Separating trub, how do you do it?

[johnnyboy847]

Hi! I Just had my first biab brewday, and i had a problem with separating trub from the brewpot.

I tried whirlpooling and letting it sit for 20 minutes, but it didn't really work. I didn't want any trub in my fermenter so I ended up losing 2 litres (1/2 gallons) from my 12 liter (3 gallons) batch which i think might be too much.

How do you separate your trub, or do you just dump it all in?

 

[r_star61]

I've done both, dumped it all in, also run through a strainer. Both work but I prefer the strainer. I also boil at 2.5 - 3 gallons.

 

[RM-MN]

Hi! I Just had my first biab brewday, and i had a problem with separating trub from the brewpot.

I tried whirlpooling and letting it sit for 20 minutes, but it didn't really work. I didn't want any trub in my fermenter so I ended up losing 2 litres (1/2 gallons) from my 12 liter (3 gallons) batch which i think might be too much.

How do you separate your trub, or do you just dump it all in?

You did WHAT? Most of that could have become beer!

Getting back to reality, most of that trub would have settled out in the fermenter and you would have beer from the rest of it. I don't separate it, I just dump it all in. Those who want to save their yeast might try to filter out some of the hops so it would be easier to wash the yeast.:rockin:

 

[Jorb]

I use a hop spider to help prevent lots of hop junk in the wort. Otherwise I dump all the hot/cold break material into the fermenter. It'll settle out.

 

[JonM]

You can also increase your recipe to 5.5 gallons, leave .5 gallons of trub in the kettle and get 5 gallons of good clean wort into your fermenter.

 

[GibbyGibson]

I'm not a big fan of all of the trub myself, so I use a large funnel with a filter attached to it. I siphon off as much as I can then I pour the remainder through the filter. It makes a bit of a mess and the trub clogs the filter, but you can move the trub around with your hand (sanitized of course) and allow the liquid to filter through. 3 batches and no issues.

 

[Beernik]

Don't fear the trub.

I siphon from the BK to the fermenter. That leaves a lot of hop residue and trub behind. My next build project looks like a hop spider.

 

[HopinJim]

I use a hop spider to help prevent lots of hop junk in the wort. Otherwise I dump all the hot/cold break material into the fermenter. It'll settle out.

+1 on this. I am able to whirlpool some of it out, but I don't stress about it.

 

[Yooper]

I leave very little behind in the kettle, just some real thick hops sludge if I use pellet hops. I don't worry about some break material in the fermenter, as I have a counterflow chiller so the cold break ends up in the fermenter.

 

[johnnyboy847]

Thanks for the answers! I'm still trying to figure this out. This is my current plan:

I just toss all the pellet hops in the boil without a bag. Then, after chilling, I whirpool, which hopefully will get most of the hops and hot break in the middle. After that I'll siphon from the side of the pot, and any trub not in the middle i just let in. Is there a problem to this approach?

 

[Jorb]

Sounds good to me.

 

[MindenMan]

What fining agent did you add to the boil, what temp was the BK down to when you started to transfer?

 

[HBngNOK]

Pour the wort through a paint strainer bag.

 

[petrolSpice]

How well do paint strainers work to filter the wort as you're pouring it into the fermenter?

 

[RM-MN]

You can also increase your recipe to 5.5 gallons, leave .5 gallons of trub in the kettle and get 5 gallons of good clean wort into your fermenter.

You can also increase your recipe to 5.5 gallons, pour it all into the kettle and get 5.5 gallons to make beer from. I no longer care what the wort looks like, I don't pour it into a glass to look at. I care more for the beer.

 

[HBngNOK]

How well do paint strainers work to filter the wort as you're pouring it into the fermenter?

I think paint strainer bags work extremely well. I use a 5 gallon bag. It works better than any other method I've used, from pouring directly, whirl-pooling and racking, using kitchen strainers, etc.

A paint strainer bag and a change of perspective have worked the best for me. I now know that after 4 weeks in the fermenter and three weeks in the bottle, my beer will be clear no matter how much trub I start with.

 

[Rivenin]

I leave very little behind in the kettle, just some real thick hops sludge if I use pellet hops. I don't worry about some break material in the fermenter, as I have a counterflow chiller so the cold break ends up in the fermenter.

same here with the chiller.
I bag my hops, but my dip tube goes to the middle of my keggle.
I have a whirlpool fitting on the keggle itself, but found myself not really using it... I mainly use it for going from MT to BK.

Besides, most normal stains of yeast will compact everything fairly well (at least enough for a nice layer) if not... cold crash!

 

[NickTheGreat]

My funnel for going into my carboy has a little screen in it. I sometimes use that, but it's a POS and doesn't stay in place. I usually don't sweat it and figure it'll settle out in the fermentation.

And it does, and I'm just careful when racking to the keg. I have found leaving a little bit behind yields clearer beer.

 

[Jahvon09]

The trub is supposed to be ok in the beer, but I think that it looks disgusting - like something that I'd rather not talk about!!