Why so much sludge in my BIAB?

[doug293cz]

I have to say after brewing my first BIAB (small 3 gallon test batch) there seems to be a lot more trub in there then when I do extract. But I did notice that is was starting to settle when I let it sit for a little bit before I pitched the yeast. Then I shook the heck out of it mixing it all back up to oxygenate the wort and pitched the yeast and now it just looks thick and cloudy. This is probably b/c the yeast came right from the collection ball dump from my other beer. With that being said, it started to ferment (aggressive airlock activity) in less than one hour after pitching it. Its so aggressive I needed to replace the airlock with a blowoff tube (first time). But then again I filled the 3 gallon carboy pretty full...

All the trub should settle when fermentation is complete. Nothing to worry about.

Brew on

 

[pshankstar]

All the trub should settle when fermentation is complete. Nothing to worry about.

Brew on

Agreed, nothing to worry about! But here is what I experienced.

Here is a picture of the trub settling. The brew looks nice, well the upper 1/3rd. LOL It looks like a lot, but I know it will settle out and not take up half of my carboy.



Here is a picture of the wort after I shook the heck out of it after pitching the yeast. This was a little more than an hour after pitching the yeast.



Woke up to see the airlock like this at 8am (after getting my oldest off to school). Keep in mind at 1:30am the krausen was not like this. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sleep thinking I would wake up to a wort covered basement. Since then I ran out to the LHBS to get some extra tubing and cap for a blow off tube.

 

[AK7007]

There is evidence that clear wort is most important to product stability. Thus, it is a key concern for packaging breweries.
There is evidence on both sides regarding flavor quality, so that is unclear. But there are studies (at least 2 in the article) that found the turbid wort option as the best tasting.

So if you are a homebrewer or a brewpub, turbid wort is probably not a concern. If you are packaging and need product stability over time, then clear wort plus a yeast nutrient is best. And it will minimize your fermenter trub.

This is why I want to smack people who bleat about what professional brewers do, or that this process has been around since whatever person in Germany first spat into a kettle back in 1700, so we better follow that process.

We very commonly have different goals than professional brewers, yet people want to base their home process upon the goals of pro brewers. On top of that, the pros that are deciding on one process or another usually have nothing more than an undergraduate education plus technical training that is largely based upon dogma. Many don't know why they do what they do. They know that somebody told them doing something a certain way for reason XYX, but don't actually know the mechanism. For lots of these processes, we don't understand the chemistry or biology, we just know that when I spin around three times clockwise while adding dry hops on Tuesday, sensory panels like my beer more.

Match your process to the goals that you have for your beer and base it as much as you can upon known biology or chemistry.

 

[ruascott]

Agreed, nothing to worry about! But here is what I experienced.

Here is a picture of the trub settling. The brew looks nice, well the upper 1/3rd. LOL It looks like a lot, but I know it will settle out and not take up half of my carboy.

View attachment 343389

Here is a picture of the wort after I shook the heck out of it after pitching the yeast. This was a little more than an hour after pitching the yeast.

View attachment 343390

Woke up to see the airlock like this at 8am (after getting my oldest off to school). Keep in mind at 1:30am the krausen was not like this. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sleep thinking I would wake up to a wort covered basement. Since then I ran out to the LHBS to get some extra tubing and cap for a blow off tube.

View attachment 343391

Wow, that is a LOT.

What kind of bag did you use?

 

[pshankstar]

Wow, that is a LOT.



What kind of bag did you use?

That's what I thought too but given time it should compact nicely. I used a Wilser bag. I crushed the grains really fine since I was doing a BIAB. There were only 2oz of hops during the boil. Pretty much everything from the pot went in.

 

[slym2none]

Does a Wilser bag really "filter" out more stuff than a regular bag? I am using the $4 one from my LHBS, and this last batch had even more trub than the last one. Good thing I have two FVs, as there is no way I could let this go as it is. I had to transfer these last two batches to a "secondary" before cold-crashing!

I am really going to have to stay away from 7-8# grain bills for my 2.5G batches until I get better handle on this. No more DIPAs for a while!

 

[thunderwagn]

Does a Wilser bag really "filter" out more stuff than a regular bag? I am using the $4 one from my LHBS, and this last batch had even more trub than the last one. Good thing I have two FVs, as there is no way I could let this go as it is. I had to transfer these last two batches to a "secondary" before cold-crashing!

I am really going to have to stay away from 7-8# grain bills for my 2.5G batches until I get better handle on this. No more DIPAs for a while!

Yes, IMO it really does. I've got nothing against trub, and pour my entire kettle into the fermentor, but to me there is a very noticeable difference. I spent more on sh*tty bags than I would have just buying a Wilser right off the bat. It's for sure not a regrettable purchase. They're also made to properly fit your kettle.

 

[slym2none]

Sweet, thanks for the info. My bag is starting to come apart at one of the seams, so I will be looking for a replacement soon. WilserBrewing will be getting my money at that point.

 

[pshankstar]

I brewed this small test batch IPA (3 gallons first BIAB attempt) on 3/9/16. If you scroll up you can see the sludge/sediment/trub/whatever you call it making the wort look so cloudy and what not. Well here is a picture of it today just minutes ago (6 days in). It is starting to clear up and all. There is a lot of sediment on the bottom. Reason being is, 2 oz of hops during the boil for a 3 gallon batch (everything from the brew pot went in) and the yeast that was used is from my FastFerment collection ball. I poured off the liquid but dumped in all of the yeast and trub. Which by the way, fermentation took off like a rocket doing it this way!

I will rack this beer over to a secondary around the 2 week mark and dry hop it with another ounce of hops. The dry hops will be in a Wilser Hop Sock, to help reduce the sediment and what not.

Anyways, I thought it would be nice for people to see the transformation in 6 days.

 

[Bassman2003]

This is why I want to smack people who bleat about what professional brewers do, or that this process has been around since whatever person in Germany first spat into a kettle back in 1700, so we better follow that process.

We very commonly have different goals than professional brewers, yet people want to base their home process upon the goals of pro brewers. On top of that, the pros that are deciding on one process or another usually have nothing more than an undergraduate education plus technical training that is largely based upon dogma. Many don't know why they do what they do. They know that somebody told them doing something a certain way for reason XYX, but don't actually know the mechanism. For lots of these processes, we don't understand the chemistry or biology, we just know that when I spin around three times clockwise while adding dry hops on Tuesday, sensory panels like my beer more.

Match your process to the goals that you have for your beer and base it as much as you can upon known biology or chemistry.

Well for me, it is more about listening to people who know what they are talking about from study and firsthand experience. "Pro brewer" is too vague of a term these days. Somebody with a degree from UC Davis or Weihenstephan who brews professionally is who I would want to listen to.

I would be interested in showing the photos above to one of these brewers and asking them about any harmful effects related to boiling all of this mash sediment. I know we all make BIAB beer so the results don't seem that bad but I am not going to argue with Dan Gordon if he says to not do this because of...

I look to the Germans because they have picked apart the entire brewing process from a technical point of view. And they tend to stress final quality over everything else.

But time marches on and new things are learned. I would have never guessed no chill would produce a good lager but people are doing it.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I get that you want to defend BIAB so I will let it go. This does seem like a great experiment though - brew a light lager on a clear wort system and a BIAB system with heavy sediment and compare the two after similar fermentation conditions.

I don't care much about beer competitions, so I admit I do not know how many BIAB brewers have won medals or what styles were brewed.

http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/