Wort Reclamation

[CnnmnSchnpps]

My normal process for trub separation is to use irish moss, then after the boil cool with an IC chiller, "whirlpool", then let the wort sit for about 30 minutes so everything settles out. This works decently well and I get very clear beers, but the loss of almost a gallon of liquid with the trub always irked me.

This past weekend I brewed a batch but had to leave cleanup until late the next day. Noticed that although additional 24 hours did nothing to separate the trub later at the bottom of the kettle, the sample I left in a small glass separated quite well into about 40% wort/60% trub. Working theory - the taller your container, the better the separation will be.

So I performed an experiment by fishing out an old hydrometer flask and filling it with trub from the bottom of the kettle. You can see the results in the attached photo.

Lessons learned:
- You can reclaim quite a bit of wort by decanting in a tall, narrow container for up to 24 hours (the Earth is my centrifuge, bitchez! )
- Science experiments gone wrong are fun!
- Don't spray milk all over the kitchen while making mozzarella if you have an open fermenter sitting on the countertop, and/or sanitize your fermenter (the hydrometer flask hadn't been used or sanitized in a few years).

I will now be looking for a custom decanter vessel that would work for this.. Reclaiming about a half gallon of wort for a 5 gal batch almost seems worth the hassle.. I can either add it back to the fermenter or make a small experimental batch out of it

Cheers
-D

 

[RM-MN]

Neat experiment but some of us are just as frugal and worried about that wasted wort as you are so we just dump it all into the fermenter and let gravity and the yeast do our separating for us. It take a bit of time to work but at the end of 3 or 4 weeks in the fermenter the yeast has completed the ferment and in flocculating out has taken the trub to the bottom of the fermenter with it and formed a rather compact layer that we rack above. We can get very clear beer this way too.

 

[C-Rider]

I had my home painted by a professional and talking about brewing w/him he gave me a few of these paint strainers. It fits right on a 5 to 6.5 gallon bucket. If you use one to ferment you could pour your wort from the kettle to the fermenter thru one. Would give you the O2 that the yeast wants and also catch a lot of trub. Of course you might have to dump it a few time doing 5 gallon batches.

He gets his supplies from Sherman Williams but might be able to find these at HD or other hardware/paint shops.

 

[Yooper]

Neat experiment but some of us are just as frugal and worried about that wasted wort as you are so we just dump it all into the fermenter and let gravity and the yeast do our separating for us. It take a bit of time to work but at the end of 3 or 4 weeks in the fermenter the yeast has completed the ferment and in flocculating out has taken the trub to the bottom of the fermenter with it and formed a rather compact layer that we rack above. We can get very clear beer this way too.

This is my method too, but I don't even go 3 weeks in the fermenter- more like 2 weeks. Then I siphon off beautifully clear beer and have a tightly compacted trub layer of maybe 1/3" inch or so, especially if I cold crash before hand. I appreciate the info, but it's way to complex for me with no benefit that I can see. Even for my lagers I don't go to nearly so much work- just a whirlpool in the kettle gets 85% or more of the hotbreak and hops debris, and the rest goes into the fermenter. Once the trub layer compacts into a nice tight layer, I just rack off of it.

 

[C-Rider]

This is my method too, but I don't even go 3 weeks in the fermenter- more like 2 weeks. Then I siphon off beautifully clear beer and have a tightly compacted trub layer of maybe 1/3" inch or so, especially if I cold crash before hand. I appreciate the info, but it's way to complex for me with no benefit that I can see. Even for my lagers I don't go to nearly so much work- just a whirlpool in the kettle gets 85% or more of the hotbreak and hops debris, and the rest goes into the fermenter. Once the trub layer compacts into a nice tight layer, I just rack off of it.

I usually do just that, but I dry hopped and wanted to get the floating "stuffs" off and out of the way. But now I"m thinking perhaps leaving them in would add to the hoppyness of the beer.

 

[midfielder5]

Even with dried orange, coriander & hibiscus leaves? If so, I will need to try the "just dump it all in" technique next brew. I just measured that I left in 1 gallon of wort/trub, spices. I will also need to adjust my final volume, as I wouldn't have had room for it all in my fermenter.

 

[BrewerDon]

I line a wire mesh stainer with paper towels to reclaim wort that is mixed with cold break and hops funk. Since the paper towels are not sanitized I freeze this wort. Then, when I'm ready to make a starter, I thaw and boil it.

 

[CnnmnSchnpps]

I line a wire mesh stainer with paper towels to reclaim wort that is mixed with cold break and hops funk. Since the paper towels are not sanitized I freeze this wort. Then, when I'm ready to make a starter, I thaw and boil it.

I think I may start freezing wort for starters too once my current supply of DME runs out. Can reclaim some from the trub pile and maybe even do an extra batch sparge of the grain.

Then again, I could just by some extact and avoid the headaches..

So the spontaneous ferments in both of my samples are still going strong. The tall flask actually doesn't smell half bad and is down to 1.016 from an OG of 1.051 (the main batch is already done with primary at 1.008)

With some luck I may have caught myself a tasty wild yeast