Wort question

[phil74501]

First let me say I've only made two batches of beer. So I'm still a newbie. When I made my last batch, a honey wheat, I siphoned from the kettle to the fermenter. I didn't pour all of the wort in. There was an inch or so of sludge, for lack of a better term, in the bottom of the kettle. Do I pour everything from the kettle in? Or siphon and leave the residue on the bottom? The beer turned out fine, just wanting to get the most out of it.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

You can go either way. I drain as much as I can. Some people say that putting all of the trub into the fermenter is a bad idea. I'd rather let it compact and get out all the finished beer I can. I haven't noticed any negative effects. Ask 10 homebrewers and you'll likely get 10 different answers ;-)

 

[TheHopfather]

I do BIAB and I usually pour it all in. There is a bit of sludge left in the bottom of the kettle at the end but not much at all. Check these articles out for a more scientific answer;

http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/
http://brulosophy.com/2015/03/22/the-impact-of-kettle-trub-part-2-exbeeriment-results/

 

[hanuswalrus]

I just dump it all straight into the fermenter. Gets the most wort in there as possible, plus it gives it a little bit of aeration which promotes yeast health

 

[mrgrimm101]

I still siphon through a mesh strainer, but I siphon out pretty much everything except the hop sludge. I usually use whrilfloc, so that kind of coagulates all of the break material so it makes it easy to siphon it up.

Here is a very interesting exbeeriment that explores the effect that different amounts of trub have on the finished beer.

http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/

 

[phil74501]

The first batch I made I just poured everything in, siphoned the second batch. And for the life of me I really couldn't tell a difference. My next batch is a maple syrup ale. I think I'll just pour everything in the fermenter. Thanks for the responses.

 

[GHBWNY]

The first batch I made I just poured everything in, siphoned the second batch. And for the life of me I really couldn't tell a difference. My next batch is a maple syrup ale. I think I'll just pour everything in the fermenter. Thanks for the responses.

Really no harm in pouring everything in. Like someone said, the extra aeration can't hurt. Besides, even with syphoning, there is still so much debris in suspension that you'll never eliminate all the sludge the first time anyway.

 

[phil74501]

Really no harm in pouring everything in. Like someone said, the extra aeration can't hurt. Besides, even with syphoning, there is still so much debris in suspension that you'll never eliminate all the sludge the first time anyway.

Ironically enough, after I asked and everyone took the time to answer, there wasn't any trub in the bottom of the kettle. But I'll file it away for future reference.

 

[Qhrumphf]

It depends for me, usually on the hop bill. For highly hopped beers, I'll strain. For beers where there's not much hop matter (say, a single <1 oz bittering addition) I'll just dump it all in.

The jury is out on the trub vs. no trub debate. In theory, some trub is good as it provides nutrition for yeast. Too much is bad as the fatty acids accelerate staling. In practice on the homebrew scale, the results/differences between separating trub or just dumping it all in are inconclusive if not indistinguishable.

The one place it makes a difference is if you use a plate or counter-flow chiller, where trub/hop matter can clog up the chiller.