Leaving kettle trub behind...

[phattysbox]

Hi all, got some questions.

I have a 10 gallon Blichmann boilermaker and my main issue is leaving all the kettle trub behind after wort is cooled and transfered to primary fermentation vessel.

For me, there is always a significant carry over from the kettle and I need ways to get around this.

What do you all do (for those with a boilermaker)? Currently I just make excess wort and leave the trub in the last .5-1 gallon or so by removing the dip-tube. Not very efficient.

Some ideas:

1) Get the blichmann hopblocker. I've heard very mixed reviews on this thing and it all depends on how you use it.

2) mesh screen in over the dip-tube. I'm afraid it will get clogged here.

3) Just use an autosiphon.

4) Use whole leaf hops as a filter. I've heard that Gordon Strong uses this method to great effect and I'm curious if anyone else does this.

All suggestions are welcome. I'm tired of leaving extra wort behind. :rockin:

J

 

[javabrewer]

I've got the same problem with my 15 gallon Blichmann and hop blocker. The siphon always stops at the level of the lower, small holes in the hop blocker which is about 3 times more loss than when siphoning plain water through the dip tube.

I personally think it may be due to a poor whirlpool as I never see the pronounced "cone" of hops/break material in the center. Therefore wort cannot filter through fast enough to maintain the siphon.

My plan is to get a pump and whirlpool for an extended period of time rather than using my kettle spoon which doesn't make a very uniform flow. I'll rig up a whirlpool inlet through the thermometer hole that already exists in the kettle.

Maybe that really wasn't all that helpful for you, except to say I have the same problem WITH the hop blocker.

 

[TheMan]

Sorry to say, but one of the easiest ways to do this is the method you claimed was inefficient. It's pretty common among people here to just brew for 5.5 to 6 gallons. This helps to ensure you have more trub free wort to pull from. You can use a mesh screen or stainless scrubbie to some success. But, in my experience it is simply easiest to brew a slightly larger volume and no trub blocking is even needed. The cost is minimal, $1.50 more in grain.

And if you do a very hoppy brew, you likely will need to make the batch even larger, 6.5 gallons for some of my iipas.

 

[BiscayneBrewing]

I just used a paint strainer this week for the first time. I bought the 5 gallon ones from Lowes for about $3 for a two pack. After soaking one in Starsan I put it in my fermenter like a trashbag (it has an elastic top) and racked the wort into the strainer/fermenter. It clogged up but still let the beer pass through slowly. Some trub still got in but it was drastically reduced. I will continue to use these until I find a better way.

 

[phattysbox]

I just used a paint strainer this week for the first time. I bought the 5 gallon ones from Lowes for about $3 for a two pack. After soaking one in Starsan I put it in my fermenter like a trashbag (it has an elastic top) and racked the wort into the strainer/fermenter. It clogged up but still let the beer pass through slowly. Some trub still got in but it was drastically reduced. I will continue to use these until I find a better way.

This is an interesting way to do it but sounds cumbersome and prone to infection. Also, I guess your limited to using buckets?

 

[TheMan]

This is an interesting way to do it but sounds cumbersome and prone to infection. Also, I guess your limited to using buckets?

It's no more prone to infection than any other brewing practice, its soaked in sanitizer.

 

[DonMagee]

I used the paint strainer bag from lowes on my last beer. It worked wonderfully in catching almost all the trub. My kettle doesn't have a valve so I just picked it up and dumped it into the bucket lined with the paint strainer. (Of course we soaked the paint strainer in starsan while we cooled the wort.).

 

[BeerG0ggles]

All suggestions are welcome. I'm tired of leaving extra wort behind. :rockin:
J

Have you tried a batch or two where you just throw it all in to the primary, trub and all? I used to try to separate but, as you, got tired of the waste. After I started just dumping the whole kettle in I found hat everything settles in the Primary, the beer is still fantastic, and it cuts a fair amount of labor and time off the brew day. I can still wash the yeast too.

Don't go investing in extra time and equipment before you test the null hypothesis.

 

[JesseRC]

+1, that's what I do. Plus if you use a yeast like S-04, you wont even disturb the yeast when racking. I just dump it all in. Well I also crash chill for atleast 7 days and that helps at kegging time.

 

[bumstigedy]

I have the Blichmann 10 gallon.

I brew excess wort (about 1 to 1.5 gallons) and transfer about 5.25 gallons of clear wort to the carboy with an auto siphon. Minimal hops or cold break material are carried over this way. The drawback is the extra time/effort and maxing out the mash run and boil kettle. When doing a 90 minute boil for a higher gravity beer, everything gets maxed out!

 

[unseenat17]

implement a floatation step. After boil, whirlpool your wort and rack trying to leave as much behind as possible transfering to a bucket with an air pump/filter/carb stone at the bottom. Aerate for 20 minutes. This will do two things...aerate wort for yeast and bring trub to the top. While the wort is still being aerated after 20 minutes rack into your primary and pitch. Lag time is very low doing this and you have very lil trub.

Just remember that if you remove too much trub and don't aerate your wort the yeast will have a long lag time. If you leave a lot of trub your wort doesnt need to be aerated as much.

Source - The Homebrewer's Companion - Charlie Papazion

 

[WarBac]

Have you tried a batch or two where you just throw it all in to the primary, trub and all? I used to try to separate but, as you, got tired of the waste. After I started just dumping the whole kettle in I found hat everything settles in the Primary, the beer is still fantastic, and it cuts a fair amount of labor and time off the brew day. I can still wash the yeast too.

Don't go investing in extra time and equipment before you test the null hypothesis.

Totally agree. After your beer sits for 4 weeks in primary and it secondary it all settles out.