How big a deal is Vorlauf?

[duffman2]

Just did my 5th AG batch and had a little Vorlauf problem. It was going great till the 2nd sparge and then I realized after I returned the second pitcher to the batch that I had left my ball valve open. So even though I didn't see it too much at the time, I ended up with a bunch of grist in my kettle and then transferred it all to my primary.

My question is, how big of a deal is this? I just did this batch yesterday and it's fermenting great so I hope all that junk just settles to the bottom with the trub.

Anybody know anything about bad vorlaufs and the effect of this junk in your fermenter???

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

It will cause tannin extraction in the boil.

The more grist in your boil, the more astringency there will be in the boil. There's no real way you're going to be letting enough through to contribute a meaningful amount though.

 

[Jumbo82]

I would think the only major concern would be increased astringency due to boiling the husk material. Your beer will likely come out just as clear it normally would since most of this stuff will settle out in the primary. And a bit of astringency isn't going to ruin a beer, but it might dock you a few points if you enter it into a competition. If you boiled a TON of husk, well, maybe you could ruin the beer, but I don't think a little bit will hurt it too bad. That's my un-expert opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Whiskey]

I wouldn't worry about it, I have a hard time believing that boiling a tablespoon or two of grist in a 5-6 gallon boil is going to be able to produce a noticeable amount of astringency. It is just a warning to those who are boiling their grains.

 

[sirsloop]

its easy to do and will improve your beer... no reason you shouldn't do it.

 

[DavidSteel]

I usually get a small amount of grist in my beer, but it floats to the top right before/during first boil and I scoop it out with a strainer.

 

[Beezer94]

Last few brews I have drained the first gallon into a pitcher and set aside until the rest of the first runnings are drained. Then I close the valve and dump the pitcher into the mash tun along with the sparge water; this way I only have to "carefully" return the vorlauf collections one time. If you double sparge, then just repeat the pitcher technique until the last sparge. As long as you are batch sparging that is.

 

[IrregularPulse]

and you should get a pitcher large enough to drain your running clear in one pass. If you're closing the valve then reopening, you're starting a new suction each time which is pulling more grain out and will make it seem like an endless vorluaff with never getting clear runnings.

 

[duffman2]

Alright thats a good point. Im gonna start using a bucket to clear out those runnings to keep from opening and closing the valve 4 times. I did have a good bit of grist but oh well, it's already in the bucket! Brew on!

 

[IrregularPulse]

Alright thats a good point. Im gonna start using a bucket to clear out those runnings to keep from opening and closing the valve 4 times. I did have a good bit of grist but oh well, it's already in the bucket! Brew on!

I'm sure you'll be fine this time. Before I realized this I used to think, "Man, this is taking forever and not really clearing", then I read someone's method on here and was like, "DUH". Now it's less than a half gallon into a small pitcher hovering over my collection bucket, when it gets close to full I move it out of the stream and let it fall into the bucket. Running are clear by then.

 

[mariojr]

and you should get a pitcher large enough to drain your running clear in one pass. If you're closing the valve then reopening, you're starting a new suction each time which is pulling more grain out and will make it seem like an endless vorluaff with never getting clear runnings.

This something I have never done and always wondered why I couldn't get a nice clear runnings. Can't wait to try this next brewday.

 

[permo]

I think it is very overrated. I maybe do 1/2 gallon on my first runnings, and even less on my sparging.

 

[brewagentjay]

I did two beer pitchers at first runnings and 1 on sparge....I only had to do first runnings and one batch sparge..... It was my frist but it seem to work well. No grain in boil at all. & I only missed my Post Boil OG very little.. Should have been 1.050 and I got 1.0495.

 

[Synovia]

It will cause tannin extraction in the boil.

The more grist in your boil, the more astringency there will be in the boil. There's no real way you're going to be letting enough through to contribute a meaningful amount though.

I feel like if that was actually true, Decoctions would come out terrible.

 

[pompeiisneaks]

I used to always do this, now I have the benefit of a recirc mash system (HERMS) and I vorlauf all day long and get a nice grain bed, and have basically nothing go into the boil (I occasionally see one or two particles go in, that's about it) I love it... But back when I wasn't doing the recirc, I always vorlaufed, it is really easy, and takes only a few seconds of extra work. I also used to leave the thing running into the bk as soon as I got it looking clear, guess I accidentally did the right thing, though, I never realized that closing and reopening the valve would disturb the grain bed a bit again... Thanks for the pointer!

 

[pompeiisneaks]

I feel like if that was actually true, Decoctions would come out terrible.

well, I think the difference there is that the tannin extraction happens after an hour long boil, decoctions you just extract a portion and boil for a few minutes before adding back into the mash, no?

 

[Synovia]

well, I think the difference there is that the tannin extraction happens after an hour long boil, decoctions you just extract a portion and boil for a few minutes before adding back into the mash, no?

Right, but you're boiling a ton more grain in a decoction.