How much trub is troublesome?

[Bob750]

I'm fermenting my first-ever batch of beer using Northern Brewer's 1-gallon Small Batch Starter kit. It's "The Plinian Legacy" extract kit. I've been following the recipe instructions to the letter, and the only issues I've had since I started (boiled on Fri afternoon, July 24) is that more trub made it into my fermenting jug than I wanted, and, for the first 48 hrs I had trouble keeping the temp below 75F in the afternoons, with one excursion to 82F according to the Fermometer on Sunday afternoon. (I'm in Southern CA without A/C; whaddaya want?!) I quickly corrected that; it's now sitting in a large tub of water up to the shoulder of the jug which is acting as a heat sink and buffer. I now drop freezer packs into the water when necessary. I've kept it between 68 and 73F ever since. That's where I am now: 72F in a 75F room on an 80F day, one bubble out the 3-piece airlock every 70 seconds for 8 minutes straight, so I know it's still going. (It was bubbling like a baby learning to swim within 6 hours of pitching, but once it calmed down, I switched the little blowoff tube for the airllock.) I plan on letting it continue until 14 days has passed, but...

What I really want to know is:

1) Would a very careful racking to an identical secondary fermentor improve the final product by getting it off so much trub? I don't want it to be responsible for any off flavors simply because I got crazy with the Autosiphon.

2) Should I cool it even more to get it down to let the yeast do things they do at cooler temps or just let it stay at about 70-72 until bottling time? (I've heard tell of folks who slowly ramp the ferm temp from the cool end of the range to the warmer end to give the yeast some time at all the temperatures they're "happy" at which supposedly imparts a more balanced flavor profile...)

Thanks for any advice!

PS: My wife will be brewing her first batch this weekend. She chose the Bavarian Hefeweizen, which we recently noticed wants to be fermented between 55 and 66F. So we hooked up with a thermoelectric wine cooler (it arrives this Friday) we hope will keep the temp to somewhere in that range, since there's no way we could maintain anything below 65 in this apartment. Would it be good to put my ale in there to chill at 62-63F with her hef? Or not?

 

[jtratcliff]

don't worry about the trub... it'll compact some when you cold crash. In the meantime read this:

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/

Edit to add:

As for temps, try to keep it under 70F for the 1st week. It can rise some after that, but try to keep it under 75F. Since you did get a little warm, I'd leave it in the fermenter an extra week or so to see if the yeasts can clean up some of the inevitable off-flavors from too warm of a ferment.

 

[Bob750]

don't worry about the trub... it'll compact some when you cold crash. In the meantime read this:

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/

Edit to add:

As for temps, try to keep it under 70F for the 1st week. It can rise some after that, but try to keep it under 75F. Since you did get a little warm, I'd leave it in the fermenter an extra week or so to see if the yeasts can clean up some of the inevitable off-flavors from too warm of a ferment.

Thank you for the prompt and stress-relieving reply!

I'll let it be for another couple weeks before I bottle. I also plan on hiding the bottles from myself for at least 2 weeks before opening one. BevMo is pretty close if I get all shaky for good beer... ;-)

So... just to be clear, I should just keep the temp where I have it rather than trying to get it to cooler temps. In other words, about 73 is fine for the next 2 weeks?

-Bob

 

[Bob750]

don't worry about the trub... it'll compact some when you cold crash. In the meantime read this:

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/

Edit to add:

As for temps, try to keep it under 70F for the 1st week. It can rise some after that, but try to keep it under 75F. Since you did get a little warm, I'd leave it in the fermenter an extra week or so to see if the yeasts can clean up some of the inevitable off-flavors from too warm of a ferment.

Thanks you for the quick and relieving reply!

I'll leave it alone for a couple more weeks then and not worry about it!

Since it got so warm in the first week would you suggest I just keep it at 73F or so for the rest of the time or would it like to be held lower for a week or so?

Cheers!

 

[Bob750]

Thanks!

Edit: I guess I can reply directly, but not via "quote..."

 

[Hoppity]

Thanks!

Edit: I guess I can reply directly, but not via "quote..."

I can quote and reply to a post. What browser are you using?

 

[Bob750]

Chromium on Ubuntu.

 

[Bob750]

I can quote and reply to a post. What browser are you using?

test

Seems ok now. Weird. Anyway. Thanks for looking into it!

 

[jtratcliff]

Chromium on Ubuntu.

hmmm... I'm Chromium on Ubuntu too... You must be doing it wrong

I've never had mod delay or quote issues.

Sometimes I get a delay when I hit submit... when I hit submit again I get a message about a minimum time between posts but the original "submit" actually went through.

Let us know how the Pliny turns out... I can imagine the hops may hide some of the warm ferment esters and you'll get a tasty beer. I still haven't done a Pliny clone but i keep threatening to... :cross:

 

[Bob750]

Well, after letting the forum sleep on it, it decided to put my double replies into the thread where they would have been without the delay. I guess I must have been clicking the submit button with the wrong amount of pressure. Maybe my mouse needs recalibration... More Beer For The Mouse!

 

[Konadog]

Along with your tub of water with ice paks, you can put a towel over your fermenter so that it wicks up water, the evaporation will help cool things to. The fist 3/4 days of fermentation, you really need to keep the temps in the correct range, after that, you can let it get a little warmer.

BTW, nice to see a local here!

 

[itsbarleytime]

I have personally had issues cold crashing for bottling. It settles to good and there sometimes isn't enough residual yeast for bottling. Cold crash is awesome for keg action.