Too much trub?

[DryHeat]

I brewed my first batch last Sunday, a Breakfast Stout kit from NB. Everything went well, no big mistakes. I used an ice bath and a gallon of top off water to cool my wort, got it down to 68° in about 15-20 minutes. I ended up with 5.5 gallons of wort in my primary. Well it's been a week now and I have almost a full gallon of trub in my carboy. Is it normal to have this much? The only thing I can think of that may have contributed that much is that I didn't strain my wort when I transferred it to my carboy.

 

[Brutus Brewer]

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I experienced the same on my first all grain brew. I transferred that batch to a secondary today and left the bottom gallon in the fermentor to keep the sediment down in the finished product.

 

[knowltonm]

depending on recipe and technique the amount of trub can vary greatly. I probably have about .25-.5 gal with my current setup and technique, but if you didn't strain into the fermenter then that's a big reason. I get a nice bag full of stuff when I dump through a mesh bag.

 

[DryHeat]

Thanks for the quick replies. My wort was very dark since I made a stout so I couldn't really see the cold break or anything else floating in there. I will be sure to strain it next time, see what a difference it makes.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the quick replies. My wort was very dark since I made a stout so I couldn't really see the cold break or anything else floating in there. I will be sure to strain it next time, see what a difference it makes.

You can do that if it bothers you. Since it doesn't affect the beer at all, I don't bother straining much unless I have so many hops that the fermenter would be mostly hops and little wort! I just rack off of the trub, and my beers turn out ok.

 

[uglygoat]

like yoop says, just aim a bit high of the trub when you rack. it won't hurt anything, and gives the yeasts something to chase around during primary. :fro:

 

[StunnedMonkey]

If it helps you feel any better, this beer turned out fine:

 

[TeleTwanger]

Trubs a good thing for yeast. Try whirlpooling next time (take a big, sanitized spoon and create a whirlpool then let that settle out for 30 minutes before racking to the carboy. That's all I do, I don't strain and have normal amounts of trub.

 

[shafferpilot]

if you let it sit long enough it will settle quite a bit more than that.

 

[david_42]

Leave the brew in the fermenter for about a month and the trub will compress by at least half. I've had trub layers go from a gallon down to a quart after the third week.