Trub dam vs pickup tube for clear wort from kettle

[SanPancho]

whats the “better” method for leaving trub behind? Would like to increase my yield from kettle and trub loss is one place ive never bothered to address equipment-wise.

I do biab, with an IC in the kettle. (6gal bayou) Standard weldless bulkhead. Have seen the 1.5 tc adapter tool and could install that to get a nice rotating pickup tube, just not sure it’s necessary to go that far (effort and $) when a simpler solution could work just as well.

Thx

 

[day_trippr]

A well located side pickup coupled with the acceptance of leaving some wort behind and adjusting the equipment profile accordingly. Sucking up every last drop is not the way to go if you're looking for clear wort in the fermentor...

Cheers!

 

[SanPancho]

Sorry, i guess i wasnt clear. Im not looking to add holes to kettle. Nor suck every drop- which isnt even physically possible. Jeez.

I would think a rotating pickup does the same thing as side pickup, so my question remains- do folks think the trub damn is better or the pickup?

 

[Bassman2003]

I use a 90 deg bend pickup tube which works well. I think what day_trippr was referring to is the best way to deal with trub is to expand your recipe size by a 1/2 gallon or more and only keep "the middle" or good stuff of the runoff. You might already to this but it does benefit every approach of pickup.

 

[Keith81]

I've used both a clip on trub dam and edge pickup diptube. I prefer the edge pickup. I haven't seen the TC rotating pick up tube so can't help you there but if your bulkhead has 1/2" male npt threads in the kettle Brew Hardware is where I got my edge pickup diptube.

 

[BarleyPopBrewer]

I thought a trub damn was cool until I saw the below video on the Ss kettle. You see all the hop/trub going right around the trub damn, up the pick up and into the fermenter. I'm super happy with my Spike kettle and the side pickup. The stepped bottom is awesome for use as a BK.

Fast forward to 2:21

 

[ronb454]

whats the “better” method for leaving trub behind? Would like to increase my yield from kettle and trub loss is one place ive never bothered to address equipment-wise.

I do biab, with an IC in the kettle. (6gal bayou) Standard weldless bulkhead. Have seen the 1.5 tc adapter tool and could install that to get a nice rotating pickup tube, just not sure it’s necessary to go that far (effort and $) when a simpler solution could work just as well.

Thx

I am just wondering...since I don't know what a Trub Dam is maybe what I am thinking about is similar. I do a lot of canning and my canners need a plate in the bottom to help keep the jars off the bottom so they don't break. They are about 1/4 to 3/8" high off the bottom. I think they are about the right size for my buckets and they are full of holes so I am wondering if they would be suitable to use to allow most of the trub to go to the bottom which would make it easier to keep the gunk from getting into my bottles

Only problem I see with my plates is they are aluminum so I would need plastic or stainless steel. IMHO I think something like this would help to keep the beer a little cleaner. But...I don't have a lot of trub problems. I never brew full grain but I do add some grain additives and hops occasionally and bottle with the spigot in the bucket.

Does this sound like what you describe as a trub dam? I drink it and brew extract stuff but I still don't know all the woids.


**Edit: I did some web searching and now I know what a trub Dam is. Not the same idea I had of what it is but seems to look like it could work. I measured my Canner canning racks and it just happens I had ordered 2 when ordered my canner. I did not know the new canner had 2 included. I measured both sets and the ones in the canner are a little too big for one set of buckets but may fit the other set. Both sets of racks are stainless steel and when I set them on the bottom of a fermenter when starting a batch I am thinking that with all the holes in the plate most of the trub should filter down to the bottom. If there is any beer left in the bottom when I siphon it out of the fermenter, I can draw that off and bottle that residual separately, and all but one bottle should be 75% or better free of residue. (for lack of anything better to call it.)

Does this look like it may work? It measures just under 11 inches diameter and fits perfectly in my buckets.

 

[BobBailey]

A side pickup tube increased my volume into the fermenter by almost 1/2 gallon over a bazooka screen. After allowing the trub to settle out you'll get a bit of trub at first and then clean wort until the trub pile flattens out. You really want some trub to get into the fermenter, as it contains nutrients the yeasties love.

Having never used a trub dam I really can't comment on how well they work, but doubt they work better than a side pickup in most systems. And yes, system configuration does make a difference .

 

[SanPancho]

A bit of trub is always gonna get in. No problem there. But on small/half batches you wanna be a bit more attentive. Hence the question.

Also realizing that since my IC is double coil it’s pretty much impossible to get a trub cone with it inside the kettle. You can stir all you want but it just sits all over the bottom. To improve I’d have to chill fully, pull IC, then WP, then wait, then transfer.

Has me thinking about doing a reverse IC with coil in the ice bath and wort running through it. It’d be doing WP and cooling at same time. Should help develop an actual cone.

So first I’ll do the inverse IC - WP. See if that helps. And if that’s not satisfactory then per the advice here I guess it’d be time to add a tube.


Thanks all.

 

[BobBailey]

For many years I chilled the wort and then set up a whirlpool by stirring with the IC before pulling it out of the kettle. I then covered the kettle and allowed the trub to settle out for 15 or 20 minutes. It worked pretty well.
Since I began whirlpooling while chilling I just shut the pump off when I get down to temp and leave the chiller in with water running through it while settling out.

I understand the challenges of smaller batches. In a given kettle a small batch will have pretty close to the same volume of waste as a larger batch. The solution is to reduce the amount of waste by allowing more trub into the fermenter. It will settle out and compact along with the yeast cake and not negatively affect the end product. The only real problem would be if you're fermenting in a vessel that has limited volume and doesn't allow room for the additional trub.

 

[day_trippr]

Sorry, i guess i wasnt clear. Im not looking to add holes to kettle. Nor suck every drop- which isnt even physically possible. Jeez.[...]

I didn't add a hole, I just fitted a side pick-up to the original drain valve.
And lots of folks advocate getting every drop of wort in the fermentor, but they weren't asking about leaving trub behind, so...

Cheers!

 

[coolitfast]

whats the “better” method for leaving trub behind? Would like to increase my yield from kettle and trub loss is one place ive never bothered to address equipment-wise.

I do biab, with an IC in the kettle. (6gal bayou) Standard weldless bulkhead. Have seen the 1.5 tc adapter tool and could install that to get a nice rotating pickup tube, just not sure it’s necessary to go that far (effort and $) when a simpler solution could work just as well.

Thx

 

[coolitfast]

If you do not want drill a hole check our HangOver and TropStop. We designed this just for your situation www.exchilerator.com/product/trub-dam/. It may help you out.

 

[SanPancho]

The proteins and cold break isnt so much the problem, its the really big hop additions that get bad. But letting more trub into fermenter doesn’t sound like where i want to go, even on the nonhoppy stuff. I get a pretty good cold break most times, but it just blankets the whole bottom of the kettle, and the IC design makes it stay that way.

Compared to the big system its a mess. That kettle gets a literal cone of trub and hops in the center, very easy to leave it behind.

Easiest solution is to work on my whirlpool/trub cone. Then i'll see about a pick up tube.