Too much Truble

Rumdog55

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Hey Forum Followers,

Just moved from BIAB to Full Mash All Grain. Made a 1 Gal Test Batch last night and was wondering how I can get rid of all the trub/sediment in my kettle after the boil is done. I'm using the same brew kettle as I used with BIAB and it does not have a spigot. Therefore, I transfer the cooled wort to my primary fermenter using a large funnel with a screen in it. The screen gets plugged up with gunk and makes the transfer difficult. Not sure if this trub is from my pellet hops or maybe I'm crushing my grains too much. Used an old school grain mill for this batch and it worked well for BIAB. I have a new grain mill ordered but if this excess trub is from the hops, then grain mill won't matter. Should I use a hop sack or is there any need to worry about it? Thanks for any help with my trubles
 
Well, this may be heresy, but I pour my whole kettle, trub and all, into to fermenter. The trub settles to the bottom and then gets covered by a layer of yeast. I do not find that this cause any off-flavors, although some people swear you need to remove the break.

Brulosophy has had a few experiments regarding trub, although none seemed to be conclusive one way or another.

Just thought I would offer another data point. By the way, I believe that most of the trub is from coagulated proteins from the grain.
 
I agree with B Wade. It’s about fermenter volume with me. Sometimes more kettle trub gets added, sometimes less. I don’t notice any difference. However, I do use a hop spider during the boil so that doesn’t get transferred.
 
Well, this may be heresy, but I pour my whole kettle, trub and all, into to fermenter. The trub settles to the bottom and then gets covered by a layer of yeast. I do not find that this cause any off-flavors, although some people swear you need to remove the break.

Brulosophy has had a few experiments regarding trub, although none seemed to be conclusive one way or another.

Just thought I would offer another data point. By the way, I believe that most of the trub is from coagulated proteins from the grain.
Thx a bunch BW....great info. Because I was only doing a 1 Gallon Batch, I didn't want to end up pouring out good, clear wort in place of trub. My kettle isn't graduated, but my plastic stir spoon is marked and matched to this kettle. My volume calculations were right on the money. Maybe I'll try straining some of the trub out prior to transfer with my sanitized screen/strainer and leave myself a little room, volume wise at the end of my boil. Thx again for the feedback. Guess I should " Relax and have a Homebrew"!!! Thx CP. And BW.
 
What is the volume of your fermenter?
 
I drain my brew kettle through a double-mesh strainer into a bucket. This does two things: oxygenates the wort and filters out debris. I find that in a low hopped beer, the strainer traps almost nothing. If it has a fair amount of hops, then I need to scoop out the hop sludge to keep the strainer from plugging up. More often than not I dump the whole brew kettle into the fermenter. The only time I don't is when my fermenter can't take it all.
 
My post here would be a combo of what everyone else said. Don’t fear the trub. Use a hop spider or bag and pour through a strainer What goes in won’t hurt a thing and May help some. Once everything settles before you bottle it will be clearer anyway And you’d never know it had a bunch of stuff to begin with
 
I mostly just dump everything in the fermenter. It's easier and faster and I have not had any problems even with the heavily hopped beers. The one thing I will do going forward is cold crash everything so that everything settles out before kegging. The last beer I brewed I didn't do that and the dip tube in the keg was plugged like a toilet stuffed with diapers. I had move the beer to another keg (real pain in the AZZ)
 
Ah, I get it now, 1 gallon fermenter... just get another one! Make a little extra, get the same yield...
 
I find my ferments start faster and finish earlier with at least a litre or so of trub in the fermenter. I can't detect any off flavors after ferment.
I put a 1x2 board under one edge of the kettle and let the trub settle for about 20-30 minutes before I syphon out of the kettle from the raised side. Generally, I trade the volume loss in the fermenter for volume gained transferring from the kettle. And frankly, I find the fermenter trub compacts way batter than the kettle trub so I still end up with more finished beer than if I would have tried to keep all the kettle trub out of the fermenter.

For hoppy beers or beers with a lot of additions, I use a hop spider which helps minimize the kettle sludge even before I do the transfer. I have a fancy stainless steel mesh strainer but you can make one with about $15-$20 of supplies from the hardware store.

That said; if you really want to avoid as much kettle trub as possible without using a hop spider, use an auto-syphon out of the kettle and a bazooka screen or hop sock on the end of the syphon hose (I of course sanitized all of it before I use it to transfer out of the kettle). I don't do this any more because it's kind of awkward, I used to make a mess, it's an extra step and more stuff to clean (and an unnecessary step IMHO) and it's a lot hassle for what I found was low pay off.
 
I find my ferments start faster and finish earlier with at least a litre or so of trub in the fermenter. I can't detect any off flavors after ferment.
I put a 1x2 board under one edge of the kettle and let the trub settle for about 20-30 minutes before I syphon out of the kettle from the raised side. Generally, I trade the volume loss in the fermenter for volume gained transferring from the kettle. And frankly, I find the fermenter trub compacts way batter than the kettle trub so I still end up with more finished beer than if I would have tried to keep all the kettle trub out of the fermenter.

For hoppy beers or beers with a lot of additions, I use a hop spider which helps minimize the kettle sludge even before I do the transfer. I have a fancy stainless steel mesh strainer but you can make one with about $15-$20 of supplies from the hardware store.

That said; if you really want to avoid as much kettle trub as possible without using a hop spider, use an auto-syphon out of the kettle and a bazooka screen or hop sock on the end of the syphon hose (I of course sanitized all of it before I use it to transfer out of the kettle). I don't do this any more because it's kind of awkward, I used to make a mess, it's an extra step and more stuff to clean (and an unnecessary step IMHO) and it's a lot hassle for what I found was low pay off.
Thx Tony...got a spider on the way and bought a basket style screen from my local hardware store. Not gonna worry too much about the trub as it sounds as though it is not a big problem. Great info...thx! Happy Brewing|!
 
Thx Tony...got a spider on the way and bought a basket style screen from my local hardware store. Not gonna worry too much about the trub as it sounds as though it is not a big problem. Great info...thx! Happy Brewing|!
Trub, and hop debris are two different things, but neither of them are bad things.
 

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