How to minimize the amount wort sludge getting into the carboy

[cetwlaa]

Hi guys, I am a newbies of home brewing and have only made two batches so far, of which i encountered the same problem when I transferring the chilled wort into the primary carboy. That is there were a lot of sludge in my wort and they occupied almost 25% by volume. I have to struggle for whether I discard that slurry or not. For discarding them, I will have a wort not enough of 5 gallon in order to achieve the specific OG value, or vice versa. For not discarding them, I afraid my brew would carry strong bitterness or other malodor and ruined the whole batch.

Grateful if expertise in here could share with me your technique in handling such situation?

 

[earwig]

I am assuming that you are extract brewing. If your water volume is low, just add more top off water. If you're doing full boils, use more water in the beginning.
As far as reducing the amount of trub, use muslin bags for all grains and hops. If you still feel you have to much, strain it while transferring it to the fermenter.

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[T29]

I think you are talking about the yeast and trub that is left after fermentation is done. Im not sure how to reduce it other than how earwig said, use a muslin bag for the hops to retain most of the hop pieces. You will always have quite a bit left on the bottom. Muslin bag and a strainer is what most people use, i just throw it all in sometimes.

I use a siphon hose and it works great. I try to avoid touching the bottom of the carboy/bucket and try not to disturb it to much when transferring it to either bottles or secondary, this reduces the trub and yeast from getting into the bottles or secondary.. Dont worry about whats left at the bottom, wash it out later. Just keep your hose away from the bottom of the bucket when transferring.

 

[cetwlaa]

Yes, I was using extract kits in my last two batches. I actually have maintained at least 3 gallon of water in my cauldron when the wort was boiling.

Maybe I will add more water next time to find out if those residual is dissolvable or not.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I think you are talking about the yeast and trub that is left after fermentation is done. Im not sure how to reduce it other than how earwig said, use a muslin bag for the hops to retain most of the hop pieces. You will always have quite a bit left on the bottom. Muslin bag and a strainer is what most people use, i just throw it all in sometimes.

I use a siphon hose and it works great. I try to avoid touching the bottom of the carboy/bucket and try not to disturb it to much when transferring it to either bottles or secondary, this reduces the trub and yeast from getting into the bottles or secondary.. Dont worry about whats left at the bottom, wash it out later. Just keep your hose away from the bottom of the bucket when transferring.

Based on his post hes talking about stuff from the pot into the primary.

My guess OP is that your seeing all of the break material and other protein from chilling and or use of a clarifier like whirlfloc or irish moss in the boil. Dump it all in, it will all settle out to the bottom with your yeast. Don't leave it out your just wasting perfectly good beer. It does nothing to effect the flavor of the beer, when you transfer it to a bottling bucket just be careful and try not to suck too much of it out. Even if you do it doesnt matter and wont affect the flavor, it may just make your beer a bit cloudy until it settles in the bottles.

 

[T29]

^ ahhh you're right.

 

[jtratcliff]

Whirlpool in the kettle before transfer to carboy? Stir rapidly in one direction for a few minutes, then let settle for 15-20 minutes. Most of the gunk should settle in a cone in the center of the kettle. Siphon from the side, avoiding the sludge.

I use a nylon mesh sack for my pellet hops which has reduced a bit of the trub. As for the break material, it goes into the fermenter. 3 weeks in primary seems to compact the trub.

25% trub does sound high though.

 

[cetwlaa]

Thanks guys, I will take your advices in my next trial

 

[TheCollector]

Few suggestions... Whenever possible get WHOLE LEAF HOPS and use them with a grain bag. This = 0 hop sludge period. As someone else said use a grain bag even with pellet hops. It will help some. Also stated was to whirlpool the cooling wort and siphon from the side of the pot. I don't really do this because it's added risk of contamination but if your very cautious with sanitation this will reduce it but I just poor it all in and let it settle. No worries either way