How Do You Rack to Avoid Sediment?

[scoundrel]

Awesome. So you would definitely recommend cold crashing for 2 or 3 days before I bottle?

It's up to you. I don't but I let my beer sit for a month. If you know for sure that fermentation is complete, you can definitely crash it for a couple days.

 

[Rebekah]

I just rubber band one of these to the end of my racking cane. I got mine at Home Depot in a two-pack. Very cheap, washable, works great.

Do you put it in a sanitizer solution and let it dry before using it?

 

[truckndad]

I put a wedge under my fermenter on the first day. It helps the trub to mostly settle to one side right from the beginning. But I also have an advantage in that I have my fermenter on a shelf and siphon to my bottling bucket right there, so I don't have to move the fermenter and disturb the trub. Once I place my fermenter on the shelf on brew day, it doesn't move again til cleaning time. By putting that wedge under there I'm able to siphon without getting too much other sediment mixed in.

 

[sroberts]

When transferring to the primary fermenter, is there any reason to not strain the break material through a paint strainer into the fermenter? I typically leave a quart or two of goodness behind, which I lament after the last beer of the batch is gone.

One time when using pellet hops I just dumped it all in the primary and besides a thicker layer of trub, the beer did not seem to suffer. But I don't use a secondary so I only do two transfers and I'd like to leave the unnecessaries behind when possible.