Kettle to Primary

[Brewtus]

What's the prefered method to transfer from kettle to primary?

I have 5 gal kettle doing 3 gal boil. Primary is 6.5 gal carboy. I'm adding about 2 gal of cool water to the primary, cooling the wort in the kettle to room temp with immersion chiller, and poring from kettle to carboy with 8" funnel. I get good amount of foamy head doing this and my thoughts are that this is good aeration for the yeast. I've been getting good fermentation action with white labs yeast in about 5-7 hrs.

I've read that others rack from kettle or have spigots on the kettle. Is there a significant benefit to this other than leaving behind a little more junk in the kettle? Is the foam up from the pour a bad thing?

 

[bikebryan]

What's the prefered method to transfer from kettle to primary?

I have 5 gal kettle doing 3 gal boil. Primary is 6.5 gal carboy. I'm adding about 2 gal of cool water to the primary, cooling the wort in the kettle to room temp with immersion chiller, and poring from kettle to carboy with 8" funnel. I get good amount of foamy head doing this and my thoughts are that this is good aeration for the yeast. I've been getting good fermentation action with white labs yeast in about 5-7 hrs.

I've read that others rack from kettle or have spigots on the kettle. Is there a significant benefit to this other than leaving behind a little more junk in the kettle? Is the foam up from the pour a bad thing?

I prefer to rack from kettle to Primary. This lets me leave behind a fair amount of hops residue and other trub, meaning that much less trub for the brew to sit on during it's roughly 1 week in primary. Of course, I primary in a plastic bucket, so aeration is easy for me to do with my paddle, but they make attachments for ordinary drills that will aerate you wort in a carboy far better than your pour through a funnel does.

 

[Brewtus]

I pour most of the hops and junk right on in the primary. I also give a good shaking to get more aeration - yeast seems to be happy. Does leaving the trub out of the primary help the finished product, or just a matter of preference? I am using secondary to get fermented wort (beer at this point?) off the trub and let it clear up.

 

[wild]

Since I use Hop Socks, I rarely rack unless I see a good amount of cold break. If not, I'll just dump into my bucket and add straight O2. Several brewers in our club use the funnel to aerate with no complaints.

Wild

 

[Brewtus]

Since I use Hop Socks, I rarely rack unless I see a good amount of cold break.

Wild

Hop Socks sounds pretty straight forward, fine mesh bag for your hops?
You lost me with cold break?

 

[Darth Bock]

I pour most of the hops and junk right on in the primary. I also give a good shaking to get more aeration - yeast seems to be happy. Does leaving the trub out of the primary help the finished product, or just a matter of preference? I am using secondary to get fermented wort (beer at this point?) off the trub and let it clear up.

When the beer sits on the trub for a long time (after primary fermentation has ended) the yeast will start a process called autolosys (I know I spelled it wrong) which leads to some really nasty off-flavors (vegetable flavors, skunky flavors). The difference in the amount of trub between just pouring it in and filtering it out wont make that much a difference in the autolosys process, but the less trub the clearer your beer can be.

 

[wild]

You lost me with cold break?

As the clear hot wort is cooled, the previously invisible coagulum loses its solubility and precipitates. The precipitate is referred to as the cold break and begins forming at about 60ºC. The cold break mostly consists of protein-polyphenol (tannin) complexes, whereas the hot break is mostly proteinaceous. The cold break also has a higher level of carbohydrates (primarily beta-glucans) than the hot break. Highly modified malts yield a higher percentage of polyphenols in cold trub than do less-modified malts, while under-modified malts yield more protein and beta-glucans and relatively fewer polyphenols.
It is essential that the cold break be precipitated as much as possible, which is done by a very rapid cooling. The wort must be force-cooled to below 10ºC to secure a satisfactory break, and it precipitates best at 0 to 5ºC. Complete precipitation of polyphenol/proteins to achieve a brilliantly clear beer is achieved by cooling the wort until it becomes slushy. Many brewers have found that following this procedure greatly reduces the need for clarification. A long, slow cooling does not give a good cold break because more protein is trapped in suspension; this gives rise to a finer trub, chill haze, and harsh, sulfur-like aftertastes in the beer. Coarse trub is essential for good separation and good beer stability. In addition, a rapid cooling will minimize the development of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which is more likely, to form when using lager malt. If the wort is reheated, cold trub will go back into solution, forming a chill haze.
Once the wort is cooled, the brewer has the option of removing the cold break before transferring the wort to the fermenter. Opinions vary as to the benefits of removing cold trub. Traditional lager brewers advocate the removal of cold break prior to fermentation, and some even filter cold worts prior to pitching. According to MacDonald, the principal reason for removing this material prior to fermentation is to minimize the development of excessive sulfurous and sulfuric flavors by preventing particular bittering substances from being adsorbed onto the surface of "break" particles. De Clerck suggests that clearer worts lead to beers that clarify better. It is reported that if significant amounts of trub are carried over into the ferment, the yeast will produce an excess of fusel alcohols. It has also been reported that suspended solids can lead to adverse effects on foam and flavor stability.

Wild

 

[Brewtus]

Wow. Thanks for the replys, that's great information. I do believe I'll consider racking the my next brew from the kettle. I won't be force cooling below 10C, but I recognize the cold break now.

 

[wild]

Glad to help.

Wild