Post-boil filtration?

[Andy Brosius]

Hi all, very basic question here so please forgive me if it belongs in the beginners' forum.

At the end of every boil, I notice I have a lot of particulate matter in my wort, even though I always use a brew bag during the mash and hop spiders during the boil. On my most recent batch, I used slices of an old brew bag to filter it out while transferring from the brew kettle to the fermenter.

What exactly is this stuff? Should I continue filtering it out before fermentation, or is it something that should be addressed later?

(I'm not currently filtering post-fermentation, but I do generally add some gelatin when transferring to the keg).

Thanks!

 

[VikeMan]

What exactly is this stuff? Should I continue filtering it out before fermentation, or is it something that should be addressed later?

It's kettle trub, and is mostly hop material, proteins from the hot and cold breaks, and fats/fatty acids. It's perfectly normal.

Should I continue filtering it out before fermentation, or is it something that should be addressed later?

I would recommend keeping most of it out of the fermenter. It does contain some nutrients useful to the yeast, but the yeast doesn't need most of it. I strain my wort on the way the the fermenter.

 

[Andy Brosius]

Thanks, VikeMan. I was surprised to see so much trub even after I started using hop spiders, but I guess a lot of the material is slipping through the mesh.

My only concern is that it's pretty evenly dispersed throughout the wort, so while there is quite a bit left in the kettle at the end, there's also a lot that gets into the fermenter (as the experiment with the brew bag showed). It made me wonder if there was something off in my mash that was allowing unwanted substances into the boil.

What do you use to strain the wort? Previously I had been using just a mesh strainer, but I became curious when I found that the little plastic filter included with a new funnel became clogged pretty much instantly .

 

[Jag75]

It's normal to have stuff at the bottom like that . using whrilfoc and cooling quickly drops that stuff good .

 

[ryanm8]

I always filter through a BIAB bag when transferring to the fermenter. You don't need to use a hop spider when doing it that way too, which may help with extraction.

Thanks, VikeMan. I was surprised to see so much trub even after I started using hop spiders, but I guess a lot of the material is slipping through the mesh.

My only concern is that it's pretty evenly dispersed throughout the wort, so while there is quite a bit left in the kettle at the end, there's also a lot that gets into the fermenter (as the experiment with the brew bag showed). It made me wonder if there was something off in my mash that was allowing unwanted substances into the boil.

What do you use to strain the wort? Previously I had been using just a mesh strainer, but I became curious when I found that the little plastic filter included with a new funnel became clogged pretty much instantly .

 

[Andy Brosius]

It's normal to have stuff at the bottom like that . using whrilfoc and cooling quickly drops that stuff good .

Thanks - I was not familiar with whirlfloc but it sounds like good stuff. Will check it out.

I always filter through a BIAB bag when transferring to the fermenter. You don't need to use a hop spider when doing it that way too, which may help with extraction.

Thanks. That's basically what I did for this most recent batch, and I think I'll start doing it more regularly. I assume you wouldn't do it for a hazy beer style though?

 

[VikeMan]

What do you use to strain the wort?

I use one of these...

I think you can find them at most online and brick and mortar homebrew stores. The wort goes through the strainer, then through a funnel that is sitting between it and my conical. For batches with a lot of trub, the strainer will clog after a few gallons have passed through. No worries...just turn it upside down over a bucket or cardboard box and tap that U-shaped bit at the top against the rim of the bucket/box, and the stuff will fall out.

 

[VikeMan]

Thanks. That's basically what I did for this most recent batch, and I think I'll start doing it more regularly. I assume you wouldn't do it for a hazy beer style though?

The haze in a hazy beer (like a NEIPA) doesn't come from hot/cold break or other kettle trub materials. There's no reason to put extra trub into the fermenter for these beers.

 

[Andy Brosius]

Thanks, Vikeman. I do use a strainer like that - I just wondered if something a bit finer was appropriate. I'll experiment with the brew bag but it's good to know there's nothing abnormal about how I'm currently doing things.

 

[RPh_Guy]

You can't filter out the break material.
The only way for us to get clear wort is by using a good kettle fining process, and allowing it to settle before racking to the fermenter.

