No Waste Brewing

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I'm been trying something new out for my last 3 batches and I wanted to share what I call "no waste brewing"

At the end of my brew day when my carboys are full with 5.5 galllons of wort and i've pitched, I leave a little bit of yeast in my starter flask, dump the gallon or so of trub into the flask, swirl it to aerate and put an airlock on it to ferment with the rest of the batch. The next day all the trub has settled to the bottom and there is almost another gallon of beer fermenting away. After 3 batches of doing this I cannot detect any differences between the main batch and the trub batch. I keg the main batch and bottle up the trub batch, so in the end I get about 6 or 8 bottles on the shelf that I would have otherwise dumped!


How I started doing this, for those interested:

I do 12(ish) gallon batches to get two carboys full with 5.5 gallons of wort. Once in a while I was low on volume I would pour the gallon of trub into a sterile pitcher, put it into the fridge and an hour later I would have another ~half gallon or so pour into the carboy. When I wasn't low on volume and my carboy was full, it killed me to dump that wort down the drain! So one day I just poured it into my starter flask, stirred it around to aireate and threw an airlock on it. I fully expected the resulting beer to taste weird but to my surprise it tasted just like the main batch.

 

[Brewenstein]

I do something similar with some of my beers, especially the ones with more hops (PA, IPA, etc.). I let the wort sit for awhile after I chill it then pour most of it into an ale pail. The last 1-1/2ish gallons goes into a 2 gallon re-purposed pretzel container. I then let it sit for 24 -48 hours and decant the now clear wort into the main fermenter. As you said, less waste, more beer !

 

[RmikeVT]

GENIUS! I will be trying this next brew day. I generally keg so this will give me an extra six pack or so to bottle each brew session. Very cool idea. I always think about when I'm brewing but never 'plan' for it, so when I get to the transfer to fermenter and pitch stage I am usually pretty tired after 5.5 hours and just say 'F - it' and dump it out on the patio and wash away.

 

[ncbrewer]

I started pouring everything from the boil kettle into the fermenter a long time ago (after doing some on-line researching). Like you, I didn't detect any flavor problems, and the trub settles in the fermenter, yielding more beer. I think this is pretty much a simpler way of accomplishing the same thing.

 

[kh54s10]

I bag my hops and drain almost all of the wort from the boil kettle so there is nothing left in my system to do this with.

No waste!!

 

[z-bob]

I'm not quite following you; are you talking about pouring the hot break mess from the kettle into a gallon jug? How is this different from just pouring the whole kettle into the fermenter? [lightbulb may have just come on]
Or will the whole kettle not quite fit in the fermenters -- so you're putting the leftovers (which just happen to have most of the trub) in a jug to ferment?

 

[Len_Andov]

Great idea!

I have always only brewed from the kits, some of which come with specialty grains.

I've always wanted to use the sparged grains like for baking or something.

What do you do with your grains?

-A-

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I'm not quite following you; are you talking about pouring the hot break mess from the kettle into a gallon jug? How is this different from just pouring the whole kettle into the fermenter? [lightbulb may have just come on]
Or will the whole kettle not quite fit in the fermenters -- so you're putting the leftovers (which just happen to have most of the trub) in a jug to ferment?

exactly, it's the leftovers from the kettle that go into the gallon jug.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I bag my hops and drain almost all of the wort from the boil kettle so there is nothing left in my system to do this with.

No waste!!

No waste here either.

I also ferment all of my wort, right in my stainless steel kettle. After the boil I chill in the kettle, then pitch and aerate in the kettle and let it ferment. I seal the kettle lid before the kruesen falls w/ plastic wrap, and usually move it to a keg within 7-12 days. Sometimes I secondary in the keg if there is no room in the keezer. Typically kegs condition for a week or two at cellar temps then hit the keezer at 2-3 weeks from brew day.

So simple and saves labor, beer tastes good. If you are going to ferment it all, why move it to another container.

Yes, I have plenty of kettles as well, I do larger 1/4B batches, so I'm never pressed for a kettle / fermenter.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I bag my hops and drain almost all of the wort from the boil kettle so there is nothing left in my system to do this with.

No waste!!

I should also add that I also bag my hops, so the trub is mostly just hot-break and some really small hop particles. You may have different results if you have all your hops in the trub as well.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I also have always poured all the boil kettle into the fermenter. Works great, except on my last batch with whole leaf hops . . . and I get too aggressive during kegging . . . yuck

 

[phyllobeddo]

I dump it all in the fermenter as well. No waste. I use muslin bags for the hops, but hot break, etc goes into the fermenter, and I've made some great beer!

 

[ncbrewer]

I should also add that I also bag my hops, so the trub is mostly just hot-break and some really small hop particles. You may have different results if you have all your hops in the trub as well.

I don't bag my hops - works great. I'm not a hop head - usually less than 1.5 oz of hops in 5 gallons. Can't say what the results would be with lots of hops.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

New here but I dump it all in the fermenter. No way would I be pouring off a gallon of good beer. I do bag the hops then drain and toss them.

 

[JohnSand]

A timely thread. I have in the past poured everything into the Ale Pail with good results. Just a few days ago I brewed a split batch: Belgian Pale/Dubbel by adding candi syrup in the fermenter. There was break/wort left in the kettle that I didn't want to pour into a carboy. Next time I'll put it in another container to settle, or ferment.

 

[MattyIce]

What happens if you do not bag your boiled hops and dump them into fermenter with everything else?

 

[RM-MN]

What happens if you do not bag your boiled hops and dump them into fermenter with everything else?

You will get a little more trub in the bottom of the fermenter and not much else.

 

[ncbrewer]

You will get a little more trub in the bottom of the fermenter and not much else.

I've found the same thing - no problem.