Hi everyone, my question is how is everyone keeping Trub out of their fermenters. I’ve been an extract brewer for a number of years and went all grain a few batches ago. In ignorance, I used to dump the majority of the kettle into the fermenter. I use whirfloc tabs and have nice clear wort, well about 3 or less gallons If I have about 6.5 gallons of wort in the kettle. I tried to siphon it but it clogged the siphon. I don’t like letting it sit uncovered bc my basement is… well a basement. How long should I let the wort sit before I siphon? My kettle doesn’t have a ball valve but my 10 gallon cooler does. Thanks for any ideas.
why not just drill a hole and install a ball valve? They cost like $10-15. Borrow someone’s step-up bit or buy one. They are like $25. Regardless you need to whirlpool as BrewBama mentioned to form a hop and trub cone.
Just letting it settle out for 15 or 20 minutes after chilling will compact the break material and hop residue considerably. Whirlpooling before this settling time can help to move the sludge into the middle of the kettle making transferring from the side easier. You can cover the fermenter during this time with a sanitized lid, foil or plastic wrap. Once it has settled out, either slowly transferring with an auto siphon or draining through a ball valve will greatly reduce the amount of trub. Unless you have limited space in your fermenter(s), there’s nothing wrong with transferring a reasonable amount of trub. Given time, after fermentation is complete, it will settle out and compact along with the yeast. The trub also contains nutrients that can benefit fermentation.
I stopped worrying about trub getting in the fermenter for the reasons Bob states. The beer finishes every bit as clear (if not clearer) and it’s much easier to hit my volumes. I won’t state cause and effect because there are a lot of variables at play, but I am finding my fermentations more complete since I started dumping the majority of the kettle.
I also agree with the above. I get pretty much all of the wort into the fermenters, leaving only the whirlpooled cone of hops and some of the break in the kettle. I have read that the cold break doesn’t make much difference.
I agree with the need to have a valve on the boil kettle. However, I urge caution. Unless the valve is either soldered or welded to the kettle, its sealing capability is reliant on a silicone or rubber washer and as such is subject to failure resulting from the flame under the kettle - NOT the heat of the wort.
Regarding the trub, I use muslin hop sacks. They keep 99.9% of the hop out of the kettle so the only stuff remaining in the kettle is the hot break.
But may be most of it, though. I learned many years ago that trub is a source of FAN. A couple informal tests have foundthat beer fermented on trub was clearer and preferred by tasters compared to beer with trub removed. I’m not saying that’s absolute truth, but it matches my experience.
An easy way is to use a sanitized paint strainer bag in the fermentor and pour everything in. Then just remove the bag. Small bits will still get through, but the large portion will be removed.
Or don’t worry about it and dump everything into the fermentor. I haven’t noticed a difference either way.
I use a Trub Trapper and whirlpool, the TT does a pretty good job of keeping the hop/trub cone from “migrating” if I get a bit hasty with my runoff. I agree with the suggestion to install a drain valve, and I wouldn’t worry overmuch about gasket failure, my Blichmann boilermaker has done ~140 batches so far without a problem. If the gasket does fail someday, it’s very easy and inexpensive to replace. If you go that route I strongly recommend using Quick disconnects. Opening a valve is soooo much nicer than dicking around syphoning with a racking cane.
I don’t worry too much about transferring some trub into the fermenter.
I think it’s an overly broad sentiment that only welded or soldered connections are good enough. I have a value on my kettle that uses O-rings to maintain it’s seal. As long as I keep the unit clean and the O-rings in good shape I have no issues at all.
The only time I could see it being an issue is if I were to allow the flame to actually reach the valve. As long as the flame does not directly heat the valve it should be fine. My kettle sits on top of and beyond the frame of my burner, I set the kettle off center (as Martin recommends) which creates even more gap. Like any tool it comes down to how you use it not if you use it.
I don’t worry too much about transferring some trub into the fermenter.
I think it’s an overly broad sentiment that only welded or soldered connections are good enough. I have a value on my kettle that uses O-rings to maintain it’s seal. As long as I keep the unit clean and the O-rings in good shape I have no issues at all.
The only time I could see it being an issue is if I were to allow the flame to actually reach the valve. As long as the flame does not directly heat the valve it should be fine. My kettle sits on top of and beyond the frame of my burner, I set the kettle off center (as Martin recommends) which creates even more gap. Like any tool it comes down to how you use it not if you use it.
Paul
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Agree. I’ve used weldless valves for over 20 years with maybe one or two small leaks. Small leaks that I was able to replace before the next brew. You don’t need a hard weld valve the “weldless” valves work fine.
My kettle uses a weldless ball valve, and I’ve replaced the o-rings 1-2 times in the last 5 years. I bought it used, and I don’t think that guy ever replaced them. If you’re will to stock 2-3 o-rings that cost less than a dollar, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you know how to solder and want to get rid of the o-ring, brewhardware has silver solder kits and a bunch of hardware.
My understanding on excess trub is that the fats will limit your long term shelf stability. I think maybe the point people are trying to make is not to stress too much about it, and there might be something more pressing in your process to focus on. For example, I would prioritize cold size oxidation/kegging over limiting trub in the fermenter.
+1. I was as anal as a newbie home brewer can be. Our first club president was days away from a PhD in microbiology when I expressed concern about trub in the fermentor. His reply was; “Don’t worry about it. Trub is yeast food”. So I don’t, because he was right. I invariably get excellent fermentation rates.
My PicoBrew Z1 removes the hops since they are in cages. The break gets into the fermenter. Someone mentioned longer shelf life if you remove trub. My wife would love for my beer to sit around and not get drank but my little 2.5 gallon kegs last 1 month max after I start drinking them. They are cold from the day I package. That short shelf life seems to allow leaving the break material in the fermenter.
Well, one thing is for sure: transferring the whole kettle contents, trüb and all, will result in better brewhaus efficiency over leaving wort behind with the trüb.
I try to leave the majority out but inevitably some gets past me. I don’t strain it or anything. Just whirlpool and drain until I hit the 5.5 gal mark in the FV. What gets past gets past.
there is definitely a correlation between trub proteins (lipids) and shelf life but it is probably only really relevant in professional brewing applications. If you are using Brew Tan B you are probably wasting it by using the entire contents of the trub.
I do agree that for the most part this is a RDWHAHB. At the new brewery I am working at I pumped the contents from the bottom of the whirlpool as opposed to the side ports. The head brewer kinda freaked out a bit because I pumped some hops and trub over but in a taste test the beer was absolutely fine. As I knew it would be.
This is all excellent advice. Thankfully I have already learned the benefits of kegging and so I’m not too worried about about cold side oxidation. I’m about to put the kettle on the burner in a few minutes (yay!) and I will whirlpool and see what happens. I have a pretty impressive flame on my homemade burner (it’s the guts of an old natural gas boiler) but putting the valve side off to the side of the flame sounds good. How far from the bottom should the valve be? I imagine there are a myriad of options for attaching a screen or filter of some kind to the valve inside the kettle. Also good to hear that some Trub is even beneficial. I always have tons of hop material though since I generally put about 8oz or more in a hop stand plus another 5 or more as dry hops. So perhaps my battle is really against hop matter. So I’m sure I could use a muslin bag. Now to choose the hops. Dang I love hops.