 

[Andy Brosius]

Thanks, RPh. I definitely haven't been allowing it to settle, so that's a pretty obvious fix right there. Will also look into other kettle fining options (like whirlfloc).

 

[Jordan Logo]

I suggest using a nice bag/hop bag like wilserbrewer BIAB Bags makes and also using one of the bags as a filter when putting into the fermenter. Also, cold crashing in primary for 48 hours before transferring to keg.

 

[RPh_Guy]

If you're concerned about oxidation, cold crashing is not a good practice.

 

[Andy Brosius]

How exactly could cold crashing lead to oxidation?

I always cold crash - I thought it was standard practice.

 

[VikeMan]

How exactly could cold crashing lead to oxidation?

I always cold crash - I thought it was standard practice.

Cold crashing reduces the pressure inside the fermenter (assuming fermentation was really finished). Unless the fermenter is airtight, air (including O2) will be sucked into it from the outside. Alternatively, positive pressure (e.g. through a CO2 fitting) can be applied to prevent the inside pressure from dropping.

 

[Andy Brosius]

Very interesting. I obviously have much to learn.

Thanks.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Spunding is the gold standard for low-oxygen packaging. Active yeast helps remove any oxygen picked up, and spunding also avoids force carbonation. CO2 is impure and contains some oxygen.

 

[ike8228]

CO2 pressure to offset cold crash volume change. Sucks CO2 from balloon. This is what I came up with. The valves allow me to add more to the balloon without removing my stopper. Depending on conditions and time the balloon will be depleted/also shrunk from temperature change in the gas. Open close open close.

I’ve used whirfloc once and didn’t like it. It collected so much or created it, that it did. It allow me to completely drain out all the wort easily. It began to clog my drain valve.

 

[Andy Brosius]

Thanks, RPh. I have a limited number of kegs so I wouldn't be able to spund every beer, but it's certainly worth experimenting with.

ike8228: That is a very interesting setup. I guess I would be concerned about the balloon bursting from too much CO2 - are you able to release excess pressure, too?

 

[VikeMan]

CO2 pressure to offset cold crash volume change. Sucks CO2 from balloon. This is what I came up with. The valves allow me to add more to the balloon without removing my stopper. Depending on conditions and time the balloon will be depleted/also shrunk from temperature change in the gas. Open close open close.

That's very creative. But why not just skip the balloon and keep the fermenter pressurized (at low PSI to match the starting pressure) from the CO2 cylinder?

 

[ike8228]

The balloon wouldn’t burst because I can close the valve. I could have a constant pressure in the carboy with the tank, but this allows me to close to the carboy, open to the balloon and refill, close the valve to the tank and open to the carboy. I guess to answer about why use the balloon, I sometimes have two or three batches/carboys going at the same time, but only one tank. I have three of theses set ups and I can just keep filling the balloons. I also have other chambers, so I can do different styles at the same time. I have conicals too. I use this same set when purging my conicals, so it sucks the CO2 in versus air when I dump the trub/cake.

 

[renstyle]

CO2 pressure to offset cold crash volume change. Sucks CO2 from balloon. This is what I came up with. The valves allow me to add more to the balloon without removing my stopper. Depending on conditions and time the balloon will be depleted/also shrunk from temperature change in the gas. Open close open close.

I’ve used whirfloc once and didn’t like it. It collected so much or created it, that it did. It allow me to completely drain out all the wort easily. It began to clog my drain valve.

I've seen others use a balloon to capture CO2 for use in cold crashing, but only a mylar balloon.

Latex is more O2 permeable than mylar (the shiny, metallic looking balloons).

Time in use would dictate the loss/infiltration rate tho.

 

[odie]

I use a 5 gal bucket strainer for post boil filtration. The kettle settles for a few hours and the spigot pours clear wort thru the strainer. Then I dump all the kettle dregs into the strainer and let it drip clean wort. I end up with pure harvestable yeast cake at the bottom of the ferm at the end of the whole process with practically zero wort loss from mash to keg.