Producing The Clearest Beer
The Trub Layer Can Keep Debris From Entering The Finished Beer
Most of the home brewers I've met over the years have never filtered their beer before packaging it. The majority of home brewed beers I've had at club meetings and competitions are remarkably clear without ever having undergone any filtering at all. I stopped thinking about filtering my beer a long time ago just like so many other home brewers had. By following a few simple guidelines it's really pretty easy to produce a very clear, colorful and clean tasting beer everytime.
Vince Feminella [aka: ScrewyBrewer]
www.thescrewybrewer.com
[email protected]
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Enjoy Your Beer Cold, Clear And Colorful
The first step in removing unwanted yeast, proteins, hop debris and other solids is to use a fining agent like WhirlFloc in the boil kettle. Fining agents are added to the boil kettle about 5 minutes before flame out where they encourage smaller particles to stick together forming larger heavier clumps. The heavier clumps of debris then fall out of suspension sinking to the bottom of the kettle which in turn helps clean up the wort. The idea is to transfer the clean clear wort from the kettle without dragging any of the kettle trub along with it.
Never Worry About Chill Haze Or Floaties Again
Whirlpooling the wort as it cools in the kettle will cause the trub to collect in a tight compact pile at the center of the kettle bottom. As the turbulence of the wort slows down inside the kettle and the wort cools more and more debris will sink to the bottom of the kettle. Waiting 20 minutes for the wort in the kettle to settle down and clear before transferring it will give you the best results and the least amount of fermentor trub too.
Know Your Volumes
It's important to know how much wort will be lost to your kettle's trub layer before you calculate your preboil volume. If for example your kettle's trub loss is a .5 gallon and you plan to package 5 gallons of beer you want to make sure that your post boil volume has been sized accordingly. You will also want to add to that the amount of fermentor trub loss too. If you plan on packaging 5 gallons of beer add to that a quart for fermentor trub loss, you'll have to fill your fermentor with 5.25 gallons of wort. Your total post boil volume will then be 5 gallons to package, plus .5 gallon kettle trub loss, plus .25 gallons for fermentor trub loss or 5.75 gallons.
Nobody Wants To See Floaties In Their Beer
What Is Cold Crashing?
I'm not really sure how the term 'cold crash' originally became part of the home brewing vocabulary though. I understand that the 'cold' part of the terminology refers to dropping the beer's temperature down to only a few degrees above freezing. I guess the 'crash' part of the terminology refers to having to do so as quickly as possible. The physics behind cold crashing is what causes the yeast, proteins and other solids that are otherwise suspended in your beer, to clump together, become heavier and eventually fall out of suspension. All those unwanted particles then sink to the bottom of the fermentor where they form a compact layer of trub leaving the beer above it clean and clear.
7 Tips For Producing The Clearest Beer
- Adding WhirlFloc or other fining agents to the boil kettle 5 minutes before flameout will help the proteins, tannins and hop particles to clump together while the wort is still boiling.
- Putting hop additions into fine mesh hop bags is also a good way to reduce trub in the kettle during the boil.
- Using a whirlpool to compact the kettle trub so it doesn't get pulled along into the fermentor where it just takes up room.
- Waiting 20 or so minutes for any kettle trub to fall to the bottom of the kettle before moving the clean beer above it to the fermentors. Once the whirlpooling has stopped it can take that long for the smallest trub particles to settle out of the wort into a neat pile on the bottom of the kettle.
- Compensating for fermentation trub loss by transferring an additional quart of wort per five gallons of packaged beer to the fermentor reduces the chance of trub getting into the packaged beer.
- Cold crashing the fermented beer before packaging it gives the yeast and other debris time to drop out of suspension and settle to the bottom of the fermentor. Depending on the flocculation rate of the yeast used to ferment your beer it can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for the yeast to settle out.
- Carbonating your beer while it's still cold allows the cold crash process to continue as the beer is being carbonated. Since Co2 is more easily absorbed by cold liquids your beer will also carbonate faster than if it were carbonated warm.
The Trub Layer Can Keep Debris From Entering The Finished Beer
Most of the home brewers I've met over the years have never filtered their beer before packaging it. The majority of home brewed beers I've had at club meetings and competitions are remarkably clear without ever having undergone any filtering at all. I stopped thinking about filtering my beer a long time ago just like so many other home brewers had. By following a few simple guidelines it's really pretty easy to produce a very clear, colorful and clean tasting beer everytime.
Vince Feminella [aka: ScrewyBrewer]
www.thescrewybrewer.com
[email protected]
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