Seeking Advice - Didn't strain WORT - Filter now? Re-pitch? Siphon?

Hi All,

Just got a batch of the Caramel Cream Ale in the primary at the moment and have a bit of a dilemma I need help with.

I didn’t strain/filter the wort at all (apart from the fact that I siphoned it into the Primary) and I used hop pellets which of course broke down completely.

The beer has settled a bit but every time I take anything from the tap at the bottom there is still a LOT of sediment/trub in the beer.

From what I see I have a few options, I want to know what you all think would be best (if any)

1. Simply siphon the beer into a secondary and hope that I only take the top layer of beer leaving a litre or so in the primary along with all the sediment (there is Irish Moss in this batch)
2. Filter/Strain the beer into a secondary and then re-pitch some more yeast before I prime and bottle
3. Filter/Strain the beer into a secondary, with a big enough filter so that enough yeast stays in the beer to allow for carbonation in the bottle

This is only my second batch of beer so I'm still learning. Are there any other options I have?

Thanks in advance for your advice 

FTY, I’ve followed Cheesefoods Caramel Cream Ale recipe found on this website, so that gives the details of what I’ve done etc…

Cheers!
Phil

There are a lot of brewers that don't filter when they dump their beer in the primary. You will have a lot of trub but it will settle. Give it a few weeks and all that sediment will compact on the bottom.

I've done this a few times when doing extract and I didn't have a strainer available. Just be extra careful when racking into secondary/keg/racking bucket to keep the trub at the bottom. You might lose a little beer but other than that no issue.

Ok thanks...

I don't strain my wort going into the fermenter, and it's fine.

But why are you taking samples from the spigot on the fermenter? Of course that's where the trub and stuff will be. It settles to the bottom, and often fills up a spigot. That's one reason (there are others) I don't use a fermenter with a spigot.

When it's time to bottle, just siphon from above the trub into the bottling bucket and you'll be fine!

Interesting...i presumed the spigot would usually be above the trub line and that you were to avoid opening the primary and exposing it to oxygen etc...thus the reason i usually sampled from the bottom.

Come racking day i would certainly be siphoning from the top

Don't ever strain a beer after it's started fermenting, you're just going to oxygenate it. It'll be fine, give it a few weeks in primary, siphon to bottling bucket, prime, and bottle.

Thanks for the prompt reply everyone.. I'll do the hard thing and leave it be for an extra week or so

Yeah, this is often debated but you do not necessarily need to rack to secondary. If you give it the extra time the sediment/trub/yeast will compact on the bottom and just siphon into your bottling bucket/keg/whatever. If you start with the siphon about halfway submerged and as the level drops just lower the racking cane lower until just above the trub. You can even go to the point where you see a little haziness and then back off. That way you get the most beer out of it and the least amount of trub. It rarely hurts to give it a little extra time. If the sediment does not fall out in your fermenter, it will just separate out in the packaging.

Also, for the spigot in your bucket. The sediment will settle on any and all horizontal surfaces as well as the semi horizontal ones. Depending on how much sediment goes into the fermenter, the trub layer can go above the spigot. I personally do not see the extra places for nasties to hide/places to clean that the spigot provides to be any benefit over an autosiphon or what have you.

An autosiphon def will never be better than a spigot in my experience. Keeping the extra hop trub & the like out of the fermenter will help a lot. If the trub goes up far enough to bury the spigot,it'd have to be about 2.5-3 inches deep! That's def to much gunk going into the FV imo. I use a dual layer fine mesh strainer & hop sacks to keep all the extra crud out. A little extra effort in the beginning will save work & frustration later.
Kinda like the old Fram Filters TV adds-"pay me now,or pay me later".
Anyway,after some 3 weeks in the fermenter,the trub/yeast/hop crud will compact on the bottom below the level of the spigot. The only time I've ever had crud in the spigot body is when I had to swirl up the yeast to get the beer to finish fermenting. With straining & hop bags,by bottling day I have no more than about 3/8" of trub at the bottom. Compacted well below the spigot line. More clear beer going into the bottling bucket for me. It's not hard to do if you do what needs to be done during the brewing/fermenting/bottling process to contain or elliminate extra crud.

Well after 2 weeks in the primary, the trub has definitely compacted very nicely and is bellow the spigot.

I'll be racking it tomorrow to mix in the priming sugar/dme and will bottle it from there.

As everyone seems to say, be patient and it will usually all work out

Thanks again all!