Getting rid of all the crud

[Vestario]

Greetings everyone, I have been brewing for a couple of years. Started when the wife bought me a Brooklyn brew 1 gal kit and i decided that it was enough beer for one man. I have been making 5 gallon all grain batches now, and one thing i just can't seem to get right is getting all the(or as much as possible) grain bits from the mash tun into my kettle.

I have a 10 gallon cooler with a metal plate on the bottom that is supposed to stop the bigger pieces of the grain bed from moving on, however i still get lots of smaller particles in my kettle, so once i finish off the boil and chill it down, i need to use my siphon to try and get as little as possible the smaller parts of the grain that are left over.

I do a small amount of liquid first from the mash tun, and recirculate it back into the mash tun to settle the grain bed down, and then i do a slow drain from the mash tun into the kettle with a slow amount of water washing over the grain bed.

One thing i don't do is use a brew bag for the hops, and usually just pour them into the boil when the timing is required depending on the recipe i am doing.

I also use a Whrilfloc clarifying tab about ten minutes left in the boil.

I am also priming in bottles.

Is there anything else i can do that would help reduce the crud, as when i make a 5 gallon batch i usually only get about 30 500 ml bottles out of it. (last batch was 27) due to the amount of crud in the liquid that i really don't want in my fermentation bottle and bottles.

Thanks

 

[seatazzz]

Have you tried cold crashing once fermentation is complete? Chilling your finished beer at 45 for a day will compact the trub (crud) down in the bottom of your fermentation vessel, and careful siphoning will avoid most of it. Crashing also has the advantage of helping your beer clear up a bit more, finished product clarity-wise.

 

[bracconiere]

? recirculating the mash till it's clear is called vorlauf(sp?)....and, i've heard tell of a lot of people that 'whirlpool' their direct hops....i personally use bags though.

and something else you may want to consider is kegging....that way, unlike bottling, only the first pour will have any sediment in it....

back to the main topic....i use a bazooka tube, those false bottoms never worked good for me....you can also use the stainless mesh off a water supply line too....

https://www.amazon.com/GasOne-30464...ocphy=9030257&hvtargid=pla-487596821233&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/VCCUCINE-Bra...stainless&qid=1555965433&s=home-garden&sr=1-3

 

[kh54s10]

You need to vorlauf more, get a coarser grind, or a combination. You can also transfer all that crud to the fermenter, it will pack down after fermentation ends then siphon to a bottling bucket.

Are you starting off fermentation with the proper amount of wort collected? I collect a little over 5 gallons to account for a small amount of trub in the bottom of the fermenter at the end. I then can bottle 5 gallons of beer.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I think @kh54s10 is on to something. I usually target 6 gallons in the fermenter in order to end up with a full 5 gallon keg. If you stop right at 5 gallons, you'll end up with a bit less. Getting (30) 500 mL bottles is 3.96 gallons, so you're about a gallon shy of what you'd need. The solution here would be altering your recipe to target 6 gallons in the fermenter instead of 5 gallons.

However, if you're using pre-built recipes, that could be difficult.

Reading your post, it sounds like another problem is you're having a hard time keeping grains out of your boil kettle, if I'm reading that right...? One thing I did prior to moving to my new electric system was get one of these for my 10 gallon cooler mash tun (BIAB bag). This made a world of a difference and kept ALL grain out of the boil kettle.

In the end, no matter what you do, you're going to have trub (crud) in the bottom of your fermenter that will prevent you from getting the entire volume that you put into the fermenter. Hop matter and yeast that settle out will always be there. The only other thing you could do at this point is bag your hops or get a hop spider and use that for your boil additions. This will help keep the hop matter to a minimum.

Good luck.

 

[Saunassa]

After reading posts here last year I just added an extra quart to the 5 gallon fermenter to make up for trub and hydrometer sample. Biggest change was giving the beer an extra week in the fermenter and like kh5410 mentions it will pack tighter to the bottom and is much easier to siphon off of.

 

[Konadog]

I have your exact setup (10 gallon round cooler) and use one of these, The Brew Bag . Filters out dang near everything in the mash tun. When your done, clean up is easier too!
You can see it hanging on the right of the pic above the cooler.

 

[kh54s10]

Another thing to consider, it seems the OP is doing fly sparge with a false bottom. I have a water heater supply line braid and batch sparge. I vorlauf only about 1 1/2 quarts and there are no grain bits going into the boil kettle. If I bag my hops there is less than 1/4 inch of trub after fermentation.

 

[Vestario]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and ideas, I will look into these before my next brew. The BIAB seems like a good way to reduce the grains from getting into my kettle, and will look into that. As for the recipe's I am using they are pre-built, so when i am starting the boil process i usually start with 6.5 gallons and then can't seem to get enough after cooling it down to get the more than 5 gallons into the carboy for fermentation.

 

[RM-MN]

I have a 10 gallon cooler with a metal plate on the bottom that is supposed to stop the bigger pieces of the grain bed from moving on, however i still get lots of smaller particles in my kettle, so once i finish off the boil and chill it down, i need to use my siphon to try and get as little as possible the smaller parts of the grain that are left over.

If those little particles of grain really bother you, using a bag as a filter will be more effective than the false bottom. However, in the overall scheme of making beer, those little particles won't hurt your beer and at the end of fermentation will settle out in the trub anyway and won't end up in your bottles so you can ignore them.