Too much trub in my fermenter

[rvabrews]

For my first brewing experience, I brewed a Brooklyn Brew shop kit last weekend. To capitalize on lessons learned, I decided to brew again this weekend except I used a recipe from these forums - Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen.

I followed the recipe (scaled to 1 gallon batch), did my best to maintain temperature, and used a grain bag while mashing for simplicities sake.

While siphoning into the fermenter, I sucked almost everything up which resulted in a load of trub. Like 3 inches. I just read an article on 'whirlpooling' (too little too late), which I'll try next time. So am I only going to get 6 bottles of beer out of this gallon batch? Am I screwed?




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[Puddlethumper]

The cool thing about beer is that it is pretty forgiving stuff. Let everything rest for a week or so (however long your fermentation schedule is set for). Then when you rack (siphon) the beer off to your bottling bucket keep the end of the siphon up and away from the crud in the bottom of your fermenting vessel. You'll pull mostly good clear beer for bottling. In the meantime, keep that fermenter in a dark place. Too much UV radiation will skunk your beer.

 

[HumulusHead]

I totally understand how getting all that trub in the fermenter is a little nerve racking. Happens to me every time damn near. But it always ends up ok!

Have no worries on this!


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[kh54s10]

If you let that ferment for about 3 weeks, I bet that trub packs down to around 1/2 inch.

 

[Puddlethumper]

If you let that ferment for about 3 weeks, I bet that trub packs down to around 1/2 inch.

+1 Let it do its thing and don't worry about it.

 

[rvabrews]

Alright thanks for the advice, I'll put it out of mind for a week and see where it is then.


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[capt82]

I also rack to a secondary and cold crash almost all my beers after fermentation. It improves clarity.

When you add sugar for bottling, some of that will stir up and end up in bottles.


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[BigFloyd]

I also rack to a secondary and cold crash almost all my beers after fermentation. It improves clarity.

When you add sugar for bottling, some of that will stir up and end up in bottles.


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Except for beers with added fruit or long-term aged/lagered, most folks here have either moved away from using a secondary or never started using one in the first place. The supposed benefits are outweighed by the potential problems. Just leave it in the fermenter 3 weeks, or (even better) cold crash the primary 5-7 days in the mid-30's.

With your current batch, don't worry about it being cloudy when you bottle. Hefeweizen is one of those brews that's supposed to be sort of murky.

 

[dlester]

I second PuddleThumper's comments. Trub is not a deal killer. Your beer will be fine.

Regarding whirlpooling: It is the answer to clear wort. However, when siphoning off the wort, keep a look out for trub. When the wort is near the bottom of the boil kettle, keep a hand on the cut off switch or bend the tube when you see trub hit the line. Although whirlpool works really well, and is my go to method to clear out trub, it will seep from the middle to the outside (keep your dip tube to the edge) when you get near the end. In fact, I threw out my filters and a couple other expensive devices in favor of whirlpooling.


Good Luck,

 

[dlester]

PS. My thoughts on secondary fermentation: The wort clears faster and better using a secondary fermentation. I think that it is due to dilution. Less trub and hops allows it to settle faster.


Cheers,

 

[rvabrews]

So I've been watching the progress and it got a lot better on day 2 of fermentation as seen in pic 1


Then around day 5 the trub built back up again. I've got krausen residue around the top which is normal, but what is that thinner white layer on the top of the brown trub? I'm still learning so I'm just curious what settled out after the initial blast of fermentation.




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[kh54s10]

The white layer is lighter debris and yeast that is flocculating.

That is a lot of trub. But, it should compact some more. The yeast keep things churned up for 3-7 days.

I use a paint strainer bag to contain the hops which keeps a lot of that debris out of the fermenter.

I personally don't find that doing a secondary has much effect on the speed of clearing the beer. I have clear beer by the time I move it to secondary, which is rarely. The end result is pretty much the same, secondary or not.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Looks like a good normal fermentation. Keep it out of the sunlight (dark and cool is good). Let it ride for about two weeks and see what it looks like then.