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Dealing with Kettle Trub

Post #1 made 15 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
I had my first crack at BIAB yesterday, I did the Lady Liberty Ale from "How to Brew". The brew day went really well. I was really close to hitting all my numbers and was only one point from hitting my expected OG.

One value from The Calculator that came in higher than expected was Kettle Trub & Buffer. I know this is something that you can't avoid, but I'm wondering how everyone deals with kettle trub so that the maximum amount of clear wort is extracted.

Currently I am using whirlfloc (I don't know if this helps with higher extraction) and whirlpooling after cooling (immersion chiller). Yesterday I let the kettle sit for 40min after whirlpooling and racked from the edge of the kettle with an auto siphon. One thing that I've noticed, even on my extract brews, is that I don't get a nice cone of trub in the kettle. I think I've read that using too much whirlfloc actually will prevent a nice cone of trub from forming. I'm doing ~2.5 gal batches and forgot to cut the whirlfloc tablet in half. After whirlpooling, there wasn't any noticable cone of trub which made siphoning off clear wort difficult and caused me to leave more wort in the kettle than I would have liked. Since I'm doing half batches, even a few tenths of a gallon are a fairly large portion of the total volume so I'd like to improve on extracting as much clear wort as possible.

I guess I'm wondering if you guys/girls just rack off the trub, not worrying about the amount of wort left in the kettle, or can I pour everything through a sieve or filter. Specifically, I'm thinking about lining a large funnel with some of my leftover voile material, essentially making a large filter. Any disadvantages of doing this? Are there any other suggestions?
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 05 Oct 2010, 09:18, edited 5 times in total.

Post #2 made 15 years ago
by Two If By Sea
I personally don't concern myself with the trub. I've often put the entire kettle contents into my fermenter with no ill results. A friend of mine (3 vessel brewer) uses a funnel that he often lines with whole leaf hops and gets some filtering from it and flavor to boot, perhaps your voile in the funnel may work similar.
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Post #3 made 15 years ago
by hashie
I don't bother about trub either.

I had a go at whirlpooling but gave it up as not making a noticeable difference.

I also used to use Irish moss, but don't any more.

And to top it off, I no-chill.

If I get trub in my cube , so be it. When I empty the cube into the fermenter, the whole lot goes in, trub and all.
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Post #4 made 15 years ago
by Stitch
+1 for putting the whole lot into the fermenter. On another forum a bloke did an experement with one fermenter having trub and all in it and the other none at all. There were no ill effects IIRC. Same beer from both fermenters.

Post #5 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
At Flameout I drain the entire keggle into my no chill (N/C) cube. (Usually) the next day I siphon the beer off the trube. If I transfer a little trube I don't worry about it. The small amount is just food for the yeast and is of no consequence. I do use super moss (Irish moss) or whatever is on hand. I have forgotten it enough that I don't freak out when I do forget. If I were planning to store the wort for an extended time (?) I would separate the trube in that case.

Just because the trube looks dirty and yucky we tend to want to be rid of it. We obsess over beer clarity. I don't worry about it.
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Post #6 made 15 years ago
by Ralph
+1 guys, sometimes we brewers freak out over the minutiae at times.
FWIW, I'll usually kettle- chill and run every drop though the sieve:
Image
That's not the best picture, but you get what I mean. It actually helps to use leaf/ plug hops, they form a great filter, but as we've heard, the whole lot in the FV is no biggie either.

If you're really worried about it, consider this- the 3rd place Munich Helles in the recent 2010 Qld comp was actually poured hot through the sieve into a cube before No Chilling. But that's nothing to brag about compared to previous posters. :o

Also, remember that clarity is mainly cosmetic, it is of very little consequence when it comes to flavour and aroma, as far as I'm concerned they are the most important attributes when it comes to actually enjoying your beer.

Oh and well done on your first BIAB, BBH! :cool:
Last edited by Ralph on 05 Oct 2010, 20:09, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #7 made 15 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
Seems like everyone is overwhelmingly in favor of not getting bent out of shape over a little (or a lot in some cases :) )trub in the fermenter.

I'll be honest though, I don't think I'll be pouring everything, trub and all, into the fermenter for now. I think Bob said it right, since it looks yucky I have a hard time having it in my beer. Maybe this is just a newbie thing. Things that are seemingly important (like keeping the nasty looking stuff out of the beer) are actually not that big of a deal. Even though you guys have said and proven that there are no ill effects, I'll probably be lining a funnel with some voile material. I'm sure this won't be a perfect filter, but you guys have convinced me not to stress over some trub that gets into the fermenter.

Post #8 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Congrats on your first BIAB BBH!

I'm not a huge fan of overwhelmingly cloudy wort either but as mentioned in another thread here, one of the nicest beers I have had was one that a mate and I virtually poured into our fermenters as it had started to rain and we had a fair bit of fuel on board :). The beer (a pale ale) turned out perfectly clear and tasted excellent.

I have tried using voille in the past BBH to filter trub but it clogs very quickly. I have also found it hard to get good whirlpools in the past - sometimes perfect and other times pathetic???

If you are doing a single batch and syphoning, you can often quite easily tilt the kettle at the end of the boil if your set up will safely allow it. This tends to let the trub all settle to one side which certainly makes a difference for large bottomed pots.

Cheers and congrats again,
PP
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Post #9 made 15 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
PistolPatch wrote:I have tried using voille in the past BBH to filter trub but it clogs very quickly.
I was afraid of that. The mesh is pretty tight to begin with so any particulates restricting good flow will certainly slow things down a lot. But you do double batches, correct? I'm only doing half batches so the amount of trub should be considerably less. Either way I think I'll give it a try. If it works, then great. If not, then I know I can pour the whole damn thing in the fermenter. :D
joshua wrote:Since I airiate by pouring back and forth, I get very little trub in the Fermentor. I do give time to settle out between tranfers.
That sounds like a reasonable way of doing it, except for one small thing. I'm far too impatient and lazy to spend that much time racking from kettle to fermentor :) Thanks for the suggestion though.
Last edited by BrickBrewHaus on 07 Oct 2010, 04:32, edited 5 times in total.

Post #10 made 15 years ago
by aussiechucka
Thanks for these ideas, I usually throw most of my trub out. Now after reading this I will be putting the whole lot in the no chill and using the sieve I have from work to transfer tot he fermenter. I look forward to not loosing too much to the trub any more ;)
cheers
Chucka

Post #11 made 15 years ago
by shibolet
]On my last brew I filed my cube as usual and than filtered the trub through a coffee filter. I got another one liter of clear wort I will be using for starter. I would upload a pic but I'm not sure how.
Cube:
fermenter: Sourdough Spelt Ale, Classic Lambic, Oud Brune, Barrel Aged Belgian Dubbel
Kegs: Bob's Black IPA, Blanc Blond, Soda...
to be brewed:

Post #12 made 15 years ago
by wizard78
To upload a picture just go into post reply and under the main reply section there is a section marked upload attachment, just click on the choose file button and you should be able to browse files on your pc. Once up have chosen the file just click the add file button and then you can submit your reply.
Hope this helps ( and makes sense :D )
Cheers wiz
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Post #13 made 15 years ago
by shibolet
.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Cube:
fermenter: Sourdough Spelt Ale, Classic Lambic, Oud Brune, Barrel Aged Belgian Dubbel
Kegs: Bob's Black IPA, Blanc Blond, Soda...
to be brewed:
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