Brew Day Simplification Plan

[foscojo]

I am trying to simplify my (extract) brew day. I have tried a few approaches but all have had their drawbacks. Using my hop spider blocks using the lid to get rolling boil, muslin bags let through lots of fine dust and particulates, and the mesh strainer over the bucket almost instantly clogs with hops.

So this time my plan is to just dump everything into the pot loose and let it swim free. After chilling, I'll simply gently pour the whole pot into the fermentation bucket which will be lined with a sanitized 5 gallon paint strainer bag then just lift out the bag. Basically, forget straining in the pot or during transfer and instead strain it right out of the bucket in one step.

Thoughts? Anyone tried this?

 

[gunhaus]

I have allowed the trub to settle, and drained the clear wort off leaving the gunk in the bottom of the kettle. I have dumped the whole shooting match trub and all right in the fermenter. Happy beer both way . . . .

 

[foscojo]

I have allowed the trub to settle, and drained the clear wort off leaving the gunk in the bottom of the kettle. I have dumped the whole shooting match trub and all right in the fermenter. Happy beer both way . . . .

Cool. Yeah, I am just trying to find a way to help clarify the beer without adding too much effort. I am tired of looking glasses of murky beer. Unfortunately, a lot of the ways I've seen say that you need to cold crash it and I do not have that ability.

 

[ncbrewer]

I pour everything into the fermenter. It settles very well. When bottling, it's still just a little hazy because the yeast hasn't all settled, but after a couple of weeks of conditioning, it is very clear. (One note: I still get chill haze sometimes, but I attribute that to not chilling the wort fast enough. It's very clear before going into the fridge.)

 

[wepeeler]

Just use whirlfloc tablets and you don't really have to worry about what gets into the fermenter. It'll all settle out after fermentation. There have been studies showing that trub actually helps fermentation and helps produce clearer beer.

 

[McKnuckle]

Drop your hops into the kettle. Get one of these - a 200 micron bucket filter. Pour the wort into your bucket over that. It will filter all the hops but not the break material. No worries there; just let it settle out. This is similar to your bag idea, but more elegant as it fits on top of the bucket neatly. You will still have to stir the wort in a circular pattern to prevent the filter from clogging, but it's easy.

Your murky beer, though, is not caused by hot side trub. Use Whirlfloc at the 15 minute mark in your boil. Practice better racking techniques and employ some cold settling if you can. And patience, that's another key technique.

 

[wsmith1625]

I think you need a kettle valve. Definitely use whirfloc as suggested by wepeeler, but let everything settle before you transfer to your fermenter. Picking up the kettle to pour stirs it all up again.

 

[catalanotte]

Lets the hops swim free for the boil, chill, then start an aggressive whirlpool and let sit covered for 15 min. Then siphon from the side of the kettle into your fermenter, or add a valve as suggested above. You'll leave most of the hop trub and cold break behind.

 

[Jim R]

I use whirl floc tablets at the end of the boil, then whirlpool aggressively, then use an autosiphon to transfer from the side of the boil kettle to the fermenter through a strainer (like the link below).

I also don't lose any sleep if my beer isn't crystal clear. I drink a lot of things that aren't crystal clear that still taste great. As long as my beer taste good, I don't care if I can't see through it perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Kitchen-...ld=1&keywords=colander&qid=1602869761&sr=8-30

 

[ajsboarder]

When I was extract brewing, I would put the hops straight into the kettle. Once the boil was finished, I would pour the entire kettle onto ice, this would cold-crash the beer, plus give me most of the water addition. I always transferred the beer to a secondary carboy after fermentation was complete, which helped to keep the beer clearer.

I'm sure a combination of what everyone else has suggested would help and most are simple and quick. If you have temperature control for the fermentation, a short cold-condition after fermentation would help as well and takes no additional effort.

I also try to have the bottles sit in the fridge for a few days before drinking to make sure everything settles to the bottom.

Regarding keeping the lid on for a rolling boil, you should have it at least slightly open to allow steam to escape. There are different compounds that are volatile during the boil, and you don't want it condensing back into the wort.

If you are concerned about sanitation pouring the wort directly onto ice, my friend did this method for over 10 years without issues.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I am trying to simplify my (extract) brew day

I am just trying to find a way to help clarify the beer without adding too much effort. I am tired of looking glasses of murky beer. Unfortunately, a lot of the ways I've seen say that you need to cold crash it and I do not have that ability.

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/Brew-Techniques (link) has a "Wort and Beer Clarification" manual that may be of general interest.

With my small extract batches, I've found that Irish Moss @ 5 min before flame-out, a quick chill from boil to 170F, pour it all in the fermenter, and three weeks in primary will generally result in a non-murky beer. It's not crystal clear (there's hop haze and chill haze), but it's low effort.

 

[Beermeister32]

Try overproducing your batch by one gallon and draw off the clean wort first. The first 5 gallons of clean wort goes into your primary fermentor. The final gallon of hot break, cold break, trub crud, flour and hop debris goes into a separate 1-gallon fermentor jug and fermented seperately. Taste on the 4-5 bottles of jug beer will have a sharper taste than the main 5 gallon batch which will remain cleaner.