Anybody else have really fluffy trub as a result of using Whirlfloc? I used a half tablet today in a 5-gallon batch of IPA and could only get a little over 4 gallons in my fermenter - the rest was trub - very fluffy trub!
My batches have a 6.75 gallon boil, 1 hour scrubs about a gallon, and I’m used to loosing about a half a gallon to trub which normally leaves me 5.25 or so in the carboy.
This is the second time this has happened - I was thinking the first time it was something I was doing wrong, but the only thing I had changed was to add the Whirlfloc; a half tablet at T-10 minutes - same as this time.
I just brewed a bunch of 1 gallon batches. The one batch that I forgot whirlfloc had a nice compact trub, while the rest were really fluffy. I took a side by side pic - I’ll post it here later. I will definitely skip the whirlfloc on small batches from now on since I wasted at least a beer to trub on all the batches with whirlfloc.
this happenes to me all the time. ive tried several different ways to filter to no avail.
i was actually gonna skip it tomorrow just to see. nice to see erock had success on small batches. i am brewing 3 gallon all grain. if nothing else it will be a good experiment.
Here’s the side-by-side, as promised. The jug on the left got no whirlfloc and formed a nice compact trub. The jug on the right got whirlfloc and is pretty fluffy. Everything else was identical, except for the type of hops. These were all extract batches, fermented for 14 days, plus 14 additional days with 1/2 oz of pellet dry hops using WY1968. Every other batch that got whirlfloc had the same chunky trub.
These batches are still bottle conditioning, so I’m not sure if there will be any clarity difference in the final beer. I’ll pour these two side by side once they’re carbed up to see if there’s any appreciable difference.
I use Supermoss and I have to let it sit for 30-45min for it to settle properly. It settles out pretty flat, not real compact but not fluffy. You might try adding less, or adding more Whirlfloc.
erockrph, it seems that the whirlfloc did a good job in creating clumps, as it should. Only that these clumps causing you to have fluffy trub since they like sticking to themselves and not to each other. The liquid between the clumps looks clearer than the liquid in the other flask, though.
Yeah, I definitely noticed that. The trub in the non-whirlfloc batch kicked up really easily. As long as it settles down by the time the bottles are carbionated, then I’m fine with that.
I’ll probably stick with whirlfloc in my bigger batches (except for weizens), but I might skip it when I brew these mini 6-pack batches.
Yeah, I wondered how much my choice of yeast had to do with this. I can’t help but wonder if something like US-05 or a lager yeast would be significantly different.
I’ve only used Whirlfloc a few times (usually forget) so I’m no expert here. I Just brewed a double IPA and added Whirlfloc at the end of my boil. I was left with LOADS of fluffy trub in the bottom of my kettle. I planned for a 6 gal. fermentation and was left with ~4.5 gal. I’m sure I lost some wort to the loads of hops in the process but can’t help but think the Whirlfloc had something to do with the loss. We’ll see what I’m left with after I rack to secondary.
I think this would be less of an issue with conical fermenters because of ease of draining yeast. Whirlfloc is used in professional breweries and I’m pretty sure this is less of an issue. Maybe yeast strain has something to do with it, as mentioned above. Thoughts?
[quote]Anybody else have really fluffy trub as a result of using Whirlfloc? I used a half tablet today in a 5-gallon batch of IPA and could only get a little over 4 gallons in my fermenter - the rest was trub - very fluffy trub!
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I’ve always had issues with large amounts of cold break. Using one tablet whirlfloc at 15 minutes remaining in the boil. Even upped my boil size to 8 gallons in an effort to leave all the break behind in the kettle but i still end up with the last gallon of 5.5 into my fermenter being loaded with break material. Not sure what else I can do about it. Whirlpooling doesn’t form a cone either, I just get a solid 3 inch layer.
I wonder if it is an interaction between a particular recipe and Whirlfloc. The reason I say this is I do not recall experiencing this until my most recent brew - and I always use whirlfloc. It should be said that I have only done 9-10 brews since starting last Fall. The recent brew where it showed up was a Zombie Dust clone.
The unique features for this brew were: lots of Citra hops (10 oz.), and Cara-Pils grain. Honestly it looked to me like hop sludge. I always use a hop-sack, which retains most of the hop material. But maybe Citra hops have a higher percentage of really small particles that excape the hop-sack?
What do you more experienced brewers think of this idea? Is it possible that the massive fluffy trub is due to a particular recipe ingredient?
The beer in the picture above was dry hopped at a fairly typical APA/IPA rate (0.5 oz/gallon), with pellets thrown in loose. If whirlfloc tends to form a less dense trub to begin with, it is feasible that the added hop material (combined with the highly flocculant yeast) add up to really fluff up the trub.
One tablet is good fir 12 gal. so if you’re making a smaller batch you can cut it in half. Also, the manufacturer recommends using it at 5 min., not 15. Oftentimes when it gets repackaged the retailer puts their own directions on it, which are usually “one tab, 15 min.”.
