Yeast made a think mat out of trub

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interplexr

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I'm in the process of fermenting an AG batch and was a little impatient with my attempts at seperating the trub before siphoning to my primary... I chilled the wort with my newly made IC down to about 60 degF (just under 5 minutes) and then got a good whirlpool going with a spoon. I haven't ever cooled this fast so I think I ended up with a lot more break material than I'm used to. I'm new to AG too so I'm not sure if I got more break material from that as well.

I only let it set about 5 minutes after I whirlpooled and siphoned off what I thought was clear. It looked clear at the top but the near the bottom was apparently not settled yet. There was a good layer of trub settled on the bottom of my primary until the yeast really got going and the whole thing floated up to the top where it has pretty much stayed.

Will this sink on down to the bottom eventually? I'm just not used to such a huge pile of crud up in the kraeusen. I'm more worried because the last batch had a similar thick mat which didn't want to settle down after a week even with my SG down to what I expected and I didn't have as much trub when it started.
 
Welcome to HBT!

Yes, it will all settle to the bottom. I don't bother siphoning or screening anything, just dump the whole pot into the fermenter and let it go to town.

If you let it sit long enough for your yeast to finish its job, it will be a nice compact layer on the bottom. At one week your yeast has'nt begun its job of cleaning up off flavors after fermentation.

I leave all my beers in the primary for at least four weeks so it's clean tasting and crystal clear.
 
Ditto to leaving my beers for 1 month primary. Then cold crash for 1 day then add gelatin and continue the cold crash for 3 more. Crystal clear beers. A blonde as clear as any commercial light lager.
Give it time, it knows what it's doing:D
 
Let it primary for at LEAST three weeks. Trub is no big deal, I've read somewhere (dont remember) that it is good for the yeast. Some beer looks like egg drop soup fermenting, looks gross, tastes great
 
I typically rack to a secondary to let it sit for a while once my SG says things seem to be finished just to free up the primary. Sitting on or having that trub floating will not cause off flavors?
 
Only if you leave it for months on your back porch during the summer. :D
Autolysis is considered the bogeyman of homebrewing. I've left beers for several months in primary and they tasted great.
 
It's been over a week now and there is a think layer of yeast and trub floating on the top. It's very heavy looking but it has shown absolutely no sign of even thinking about falling. I haven't seen this before. The last batch I made using the White Labs Belgian Ale yeast did a similar thing but I went on and skimmed off the top and transfered to a secondary to free up my primary. The SG had settled to 1.010 by then.

Will this stuff eventually fall or am I destined to have to skim it off again? I plan to let it sit in there another week at least. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Yeast-Trublayer.jpg
 
Personally, if you are using an IC I think the whole whirlpool thing is a gigantic waste of time and you just risk infecting your cooled beer by monkeying with it for no reason. I pour the whole f'n thing into my primary and let the trub settle where it may. Maybe those hops have some aroma left to contribute, why dump them out.

Which White Labs belgian strain is it exactly? I would not prematurely transfer to a secondary. Those yeasties floating on top are your friend and they are still engaged and hard at work since they are on top and not resting in peace with the trub at the bottom. Either buy a second primary or put that next batch off a week in the future.
 
Well I just took a gravity reading and I'm at 1.008 or 1.006. I had a little trouble discerning the little marks. Would it make sense to go on and transfer it to a secondary to get it clear and then bottle? I don't have a good way to crash cool it but I can get it down to about 55-60 degF. It tastes pretty good as is other than being flat. I'd like to get it cleared up some before bottling though.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I appreciate all the help so far.
 
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