I recently purchased a very fine screen for my funnel. I noticed during my last brew (debacle), that it kept so much sludge out of the fermenter that it actually stopped the wort from flowing.
Is there every a time, or a benefit for sludge in the kettle to make it into the fermenter?
In years past I used to dump it all in and made good beer. Now I rack off of most of the trub but let a little into the fermenter - a little is actually beneficial for the yeast.
I recently saw a study comparing two identical beers. One fermented with minimal trub as if siphoned. The other with all sludge thrown in. The end result was that the clearest final product was the all sludge version. I don’t recall That there was any taste preference
If you can see some, its probably enough. I doubt the yesst need an inch of sediment though. I chill, wirlpool, lets stand for 20-30 minutes, then rack the clear stuff to my fermenter with an autosyphon. I get a little gunk but most is left behind.
I heard a few comparison experiments that repeatedly showed little to no difference between beers that were fermented off the trub, versus ones where the entire kettle was dumped into the fermenter. Since I’m always looking for one less unnecessary step to perform on brewday I just started dumping everything into the fermenter. Since then I have had a run of hoppy beers that have ended up with a vegetal bitterness and cloudy suspended hop material that won’t drop clear. I’m going back to filtering for a while to see if that helps. So, the verdict is still out on my end.
Everything i have ever researched has frowned upon it. Even if you use things such as whirlfloc, hopbacks, whirlpooling/stands you get some in there but it is important to keep most of it out because to much has been linked to head retention problems, possible harsh bitterness/vegital and poor flavor stability. Trub is mainly polyphenols and fatty acids i think and could even maybe cause off flavors with higher undesirable alcohols. I just try to make an effort to remove as much as possible especially in my light German lagers:)
I take the middle path. I whirlpool after chilling and let sit for a few minutes. If its a small enough batch to pour I pour through a sieve slowly and try to not to let too much trub go out of the pot but don’t sweat it. I usually end up with a half inch of settled trub in the fermenter come morning. If its a large batch I whirlpool but use an autosiphon and, again, try to avoid lots of trub but don’t worry about some.
My theory is that I only want stuff in my fermenter that I WANT in my fermenter, but I am not OCD about it. I dont let a little hazy stuff from the bottom of the kettle freak me out. But I seem to keep most of it out.
I pour through a strainer to catch most of the trub. I’m generally not too concerned about flavor impact but when fermenting one gallon in a 1.3 gallon vessel I need to reduce some of the trub to reduce blowoff.
like most i try to minimize the trub into carboy. i use a kettle with spigot and copper tube inside pointed right on the bottom. i brew planning for about .5 gal of trub, so i let the wort settle as im chilling it with wort chiller,then open the spigot and let about .5 gallon of gunk come out. this really takes much of the trub out of the kettle, so i then whirl pool, let it settle and siphon off to my carboy.
I dump it all in. I don’t make an effort to get every last bit of trub into the fermenter, but I’ve given up on pouring it through a sieve. I have had no issues with clarity, head retention, bitterness, etc.
My batches are partial mash, so perhaps I’m not getting as much trub as you might with a full all-grain batch. But I am mashing 6-8lbs. of grain. My hops go in hop bags.
I strain through a paint bag when dumping into the fermentor. I still get some trub small enough to get though the mesh, but not enough to tempt me to wash my harvested yeast after I rack off the yeast cake.
Basic Brewing Radio did an experiment that concluded that the beers that had the trub left in turned out better. Here’s another…http://hbd.org/discus/messages/40327/41534.html
My bad, but that’s not nearly convincing enough for me.
Well, then there’s my own experience!
Mine, too. Independently verified.
I’ve never done a side-by-side but I don’t intend to. Not messing with what works.
+3
I don’t sweat he trub, but I put pellet hops in mesh bags, because I harvest the yeast from the primary and don’t want to carry forward excessive hop residue.