Trub and grain into fermenter

[Galactik]

I am only 4 batches into my all grain transition and loving it. I currently use a Blichmann 10g Boilermaker as my boil kettle and a 10g Igloo circular cooler with false bottom as my MLT.

2 things that I notice happen.

1. I batch sparge. So when I vorlauf I usually go slow in the start, however I notice even after doing 4 vorlauf's (1 quart each time) I still get a lot of grain debris flowing through. I did some reading and someone suggested that I vorlauf with the valve opened further. Anyone have thoughts on this?

2. So now I have some grain debris in my boil kettle. Due to the thermometer probe on the Blichmann 10g Boilermaker, I find I have a REALLY hard time trying to whirlpool. I usually get what I think is a decent whirlpool going and let it sit for 15-20min. When I open the valve to drain into the fermenter, I get a lot of trub with the wort. I drain slowly and find that when I get towards the bottom on the BK, there is no cone of hop/break.

So now I have a couple inches sometimes of trub and grain in the bottom of my fermenter. Is this going to affect the beer?

I usually rack to a secondary after 1 week even when I dont dry hop. I know I dont need to do this and I plan on stopping it. However, I have been worried that all theat trub/grain will affect the beer, so I have been eager to get it off and into a clean secondary.

Sorry for the long post, but I am planning on brewing this weekened and would like to adjust my technique.

 

[ts9125]

i dont think its anything to fret about, i'm no expert and i dont brew all grain but i partial mash with up to 50% of the bill as raw grain and get quite alot of break material and bits of grain that tend to end up in the fermenter. never noticed any huge problems, but i use whirlfloc so it all settles out in the end. it might look like a lot as it goes into the fermenter but it always seems to compact. i'm sure i've even read people on here chatting about how break material and other debris might be beneficial to yeast health and growth (lots of protein and nitrogen). i certainly don't pain myself too much with trying to get rid of any of it.

 

[BrewerBear]

You say you get a couple inches of trub and grain in the FV how much of that is grain?

 

[Grannyknot]

Here's my 2 cents (probably more like a penny).....
For the Vorlauf, just like you, I usually do around 4 quarts total, sometimes 5.
With each quart, I open the valve a little more.
Getting trub through the valve on a boilermaker seems strange to me. If I remember correctly, the boilermaker valves are fairly high on the pot, which would mean you would have around a gallon of trub if it is level with the valve. This seems excessive, especially for a 5 gallon recipe.

My 2 questions are, how are you chilling your wort & what % of the trub do you think is grain?

 

[Galactik]

I am chilling my wort using an immersion chiller. I usually get it down to 70 in 20-25 min. The pickup tube in the boilermaker bends at a right angle and points down. There is only maybe a 1/4" gap or less between the tube and the bottom of the kettle.

I have done 2 batches with this setup, the first a pumpkin that had pumpkin in the mash, and a milk stout. The pumpkin had more trub than the milk.

I also think that with the pumpkin, I may have drained into the fermenter with the valve quite open right off the start. With the milk stout, I tried to open it much slower and keep it only half way.

 

[RainyDay]

I vorlauf about a gallon and open the valve completely. After that it runs clear. I still do have hop and protein trub at the bottom of my kettle after chilling, but thats to be expected. If you have actual grains, then you should re-examine your mashtun.

 

[aswain]

2 inches is a lot of grain in your fermenter. Are you sure it's grain? There should be a minuscule amount of actual grain that makes it all the way to your fermenter. I would check that your false bottom is making a good seal in the bottom of your cooler. I also recommend placing some tin foil on top of your grain bed to pour your vorlough onto. This will prevent the vorlough from disturbing your grain bed when you return it to your mash tun.

 

[devildancer]

I runoff through a stainless steel mesh strainer if there seems to be excessive grain coming through. This weekend I found out my manifold had come seperated from the outlet of the mashtun so I had a lot of grain. Other than that I don't worry about trub in the fermentor.

Please stop racking after only 1 week, I think that's really disrespectful to your yeast.

 

[Grannyknot]

I am chilling my wort using an immersion chiller. I usually get it down to 70 in 20-25 min. The pickup tube in the boilermaker bends at a right angle and points down. There is only maybe a 1/4" gap or less between the tube and the bottom of the kettle.

Ah yes. Forgot about the pick up. Damn fancy blingman kettles.
Well, the pickup is a nice feature so you are going to have to work around that. I would try to perfect your whirlpool procedure. There are some videos on the internet showing different methods. My friend uses an electric hand mixer, and that seems to work pretty well.

 

[ArcticBear]

When I mash out and sparge, i run my hose into a nylon bag and then into the pitcher that i vorlauf into. i usually vorlauf about 3/4 of a gallon but i keep my hose in the nylon bag throughout the entire time, even when i start pouring into the kettle. i've found that i usually get a small handful of grains that found their way into the bag by the time i've fully completed my mash and sparge.

its an extra step and if you vorlauf correctly supposedly you should never have to do this, but i always find friends skimming out the few floating grains off the top of their kettle before the boil, whereas i already have them caught in the bag and then i just wash out the bag when i clean my mash tun.

it might be something to consider trying, certainly saves you the time of skimming grains off the top of your hot boil kettle

 

[bknifefight]

I usually rack to a secondary after 1 week even when I dont dry hop. I know I dont need to do this and I plan on stopping it.

Yes, do stop doing this. One week on the yeast is a VERY short period of time.

 

[djevans3]

I use a Rubbermail MLT with stainless braid and vorlauf as well, but as added insurance to keep grains out of the boil kettle (so they don't product astringent flavors above 170) I always run my running through a hop bag. I find that it catches some very fine grain bits that make it through the braid. I actually do the same from the boil kettle into the fermenter with a sanitized bag so I can try to limit the hops, break, etc from getting in.

 

[Galactik]

Thank you for all the replies. I am going to strain out of the MLT this weekend and see how much I actually get. Like I said earlier, it may just be learning what the flow should be like when starting to drain the MLT.

Switching from a braided hose to a false bottom seems to have opposite techniques. I always started slow with the braided hose, but I am hearing that I should be starting to drain faster with a false bottom. We will see what happens this weekend.