What to do with solids?

[PADave]

My first brews have been one gallon batches and I'm almost ready to bottle the first one. Problem is, the neck of the carboy is full of hop solids. So now that my beer is nice and settled out, when I go to rack into my bottling bucket I'm going to have to disturb that mass on top. Any ideas on how to get the beer out without pushing all the solids in and ending up in the bottles?

 

[johnsant]

Don't know when you brewed this but most will continue to settle out, at the end of fermentation if you still have floats cold crash in fridge (somewhere @ 32-40 deg.) this should make the rest settle out. If not rack from under it'll be ok.

 

[specharka]

Don't know when you brewed this but most will continue to settle out, at the end of fermentation if you still have floats cold crash in fridge (somewhere @ 32-40 deg.) this should make the rest settle out. If not rack from under it'll be ok.

+1

Also, using gelatin finings will completely clear your finished beer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=565667

 

[PADave]

Don't know when you brewed this but most will continue to settle out, at the end of fermentation if you still have floats cold crash in fridge (somewhere @ 32-40 deg.) this should make the rest settle out. If not rack from under it'll be ok.

This isn't floating. Basically a mass of dried hops in the neck of the carboy. All the stuff that was on top of the yeast during the first couple days of fermentation. Beer below is nice and settled out, plus I plan on doing a cold crash.

 

[specharka]

Push it into the beer before you cold crash

 

[beskone]

Push it into the beer before you cold crash

This, If I notice the neck is stuck full of trub on my last hydrometer sample I just push it all down on top of the beer. Cold crash will drop it right to the bottom.

 

[PADave]

This, If I notice the neck is stuck full of trub on my last hydrometer sample I just push it all down on top of the beer. Cold crash will drop it right to the bottom.

Thanks! That's the advice I was looking for.

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

Awesome! I had this same thing happen to me when I did my 1st batch in my gallon carboy too!

 

[feinbera]

How are you getting the beer out of the carboy? If you're siphoning, you should be able to get your siphon into the beer without disturbing the ring of gunk too much. You should consider avoiding just pouring it out, regardless of whether there's a ring of gunk – you're exposing the beer to a lot more air, which ups your risk of oxidizing or infecting your beer (not to mention your risk of losing control of the pour and dumping beer everywhere).

Get yourself an auto-siphon next time you're at the homebrew shop, best $12 you'll ever spend, and they make a one-gallon version that won't be twice as tall as you need to get to the bottom of your apple juice jug.

 

[unionrdr]

I just had an off-beat thought. If you have one of those mini vacuums, like a dirt devil, you could use an attachment to just suck it out of the neck?

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

Mine was a thick layer of krausen (not sure if I spelled that even remotely close). And the neck on the one gallon carboy I got in this kit was too small to fit an auto siphon through it. But I did the best I could with a slight side pour and just dealt with the floaters.